Fstoppers

As photographers progress in their journey, admittedly, there’s a natural tendency to gravitate more toward the technical side of things, including myself. The reason is simple: technical improvements are measurable metrics and rather reassuring. You can objectively tell if your images are sharper, your exposures more accurate, and have a higher dynamic range. Whereas growth in reactionary and observational skill sets like instinct is not easily measurable, let alone translated through a camera into our work.

The Nikon NIKKOR Z 35mm f/1.2 S represents the pinnacle of wide angle prime lens engineering, but its $3,000 price tag raises serious questions about value and necessity. Understanding whether this ultra-premium optic justifies its cost requires examining both its exceptional capabilities and compromises.

The Voigtlander NOKTON 40mm f/1.2 Aspherical lens represents something truly unique in the lens world, as it's currently the only full frame 40mm f/1.2 optic available anywhere. For anyone seeking that perfect middle ground between the versatility of a 35mm and the slightly tighter framing of a 50mm, this manual focus lens promises an intriguing combination of ultra-wide aperture and compact size.

War teaches you how to see. Not in an artistic sense, but in a survival sense. Every detail is information, and every flicker of movement becomes a decision. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that constant scanning and forced situational awareness rewired the way I perceive everything. I went to war with a rifle and a camera; only one still shapes how I see the world today.

Every December, millions of American families would pile into their station wagons and head to Sears, JCPenney, or their local department store for an annual ritual as predictable as Black Friday sales: the family holiday portrait. What most people don't realize is that this seemingly mundane tradition fundamentally shaped modern portrait photography in ways that persist today, creating standards for lighting, posing, and customer experience that professional photographers still follow—often without realizing where these conventions originated.

Opinions should always be challenged, even in the art we call photography. Here are contentious views that you might disagree with. Trigger warning: they might detonate your temper.

Fuji's GFX medium format cameras promise superior image quality over the company's APS-C X system, but that advantage comes with significant trade-offs in weight, lens selection, and cost. Most photographers considering the upgrade focus entirely on pixel counts and dynamic range while overlooking how these practical limitations affect real-world shooting scenarios.

Affordable lenses with professional-level quality can seem too good to be true, especially for portraits. Choosing the right lens can elevate your images, but it’s important to make sure you’re spending wisely and getting something that fits your photography style.

Gear content is everywhere—and strangely compelling. Even when we’re not shopping, we keep watching. What is it about reviews that draws us in, even when our photography might need something different?

Remember when photography had rules? Not guidelines or suggestions, but actual rules that separated the pros from the amateurs, the trained from the untrained, the serious from the snapshot-happy masses. These weren't arbitrary dictates from some photography ivory tower—they were hard-won principles developed over more than a century of image-making, refined through decades of darkroom experimentation, and codified in countless photography textbooks that gathering dust on our shelves. Then social media happened.

You alone probably don’t need a charger this powerful, but if you work with other creatives in a team, this new GaN charger from UGREEN should probably be on your table for efficient, organized, and safe charging.

Submit Your Best "Abstract" Images!

For the entire month of July, we want to see your best abstract or conceptual photographs! Enter the Fstoppers Critique the Community and show off your best images showcasing a slightly different view of the world.

This month we want to open up the Critique the Community to those who capture the world in a truly unique way. For this contest, all submissions should showcase something photographed in an abstract, conceptual, or metaphysical way. We will leave that definition up to you, and feel free to enter images that feature people, places, objects, or even mixed media art...

Black and white photography demands a different kind of approach. Knowing when and how to convert your images can mean the difference between a photo that commands attention and one that feels flat.

Posing portraits shouldn't be complicated, yet it's an area many find challenging. Getting poses right transforms your images from ordinary to powerful.

Sarah clutched the yellow Kodak mailer envelope like it contained state secrets. Inside, a single roll of Kodak Gold 200—thirty-six exposures of her life over the past three weeks, wound tight in its metallic canister.

With power stations, everyone wants more capacity and longer life, but nobody wants to lug around a 60-pound brick. The Dabbsson 2000L aims to strike a balance by packing 2 kWh of energy storage into a surprisingly portable form factor at a very competitive price point. Is the Dabbsson 2000L an ideal entry point for creators looking for a large power station?

Inconspicuous, intuitive, and with great image quality — can you combine all of that into one perfect camera for capturing life on the street? This photographer says yes.

Choosing your first landscape photography camera isn't about specs alone—it’s about finding gear that suits you personally. The right camera can make the difference between thriving or getting stuck worrying about equipment.

The Meike 85mm f/1.8 Pro II, a fresh version of Meike's budget-friendly autofocus lens, is here, and it comes with some impressive upgrades. With portrait lenses often costing quite a bit, finding affordable yet capable alternatives is something every camera enthusiast appreciates.

I think I've been thinking about old cameras all wrong. At least, this video from James Warner of Snappiness has me rethinking how I look at old smartphone cameras, as he talks about the three best "vintage" smartphones to use exclusively for photography.

In recent years, my photography has leaned further and further toward minimalism. This beautifully functional sling bag is the perfect match, as proven by a recent vacation to America’s West Coast.

The photography industry has a short memory. Every few years, we collectively forget the tools that once defined professional image-making, replacing them with newer technologies that promise greater convenience, better performance, or simply different aesthetics. But buried beneath decades of technological progress lie lenses that didn't just capture images—they created entire visual languages, established technical standards, and enabled photographic possibilities that seemed impossible at their time.