News / Features & Articles

The Fujifilm X100S is the latest in a recent rush of cameras to include phase-detection elements on its imaging sensor, giving an AF system that is a hybrid of contrast and phase-detection methods. However, Fujifilm also uses this system to provide a unique and incredibly clever manual focus aid - which could finally allow digital cameras to offer the speed and convenience enjoyed by manual-focus SLR and rangefinder users. Fujifilm UK has posted a video showing 'Digital Split Image' focusing and Japanese camera site DCWatch has published details that allow us to show how it works.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, like other database-powered image managers requires you to first import images into a catalog before you can modify them in any way. This requirement is a continual source of confusion for new users. In this article, photographer and Lightroom expert Martin Evening explains the core functionality of Lightroom's catalogue and demonstrates its advantages over more conventional image browsing software.

We've just updated our DSLR and lens buying guides to cover recent developments in both product segments. Our buyers' guides are intended to provide a helping hand when it comes to deciding what to buy, and include summaries of some of the main things to look for, and explanations of the strengths and weaknesses of various options as well as common terminology. Click through for links to our updated versions of both articles. 

It's holiday season, which means it's time to start buying presents for friends and loved ones. Photography is an expensive hobby, and finding the right gift for the photographer in your life can be tough, but not everything costs thousands of dollars. In this quick guide we've tried to provide some inspiration by rounding up 14 potential gifts that we'd be pleased to find under our trees (virtual or actual) on Christmas morning. We hope you enjoy it!

'What camera should I buy?' That's a question we get asked a lot here at dpreview, and it's a tough one to answer. We use a lot of cameras, from simple point-and-shoot models to professional workhorses, and everything in between. To help you make a buying decision this holiday season, we've put together a short article which covers five of what we think are the best zoom compact cameras on the market right now, and summarized their strengths and weaknesses. Click through to see what we think. 

Optics Pro 8 is the latest upgrade to DxO's image management and raw file processing software. This new version introduces a Smart Lighting adjustment tool for easier highlight and shadow control, a print module with support for multi image page layouts and a tweaked palette organization designed for a more efficient editing workflow. What do these changes mean for new and current users? Read our brief overview to find out.

Photographers have no shortage of compositional rules to turn to when trying to create better images. Pro shooter and educator Thomas Park shows how you can actually make more compelling images by breaking these rules - as long as you understand them first.

'Adobe Photoshop CS6 for Photographers' is the latest in Martin Evening's popular series of books, which aim to provide a complete guide to this industry-standard image manipulation software. In this book, Evening explains the techniques and tools that photographers will need within the program, making sure to cover CS6’s new features. Adam Koplan takes a look. 

We're delighted to be able to announce the re-introduction of lens reviews. In partnership with DxO Labs, we've re-developed the way the data is collected and how it's presented, so we've prepared an extensive guide to our testing methodology and the revised lens widget. The collaboration with DxO means we'll be able to provide data for more lenses than previously possible, so have a read to see what those results mean and how they were achieved.

We got the chance to grab some hands-on time with Nikon's latest 1-Series mirrorless interchangeable lens camera - the 1 V2. It gains a 14MP sensor, built-in flash and more conventional control points than its predecessor. Here we give our first impressions of Nikon's smallest 'serious' interchangeable lens camera.

We've been one of the first publications to get a chance to handle Nikon's AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/4G ED VR. The example we used is officially pre-production, so we weren't able to shoot samples with it, but it had the build and handling of a finished model, so we were able to form some initial impressions of this long hoped-for F4 tele-zoom lens.

With beautiful models, elaborate lighting set-ups and an army of willing assistants, the idea of a fashion shoot can seem very glamorous. In this article, professional photographer Martin Evening takes you behind the scenes with a look at the amount of often mundane preparation that goes into making a beauty or fashion shoot come off seamlessly. Click through to find out why taking the picture is 'the easy part'.

If you've got a one-of-a-kind, innovative invention, one of the best routes to bring it to market these days is through Kickstarter. Kickstarter is a website that allows dreamers to showcase their unique product concepts and generate funding. We've scoured Kickstarter for some of the most interesting photgraphic tools and inventions that have benefitted from crowd-sourced funding. Whether you shoot with an iPhone, DSLR or dedicated video camera, there's something on our list for you. Click through for our roundup. 

Following the announcement of its 1" sensor, we spoke to Aptina's Sandor Barna, who believes these larger sensors could save the compact camera by offering a leap in quality that smartphones can't compete with. Barna, the Vice President and General Manager of Aptina's Consumer Camera Business Unit, told us about the unfilled gap in the market that 1" sensors can address, explained the freedoms that the larger format gives the company's designers, and why this is currently best exemplified by a product it wasn't involved in: The Sony RX100.

'Sony is changing the market through innovation' says Phil Molyneux, President and COO of Sony Electronics. In a recent interview we spoke to him about Sony's relationship with Hasselblad, what the tie-up with Olympus will mean for both manufacturers' product lines and how the company has been 'disruptive.'

First developed by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer, the Zone System is one of the most enduring methods for understanding - and mastering - exposure. In the fifth edition of his well-regarded book 'The Practical Zone System for Film and Digital Photography' Chris Johnson explains why the Zone System, developed as paradigm for film shooters, can also be easily applied in the digital age. Adam Koplan takes a look.

Photokina 2012 was arguably the most exciting show for years, for enthusiast photographers. Whether you've been waiting for a more affordable full-frame camera, looking for a mirrorless camera designed for an experienced user or you want a pocketable camera to live alongside your DSLR, there was something on show for you in Cologne. And much of that risked getting drowned-out by most of these products being launched on the same day. Read our round-up of the show to find out what you might have missed-out on.

In this Photokina interview - the second of two with Dirk Jasper, Nikon's Product Manager for Professional Products and Product Planning - we spoke to Dirk about the development of the Nikon 1 System, as it marks its first anniversary, and the challenges of creating a hybrid 'connected camera'. In this interview, Dirk explains why the Android-powered Coolpix S800c is a more serious compact that Samsung's Galaxy Camera and how despite the fact that it was never meant to be a 'professional' system, the Nikon 1 became number one in Europe. 

The medium format S system was 'the biggest risk Leica has ever taken,' says Stephan Schulz, the company's head of Professional Imaging. But, with the latest S 'our goal is to become market leader,' he says. We spoke to Schulz about his strategy to give professionals faith in the system and how the new Hasselblad adapter will help the company regain the professional market it lost in the 1980s. He also explains why only people with no experience of medium format see the Nikon D800 as a threat to the 37.5MP 'S.'