Photokina 2018: all the best camera and photography news – The Verge

Panasonic’s Lumix S1R is an unapologetically blocky pro camera

2018-09-29T09:00:03-04:00

The irresistible theme of Photokina 2018 has been mirrorless cameras with huge sensors inside. Leica unveiled the medium format S3, Fujifilm showed off the GFX 50R in the same medium format class, and Nikon and Canon brought their recently announced full-frame mirrorless models: the Z7 and EOS R, respectively. With Sony already having a full portfolio of excellent full-frame mirrorless cameras to sell, Panasonic was one of the last remaining major names to not offer such a high-end model, which was corrected at Photokina with the reveal of the Lumix S1 and S1R. The only difference between these two cameras, set to launch early next year, is …

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Ricoh’s GRIII is just tiny enough to survive the smartphone age

2018-09-28T07:20:34-04:00

Point-and-shoot cameras, it should be uncontroversial to say, are an endangered gadget species. Coming to a camera exhibition like Photokina, I still see a few scattered examples of them, but most companies are now focused on making beefier, vastly more powerful full-frame shooters. Except for Ricoh. One of the smaller contenders in the photography market, Ricoh's most iconic product is the GR series of decidedly high-end point-and-shoot cameras - and at Photokina 2018, the company showed off its next generation in the form of the Ricoh GRIII, slated for release early next year.

The GR series stretches all the way back to 1996, I found out …

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Zeiss built Adobe Lightroom into its full-frame, fixed-lens ZX1 camera

2018-09-27T16:08:48-04:00

We've seen a lot of incredible cameras this week, but Zeiss has unveiled a surprise entry that's easily among the most interesting: a full-frame, fixed-lens camera with Adobe Lightroom built in.

The camera is in the vein of Sony's RX1 and Leica's Q - essentially really fancy point-and-shoots. You can't change the lens from the attached 35mm f/2.0, but in exchange, you get a full-frame sensor in a relatively (but not entirely) small body.

Zeiss's ZX1 plays into the "fancy point-and-shoot" aspect even more. It has 512GB of built-in storage, so you don't even need an SD card (it's not even clear if the camera accepts SD cards), and its contro …

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The Leica S3 is a frustratingly awesome medium format DSLR

2018-09-27T08:00:02-04:00

I made a mistake coming to Leica's booth at Photokina this year. Every other camera now feels a little diminished by comparison to Leica's upcoming flagship S3 medium format DSLR. You read that correctly, there are still camera makers that proudly tout their DSLRs instead of hiding them away in a corner while showing off the shiny new mirrorless stuff. The 64-megapixel S3 is thus quite a unique launch for Photokina, but it's also an unparalleled camera even outside the constraints of current fashions and trends. The design, performance, and engineering of this camera have swept me off my feet and up into some fluffy daydreaming clouds. And d …

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Fujifilm’s GFX 50R is the biggest and baddest street camera yet

2018-09-26T10:30:52-04:00

I just had my first hands-on experience with Fujifilm's new mirrorless medium format camera, the GFX 50R, which has the innards of a large studio camera but is styled to look like a small, portable shooter. My first impression is that it's both. By the enlarged standards of medium format cameras, the 50R can be described as slim and compact - it's a full inch thinner than its GFX 50S sibling - and yet it's still in a distinct and separate category from the cameras that typically adopt the rangefinder styling, such as Fujifilm's own X-E3 or X-Pro2. So this is both huge for a rangefinder and tiny for a medium format shooter. Fujifilm says it d …

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Panasonic, Leica, and Sigma will all use the same full-frame camera lenses

2018-09-25T12:09:37-04:00

As the mirrorless camera battle reaches a turning point, three entrants are teaming up to help their cameras stand out. Leica, Panasonic, and Sigma announced today that they'll all use the same lens mount format for full-frame and APS-C cameras, allowing lenses purchased for one company's cameras to work on each other's cameras.

That's a huge benefit for two reasons: it makes their cameras more appealing to photographers who won't find themselves locked into a single company's lens ecosystem and it'll help to expand the lens selections that are available for their cameras, rather than each company trying to build out their own exclusive len …

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Fujifilm’s next medium format camera has 100 megapixels and in-body stabilization

2018-09-25T11:50:26-04:00

Fujifilm has just taken the wraps off of the new GFX-50R medium format camera, but that's not the only thing it has coming for fans of big digital sensors. The company has also announced that next year it will release another GFX model with a whopping 100-megapixel sensor. In addition, this yet-to-be-named camera will have in-body image stabilization (IBIS), a notable achievement for a medium format camera.

Fujifilm hasn't provided many details on the camera, though it is expected to cost around $10,000 when it's released sometime next year. In addition to the IBIS feature, which provides image stabilization to any lens mounted to the camer …

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Fujifilm’s Instax Square SQ20 can print photos and shoot video

2018-09-25T09:27:11-04:00

Fujifilm is introducing its second hybrid instant camera, and it comes with a feature that might sound very out of place on its Instax line: video recording. The new model, the Instax Square SQ20, is able to capture video clips of up to 15 seconds. While you're able to store those on an SD card, that isn't really the point. Instead, the SQ20 uses those video clips to create new photo effects, which you can then edit and print out directly from the camera.

The SQ20's "motion mode" will let you scrub through a video to find the frame you think is best, and then print that exact moment. Another option will create a fake long exposure, blurring …

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Fujifilm’s GFX 50R puts a medium format sensor in a rangefinder-style body

2018-09-25T09:00:02-04:00

At a Photokina that's set to be dominated by mirrorless full-frame cameras that cost thousands of dollars, Fujifilm has announced something even more advanced, opulent, and headline-grabbing: the 51.4-megapixel GFX 50R, which combines a medium format sensor with a rangefinder-style body.

We rightly think of full-frame cameras as the high-end, professional tier of photography gear, but there's yet another step above them, and that's medium format. Fujifilm's mirrorless GFX camera system - which made its debut at Photokina 2016 with the GFX 50S - is built around a sensor that's 70 percent larger than a full-frame / 35mm format. As of today, y …

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Fujifilm shows off world’s first f/1 lens for mirrorless cameras

2018-09-25T08:56:45-04:00

At its Photokina 2018 presentation, Fujifilm took a moment to tease an extreme addition to its X-Mount series of lenses: the XF33mm F1 R. As its name suggests, this is a 33mm prime lens (equivalent to 50mm on a full-frame camera) with a maximum aperture of f/1 and autofocus capabilities, which makes it a first among lenses for mirrorless cameras. The only previous example of a lens with such a wide aperture and AF has been Canon's 50mm f/1 lens, released in 1989 and now discontinued. Fujifilm isn't putting a price or release date on its new lens, but it says it's working on bringing it to market. The company's roadmap documents from this sum …

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