The first consumer point-and-shoots didn't have art effect modes or face detection smile-shutters. They looked like the Kodak 1, a leather-encased box with a key to wind the film, a shutter release and not much else. Introduced to the public in 1888, each Kodak 1 contained a roll of film with 100 exposures. The National Media Museum owns a collection of prints from these first consumer 'compacts.' Click through to take a look at a set of these early snapshots.

What's in your camera bag? A camera (hopefully) and maybe a lens or two, but that's probably not everything that you need. In this article we'll be looking at ten items that deserve a place in every photographer's kit bag, whatever sort of photography you enjoy doing. Click through for the list.

We've been fans of Aaron Johnson's comic strip 'What the Duck' for years. 'WTD' is one of the best satirical comic strips in the world, and it's published here every week, as well as being included in our weekly newsletter. Barbed, topical and always amusing, we hope you enjoy WTD as much as we do. 

Our friends and collaborators over at DxOMark have recently been looking into how lenses score on specific cameras, and the latest model they've examined is Nikon's 24 MP APS-C flagship, the D7100. The article looks at no fewer than 126 lenses, and gauges the advantage of the D7100's higher pixel count and lack of a low-pass filter compared to the 16MP D7000. As a bonus, there's also an assessment of how the imaging performance of Nikon SLRs has improved over the last decade. Click through for the link.   

PDN PhotoPlus Expo celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The annual conference and tradeshow, held at the Javits Center in New York, will feature a lineup of more than 130 presenters taking part in keynotes, seminars and panel discussions with topics ranging from creative techniques to making a living as a photographer. The show takes place October 24-26th, and registration is open to the public. Click through to read more.

We've been shooting with the Olympus PEN E-P5 for some months now and have just completed our review. The arrival of the E-M1 may have grabbed the limelight in recent weeks but the latest PEN deserves its share of the attention. Although it continues the classic PEN look, it shares most of its specifications with the E-M5, which should make it pretty special - but what's it like to use? Read our review to find out.

The camera on Apple's iPhones are well-known for their excellent photo quality. The new iPhone 5s features a larger sensor, faster lens, and new 'True Tone' flash. Head on over to connect.dpreview.com to see if the improvements have made the iPhone 5s a top choice for mobile photographers.

Cyber attackers breached Adobe's security recently, compromising data on 2.9 million customers. Data accessed includes 'customer names, encrypted credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates, and other information relating to customer orders,' according to a company blog post. The attack exposes a weakness in the company's new Creative Cloud subscription model, which omits the 'bits-in-a-box' distribution method in favor of faster access to software updates through a monthly subscription. Click through for more. 

Ricoh has released firmware v2.03 for its GR enthusiast compact. The list of updated features includes support for Raw file transfer via Eye-Fi card, the ability to use 1/2500 sec shutter speed with maximum aperture and a 47mm-equivalent crop mode. Also new is a 'Maximum Aperture Priority' setting available in Program and Manual exposure modes. Click through for a link to download the latest firmware version.

Another contender has entered the relatively small ring of Raw converters that can work with Fujifilm's X-Trans sensors: Photo Ninja. The latest version of this already-capable image editor has added 'preliminary' support for X-Trans Raw, and early results seem promising. To see how this $129 software performs, click through to see side-by-side comparisons.

Nikon's new Coolpix P7800 arrived in our Seattle office a few days ago and we've been doing our best to get as many sample images as possible on it, despite the unpredictable autumn weather. We've managed to create a small gallery of samples, taken in a range of different conditions to show off what the camera can do. There's more on the way, but for now, check out our gallery of pictures from Nikon's newest zoom compact flagship. 

GoPro has revealed two revised and improved action cameras, as the updated Hero 3+ line. The tiny yet rugged cameras are smaller than their popular predecessors yet still pack some impressive specs. See what's changed in the new Hero 3+ Black Edition and Hero 3+ Silver Edition today on connect.dpreview.com.

DxO Labs has released version 8.3.2 of its Optics Pro RAW conversion and image correction software, adding support for the Canon EOS 70D and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1R. It also adds 448 extra camera/lens combinations to the library of optics correction modules. Click through for the full press release, including download links.

Just a quick update on a couple of new forums we've added over the weekend. The first is Feedback and Suggestions, a place for your questions, feedback and suggestions for the DPReview team (both technical and editorial). We hope this will be a more efficient and more effective method than the feedback form / email system we had previously, and will ensure we don't miss bugs, suggestions and feedback that until now has been spread over dozens of forums. The second new forum is Photographic Science and Technology: a home for those wishing to discuss  advanced technical matters related to imaging science outside the brand-specific forums. It's also intended to be the place for less technically-minded readers to pose questions of our community's smartest eggheads.

Leica has announced the Elmarit-S 45 mm f/2.8 ASPH lens for its medium format S system. With an angle of view equivalent to a 35mm lens on full frame, it offers a classic moderate wide-angle field of view. Like several of the other S lenses it'll be available in two versions, either with or without an in-lens 'Central Shutter' (that allows flash sync at shutter speeds up to 1/1000 sec). At the same time, Leica is offering firmware updates for its S, S2 and S2-P cameras to give 'optimum functionality' with the lens. The Elmarit-S 45 mm f/2.8 ASPH will be in dealers this month at a price of £4650, or £5500 for the CS model.

We all know that smartphones are being equipped with better and better cameras, but few of us would ever consider using one for 'serious' photography except in an emergency. Nokia's 'conversations' blog is featuring an interesting project by its own 'camera expert', Ari Partinen and colleague Marko Saari, who wanted to see whether the new Nokia Lumia 1020, which features a 41 megapixel 'PureView' sensor, could hold its own in a studio fashion shoot. The results might surprise you. 

Modern lenses tend to be large and expensive, with multiple glass elements combining to minimise optical aberrations. But what if we could just use a cheap single-element lens, and remove those aberrations computationally instead? This is the question scientists at the University of British Columbia are asking, and they've come up with a way of improving images from a simple single element lens that gives pretty impressive results. Click through to read more.  

As part of the continuing celebration of its 125th anniversary, National Geographic once again features Steve McCurry's famous 'Afghan Girl' photograph on the cover of October's 'The Photography Issue'. Along with the new issue, National Geographic has launched some supporting content, as well as a new blog called Proof, offering 'new avenues for our audience to get a behind-the-scenes look at the National Geographic storytelling process.' 

Mount adapters are incredibly useful for their ability to make lenses from one manufacturer usable with camera bodies from another. But do they have any impact on image quality? LensRentals' Roger Cicala, not one to take manufacturer's claims at face value, investigated. Knowing that slight mis-alignments between a lens and even its native mount can cause softness in images, the added complexity with a lens adapter in the mix seemed likely to cause more problems. His findings are indeed interesting. 

Heard the one about the sculptor awarded over half a million dollars because a stamp was made including a war memorial he'd designed? At first that may sound surprising, but reading the court's judgement (and the rejections of the various defenses put forward by the US Postal Service), is an informative lesson about copyright and fair use. Click here to read more.

We've been fans of Aaron Johnson's comic strip 'What the Duck' for years. 'WTD' is one of the best satirical comic strips in the world, and it's published here every week, as well as being included in our weekly newsletter. Barbed, topical and always amusing, we hope you enjoy WTD as much as we do. 

Researchers at University of California, San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering are working on a miniature wide angle lens, taking advantage of the benefits of spherical lenses. At just a tenth of the size of a traditional wide angle lens, a spherical lens can create wide angle images without chromatic aberration or loss of resolution at corners. The challenge is capturing the lens' spherical projection on a flat sensor. The team have overcome this by using optical fibers fused to the rear of the lens to relay light to electronic sensors. Click through to read more.

Thinking of upgrading to the latest smartphone, and want to see which takes the best photos? We pit four top photocentric mobile devices in an imaging showdown to test three new smartphones — the Sony Xperia Z1, Nokia Lumia 1020 and LG G2 — and Samsung's Galaxy S4 Zoom in real world shooting scenarios. See how they fared in our tests on connect.dpreview.com.

Canon's PowerShot G16 might not be a massive upgrade compared to its predecessor, but it is a a solid camera that evolves the G-series in some interesting ways. In this article, we take a look at the G16's real-world performance and dig into its new Wi-Fi feature as well as taking a critical look at its improved video mode. We've also added many more images to our previously-published gallery of real-world samples. Click through for a link to our first-impressions review. 

Google+ has introduced improved Raw-to-JPEG conversion for a number of cameras with some help from Nik Photography. As before, Raw files may be uploaded to Google+ for storage, and are automatically converted to JPEGs for previewing. The conversion from Raw has been fine-tuned for about 70 cameras, including high-end models like the Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Nikon D800 and D800E. Click through for the full list of cameras and see how it handles a Raw file from the Sony RX100.

Tablets may be used as versatile tools in your photographic workflow, providing instant feedback as you shoot on a much larger format screen than your camera's tiny LCD and helping you experiment with a final look while you still have the opportunity to make major changes on set. We're looking at tools and tips for integrating a tablet into a live shoot with a DSLR, whether you're shooting tethered or wirelessly. Learn more on connect.dpreview.com.

We've just posted our review of the FUJINON XF 55-200mm F3.5-4.8 R LM OIS, Fujifilm's first telephoto zoom for its X system mirrorless cameras. We've been out and about with the lens taking hundreds of real-world pictures, and looked at them closely to find out what it can deliver in terms of image quality. We've also looked at how the system's integrated software corrections for lens aberrations such as distortion affect the final out-of-camera JPEGs in comparison to RAW files. Click through to read all about it.  

DxO Labs has released version 2 of its distortion-correction software Viewpoint. Designed to correct for perspective distortions such as converging verticals, Viewpoint can now also use DxO Optics Modules to correct for the lens's barrel or pincushion distortion. It can work both as standalone software and as a plug-in, which is now compatible with Adobe Photoshop Elements and Apple Aperture (as well as Adobe Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5). A one month free trial version is available to download now, and Viewpoint 2 is on sale at reduced prices until 20th October. Click through for more info and download links.

DPReview editor Barnaby Britton spent his weekend taking pictures on the new Apple iPhone 5s, which among other refinements features a new camera, larger sensor, built-in filter effects and a unique two-color flash. It also offers an improved panorama mode with adaptive 'live' metering across the frame. In this short article he explains why even if you don't have any interest in the new iPhone, you should definitely pay attention to the iPhone 5s' panorama feature.

Adobe has released version 12 of its Photoshop Elements software for Mac and Windows. One of the highlights of the latest version of this consumer-friendly photo editor is 'Mobile Access', which uses Adobe's Revel cloud service to let users view and retouch photos on their mobile devices, keeping everything in sync. Other new features include 'Content-Aware Move', guided editors, and 64-bit support for Macs. Best of all, there's no monthly subscription fee. Read on to learn more about Elements 12, and if it may be a good substitute for its big brother.

The New York Times' Lens Blog asked teenagers across the U.S. to submit photos of their hometowns for a project simply called 'My Hometown.' Thousands of teens responded to the call, with submissions coming from 45 states. The resulting collection is a yearbook of sorts, documenting the friends, family and places closest to a small sampling of the country's young people. Lens Blog has published a selection of 145 Editor's Choice photos, and the whole collection is available online - searchable by student or state. Take a look at a few standouts.

We've just posted our full review of the Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II. Following on the success of the RX100 is no easy feat, but just the same the RX100 II does so with a new BSI CMOS sensor. Also new to this model is an accessory port/hotshoe, Wi-Fi connectivity with NFC, and a tiltable display. Did Sony make a good camera even better? Click through to read our full analysis.

Apple's new iPhone 5S features a number of refinements that make it attractive to photographers, including a new, larger 8MP sensor, faster lens, improved panorama mode with 'dynamic auto exposure', built-in filter effects and a unique two-color flash for better low-light shots. DPReview editor Barnaby Britton spent the weekend shooting with the iPhone 5S, and you can see a large gallery of samples over at connect.dpreview.com. 

The ever-increasing video capability of digital SLRs has seen manufacturers such as Canon, Samyang and Zeiss make video-optimised versions of their conventional lenses, and now Kenko Tokina is getting in on the act. The Tokina 16-28mm T3.0 is a manual focus version of the AT-X 16-28mm f/2.8 Pro FX wideangle zoom, with a redesigned barrel that features the usual refinements for video work, including geared focus, zoom and aperture rings, and scales designed to be read from the side of the camera. It'll be made in Canon EF and Arri PL mounts, with a suggested retail price of ¥580,000 - almost 5 times that of the lens it's based on.

Jean Albus mixes dresses into her Montana landscapes by letting them decay, sometimes for years, before photographing them. She hopes their weathered forms invoke emotions about aging, memory, transformation and more. Her final images sometimes feature a dress as she's found it, sunken into the elements. She also often superimposes the worn dress over another image of the landscape, floating the decaying dress within "Big Sky Country." A new video explains her process. Click through to see more.

We lined up for the new Apple iPhone 5s this morning, and Dpreview's Studio Manager Kelcey Smith wasted no time in getting it into our studio, to take a critical look at how its new camera performs. We're taking the smartphone out for the weekend to gather shots for a gallery planned for this Monday, but in the meantime, you can take a look at how the iPhone 5s compares to the competition in our new studio widget. Click through to check it out.

Some people are happy to shoot with lenses and think only of the results, but it can also be fascinating to think about how such complex, precision pieces of engineering are made. Some insight is provided by Dave Etchells over at Imaging Resource, who has just posted a story about his visit to Sigma's factory in Aizu, Japan. However, no matter how hard you try, you can't make every lens perfect - as Lensrentals Roger Cicala explains in his recent blog post. Click through for more.

Megapixels. How did such a simple concept become so wrapped up in hyperbole, controversy and confusion? The current generation of premium smartphones includes a 4MP model from HTC, 8MP from both Apple and Google, 13MP from Samsung and LG, 20.7MP Sony and 41MP from Nokia. Surely they can’t all be right? We examine how many megapixels you really need on your phone, over on connect.dpreview.com.

In this article, nature photographer Erez Marom takes us through the complicated process he used to achieve his image 'Lost in Space'. As well as equipment choice and location, Erez also explains in detail exactly how he went about adjusting and manipulating multiple images in software to create the final result. Click through for the full article. 

Sigma has announced firmware updates for two of its most recent lenses. Version 1.02 for the 35mm F1.4 DG HSM A012 (Canon mount) and version 1.01 for the 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM C013 (Canon, Nikon and Sigma mounts) bring improvements to autofocus operation and, for the latter, optical stabilisation. The lenses must be updated using Sigma's USB Dock, and owners should download the latest Version 1.1 of Sigma Optimization Pro software first. Click through for more details and the download link. 

While iPhone fanatics worldwide are lining up for Apple's new iPhone 5s, the folks at iFixit are already taking the smartphone apart. The team has already torn into the latest flagship iPhone to take a closer look at a revamped iSight camera, that new A7 chip and more. Dig in with us at connect.dpreview.com.

The Nikon 1 System has been around for a couple of years now, but the emergence of the AW1 signals a radical departure from what has been the norm. Functionally very similar to the 14MP J3 which Nikon announced earlier this year, the AW1 is waterproof to 15m (49ft), shockproof from 2m (6.6 ft), and freezeproof. It's being announced alongside two equally rugged lenses, and a range of colorful silicone skins for underwater and wet weather use. We had the opportunity to use the new camera recently, and we've put together a first impressions review covering its design, operation and key features. Click through for a link. 

Nikon has announced the 1 AW1, the world's first rugged, waterproof mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. It has also made AW versions of its 11-27.5mm f/3.5-5.6 and 10mm f/2.8 lenses that are both shock and waterproof. The Nikon 1 AW1 features similar underlying specifications to the J3, featuring a 14MP sensor capable of shooting at up to 15 fps with continuous AF (60 fps with focus fixed), but is waterproof to a depth of 15m (49ft) and shockproof from a height of 2m (6.6 ft). It will cost around $800/£750/€799 with 11-27.5mm lens and $1,000/£950/€1019 with the 10mm f/2.8 added to make a two-lens kit.

As part of its 'AW' launches, Nikon has announced the Nikkor 1 AW 10mm f/2.8 and 1 AW 11-27.5mm f/3.5-5.6 lenses. Both lenses are existing designs built into waterproof, shockproof housings and are only compatible with the Nikon 1 AW1 body. The 1 AW 10mm f/2.8 offers a 27mm equivalent field-of-view and will be sold separately for around $200/£300/€319. The Nikkor 1 AW 11-27.5mm zoom offers a rather limited 30-74mm equivalent range and will only be available as part of a kit with the camera - meaning there are no image-stabilized AW lenses yet.

While early reviews of the iPhone 5c and 5s may have mobile tech fans talking hardware today, the bigger news in our opinion is actually Apple's free iOS 7 software update. iOS 7 offers plenty of features aimed specifically at mobile photography enthusiasts, and we're taking a look at the updated Camera and Photos app today on connect.dpreview.com.

After many, many months of design and testing we are happy to announce the official unveiling of our studio test scene. The new scene was designed to address certain drawbacks with the previous test scene, as well as providing the opportunity to show more real-world relevant information about how cameras behave. We've increased the number of cameras supported to 23 and we'll be continuing to add models (old and new) in the coming weeks.

DxOMark has tested the Canon EOS 70D's live view autofocus system in comparison to the Sony SLT-A77, looking at focus speeds and accuracy in both movie and stills modes. The two cameras offer an intriguing contrast in technologies; the 70D uses Canon's latest 'Dual Pixel AF' on-sensor phase detection, while the A77 employs a separate phase detection AF sensor which receives light via a semi-transparent mirror. Click through to see how the two cameras fare in DxOMark's head-to-head testing.    

We've completed our review of the Fujifilm X-M1, which is the company's lowest-priced X-Trans-based mirrorless camera. It takes the sensor from the X-E1 and X-Pro1 and puts it in a simpler, more portable body. Fujifilm also added a tilting 3-inch LCD and Wi-Fi, which puts the X-M1 on much the same level as mirrorless cameras like the Panasonic Lumix GF6 and Sony NEX-5T. For a detailed look at the X-M1, follow the link.

Fujifilm has announced the X-A1, its most basic X-mount mirrorless camera yet. The X-A1 shares a body with the X-M1 but is based around a 16MP sensor with a conventional, Bayer color filter array, rather than the X-Trans design used in the other X-series models. The X-A1 retains the 920k-dot tilting LCD and Wi-Fi offered by the X-M1, and is being launched with an MSRP of $599 with the XC 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OIS zoom lens - $200 cheaper than the X-M1 cost at its launch. The company has also announced the Fujinon XC 50-230mm F4.5-6.7 OIS - a relatively small, lightweight telezoom that would pair well with either the X-A1 or X-M1.

Phase One has released the latest version of its Raw processing software, Capture One 7.1.4. This update offers support for more cameras and lenses, and also promises improved performance when working with large numbers of photos. With this version, Capture One 7 now supports the Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II, Fujifilm X-M1 and Olympus E-P5 among others, and adds 32 new lens profiles. Click through for the full press release.