Fstoppers

Getting fast, high-capacity storage has become a bottleneck in modern workflows. Codecs keep getting heavier, and a well-specced internal SSD can feel cramped quickly. Upgrades can be difficult or unreasonably expensive; enter the Express 4M2, a four-drive enclosure that addresses all these issues. 

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been using this enclosure as my primary working drive, and it’s proven to be a thoughtfully designed solution for creators who want serious NVMe performance without locking themselves into a fixed configuration.

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Sharp focus and perfect exposure are not enough. If bird photos feel flat, the problem is not settings, it is storytelling. 

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Nikon’s APS-C Z system has felt incomplete for years, especially if you have been holding onto a D500 and waiting for a serious mirrorless alternative. The release of the Nikon Z DX 16-50mm f/2.8 VR and Nikon Z DX 35mm f/1.7 shifts that conversation in a real way. 

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Pentax has not released a new digital camera in three years, and its last full frame DSLR is eight years old. If you still shoot Pentax, or you’re thinking about it, that gap should get your attention. 

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The rules governing who owns a photograph, who can train an AI on it, and where you can fly a drone to capture it are all being rewritten simultaneously. Across courtrooms, five separate legal confrontations are converging on a question that matters to every working photographer: in an age of generative AI and autonomous aircraft, who actually controls the value of an image? 

What follows is a photographer-focused breakdown of the cases and regulations most likely to change how you shoot, edit, license, and protect your work this year and next. 

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Natural light portraits often look simple, yet small shifts in position can completely change the result. If you rely on available light, knowing how to shape it without reflectors or flash gives you more control in any location. 

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There is a habit many of us landscape photographers develop without realizing it. We drive past locations we know well, places we have seen dozens of times, and we tell ourselves we will stop another day. The light is not right. The weather is poor. We are on our way somewhere else. Over time, these familiar places become invisible. They are no longer considered options, only background. This is a mistake, and one that limits growth more than most of us care to admit. 

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The Fujifilm GFX100RF pairs a 100-megapixel medium format sensor with a fixed 35mm f/4 lens, and that single design choice shapes everything. If you care about detail, portability, and focal length discipline, this camera forces decisions that may sharpen your work or frustrate it. 

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Not carrying a dedicated camera around? Here's why you should. 

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Second shooting weddings puts you in the middle of real moments without carrying the full weight of the day. It’s one of the fastest ways to sharpen instincts, expand a portfolio, and get paid while learning on the job. 

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Photography is an exercise in managing variables. Some of those variables bend to your will, and some of them laugh at your attempts to impose order. The sooner you learn to tell the difference, the sooner you stop wasting energy on the wrong problems. 

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The DJI RS 5 isn’t just a minor iteration; it is a thoughtful evolution of what a mirrorless gimbal should be. While it maintains the familiar silhouette of the RS series, the quality-of-life upgrades—particularly regarding balance and automation—make it one of the most frictionless tools I’ve used in the field. 

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I have a strange obsession with photographing lighthouses. They have a way of making a landscape that much more interesting, and I often find myself taking a road trip just to photograph one. Here are a few tips to help make your photos stand out from the scores of other tourists making the same images.  

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Choosing between the Sony 24-70 GM II and the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 usually means you already lean one way and want proof you’re not making a mistake. Price, performance, and long-term ownership all pull in different directions, and this lens range often lives on your camera full-time. 

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When a client says you’re “out of budget” or disappears after seeing your rates, the instinct is to adjust the numbers. That move usually solves the wrong problem. 

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The Panasonic Lumix S9 has been out long enough to see past the launch noise and judge it on real use. If image quality and price both matter, this camera deserves a closer look. 

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Starting in photography feels harder than it should. You’re told to buy more gear, follow trends, chase presets, and somehow build a style at the same time. Here's how to make it easier. 

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Photography forums, YouTube comment sections, and gear review threads would have you believe that the path to better images runs through spec sheets and brand allegiances. Spend enough time in these spaces and you might start to think that your sensor size is holding you back, or that real photographers only shoot in manual mode, or that your follower count reflects the quality of your work. None of this is true, but it takes time and experience to see through it. 

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Vary your landscape photography perspectives. Learn how adjusting your tripod's height can completely transform your wide angle compositions. 

In landscape photography, we often obsess over the technical trinity of exposure: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. We also concentrate on techniques such as filters and exposure bracketing. When working with wide angle lenses, there is another variable that is frequently overlooked, mostly by beginners, yet equally critical to the final composition: perspective.

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Every photographer has a collection of images that almost worked. The composition was there, the moment was right, but something about the light fell flat, or the exposure didn't quite capture what your eyes saw in person. We also tend to accumulate old family photographs in shoeboxes and drawers, images yellowed by time and marked by creases from decades of handling. These are the kinds of problems that used to require either significant manual work in Photoshop or simply acceptance that some photos couldn't be saved.

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Carrying a small camera to a place like Malibu sounds casual, but it exposes how you shoot when nothing else gets in the way. The choices you make in the field usually echo later when deciding what images deserve space on your website. 

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Travel photography can leave you frustrated even when the images are sharp and well exposed. You come home with full hard drives and a quiet sense that none of it really landed. 

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Shooting a landscape with only a 14mm lens can leave you stuck with too much foreground and not enough subject. When the light is right but the lens is wrong, the choices you make in editing decide whether the photo survives at all. 

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OM Digital Solutions has announced the OM SYSTEM OM-3 ASTRO, a dedicated astrophotography version of the OM SYSTEM OM-3 built to better capture red emission nebulae. The company says the camera is compliant with the Micro Four Thirds System standard and will be sold on a made-to-order basis, with availability planned for March 2026. 

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Every photographer makes decisions about file formats constantly, yet most of us operate on habit, hearsay, or whatever our camera defaulted to when we first pulled it out of the box. The problem is that choosing the wrong format at the wrong stage of your workflow can quietly destroy your editing flexibility, balloon your storage needs, break compatibility with clients and labs, or degrade your images in ways you won't notice until it's too late.

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Today, the new Viltrox AF 50mm f/1.4 Pro Z Mount lens comes to Nikon cameras. 

You know, sometimes a lens will just scratch you right where you itch. It can be hard to explain. Sometimes you’ll shoot with two lenses, both sharing the same focal range. In practical terms, you are expecting essentially the same result. But maybe one is slightly warmer than the other, maybe one is slightly lighter than the other, and next thing you know, you’ve discovered a valuable tool that becomes a permanent part of your rotation.

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Photoshop’s generative credits determine how freely you can use newer AI tools, and most people don’t know where to see their balance. That uncertainty turns routine edits into guesswork, especially when premium models are involved. 

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I like to carry minimal gear and travel light when on vacation or a travel photography adventure, and my favorite camera hasn’t changed after 7 years of ownership—it’s the Nikon Z50. Finding the right lens has always been a struggle, though, until I got my hands on Viltrox’s AF 27mm f/1.2 Pro. 

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The instax mini Link+ is a small shift in how you move from a screen to a physical print, and it’s aimed at the moments when a phone image feels too disposable. If you care about handing someone a real Instax Mini print at an event, or building a wall of tiny proof prints from a shoot, the tradeoffs in this printer are worth knowing before you buy. 

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Choosing between 25mm and 35mm on APS-C sounds simple until you see how differently they shape a scene, especially with fast apertures. These two focal lengths control how much environment you show, how close you feel to the subject, and how hard the background falls away. 

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