If you've been thinking about adding cameras to your connected home setup, this is a great time to dive in. Amazon's Blink Mini cameras are down to $30 for a pair, which is the usual price for just one camera. It's an all-time low and matches the deep discount Amazon ran for October's Prime Day.
The cameras take clear and sharp 1080p video, which you can stream to your phone or a smart display like Amazon's Echo Show. Since Amazon owns Blink, they work with Alexa, allowing voice control over the units from any compatible device. They also pair nicely with Blink's doorbell, acting as a chime when someone rings it.
The Minis are motion activated (as opposed to always-on) and can alert you when movement's detected. With built-in speakers and a mic, you can both hear and talk to people (or pets) remotely using your phone or another Alexa-enabled smart device. The cameras will work without a subscription, but if you want to save video clips, you can opt for the Blink Subscription Plan (currently $30 per year for the basic plan).
The only caveat is that Blink Minis are wired cameras, so you'll need to set them up somewhere near an outlet — but you'll never need to remember to change the batteries.
If you want cameras outside too, it's worth mentioning that the Blink Outdoor cameras are back on sale as well. Single packs are down to $60, and the multi-camera bundles are discounted too, with the best deal on the three- and five-camera bundles (both 50 percent off).
Blink Outdoor cams are our current favorite wireless security cameras, running on AA batteries, which will power a camera for about a year. They come with a mount and are, of course, weatherproof, so you don't have to mount them under an eave or overhang, which lets you angle them at exactly what you want to see. And like the indoor version, these let you see, hear, and talk to whomever is in front of the camera, and it can all be controlled via Alexa, either with the app or your voice.
Sony has launched the $3,900 A7R V, its latest mirrorless camera designed to shoot portraits, landscapes and other subjects that require as much resolution as possible. The new model carries the same 61-megapixel resolution as the A7R IV, but has a much more powerful new Bionz XR processor that allows for improved AI autofocus, better shake reduction and 8K 24p video.
The key improvement is in the autofocus, as the A7R V is Sony's first camera to introduced something called "human pose estimation." The system can see 20 different points in the human body and and thus figure out where the eye is supposed to be. That allows it to accurately track someone who might be moving and turning away from the camera, and keep tracking them even if they disappear from view for a moment. On top of that, it can now pick out different subjects like cars, trains, plains, animals and insects.
Though the A7R V is primarily targeted at photographers, it's much better at video than ever, too. Where the A7R IV was limited to 8-bit 4K at 30fps with either cropping or line-skipping, the A7R V now shoots 8K video at up to 24 fps, along with 6.2K without line-skipping or pixel binning. With the same heatsink as the A7S III, it allows for unlimited 4K recording and up to 30 minutes of 8K capture.
It can also handle supersampled 10-bit 4K video using the entire sensor width at up to 30 fps, or at 60fps with a 1.2x crop. You can also capture 16-bit RAW video to external recorders at up to 4K 60p.
Sony has upgraded to the in-body stabilization (IBS) system from 5.5 to 8 stops, now matching what Canon can do with its similarly-priced EOS R5. And in lieu of the tilting display used in the A7R IV, the new model has a fully articulating screen that makes it more useful for high-angle shooting, video and more.
The A7R V shoots at the same 10fps speeds as before, which is impressive for such a high-resolution camera. However, it can now shoot compressed RAW files rather than just uncompressed as before. The buffer can also handle up to 583 shots, letting you shoot for a large amount of time in a burst.
Sony
It has a long list of other attractive features, including a class-leading 9.44-million-dot electronic viewfinder (EVF) and dual card slots that accept either speedy (but expensive) CFexpress Type A or UHS-II cards. Another new feature is pixel shift multishot (tripod use only) for compositing 16 shots into one 240.8-megapixel image using AI processing to automatically detect and correct movement between frames.
The list continues with AI-powered white balance, focus stacking of up to 299 frames for increased depth of field, Sony's Cinetone color profile for a more film-like look, an updated body with dials and controls similar to the A7 IV, USB-C charging with Power Delivery and native webcam compatibility. The Sony A7R V is set to arrive in December for $3,900.
Eighteen months ago, Adobe announced the "Camera to Cloud" (C2C) feature for its Frame.io cloud collaboration platform that would allow users to upload videos and photo directly from cameras. Now, it's unveiled the first cameras to support the feature, the RED V-Raptor cinema camera for RAW video, and Fujifilm's new X-H2S mirrorless camera for RAW photos.
Frame.io is a cloud service that can handle large files, giving subscribers instant access to photos and video on TVs, mobile devices and PCs. The C2C service allows users to transfer those files directly from a camera, rather than having to wait until the material is physically transferred to a computer.
Until now, you needed third-party hardware to upload content from supported cameras. Now, the C2C integration is built directly into the cameras, with "no additional hardware and no hard drives required," Adobe said.
With the RED V-Raptor and V-Raptor XL, users can directly upload 8K RAW files to the cloud from the camera (this requires access to high-bandwidth WiFi or ethernet networks, of course). With the system in place, "[Video] files can be automatically delivered right to production offices... for immediate editing," Adobe wrote in its blog.
In addition, RAW video audio files can be synced, color corrected and transcoded in the cloud, allowing for "proxy" workflows. Translated to English, that you could transfer small, easy-to-send video files around the world, then link those automatically to much higher-quality RAW video for the final output. Adobe demonstrates this (above), by automatically transmitting an 8K RAW file, proxy, audio and color correction "LUT" file, all at once.
On the photo side, C2C will soon work (nearly) directly with Fujifilm's $2,500 X-H2S camera, as well. You will need to buy Fujifilm's $1,000 FT-XH file transmitter that supports 802.11ac wireless and 600Mbps wired connections. With that connected, photographers will be able to send high-resolution RAW files straight from the camera, letting a photographer transmit breaking news photos directly to an agency, for instance.
The new system is aimed at professionals, but it could also let YouTubers send content directly to an editor for a quick turnaround. Adobe isn't the only company doing this, as Blackmagic Design's DaVince Resolve 18 includes a suite of collaboration tools that allow editors, colorists, VFX artists and audio engineers to work together in real time on the same project. The new features will arrive to RED's V-Raptor lineup by the end of 2022, and come to the Fujifilm X-H2S in spring 2023.
Google just launched its Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro smartphones, and as expected, the cameras haven't changed much from the previous model, hardware-wise. As usual though, Google has introduced a bunch of new and useful AI software camera tricks powered by the new Tensor G2 chip, including updates to Real Tone, along with the new Super Res Zoom, Photo Unblur and Cinematic Blur features. It also unveiled the very cool "Guide Frame" feature that helps visually impaired people take selfies.
One that's bound to be popular (and maybe overused) is Cinematic Blur. This gives you the same portrait-like blurred backgrounds for video that you get in photos, helping the subject stand out better. It's apparently made possible by the high speed and low latency of the Tensor G2 chip, delivering a "beautifully shallow depth of field," Google said.
Google
Also new is Photo Unblur, essentially a version of the Pixel 6's Face Unblur feature that works on any type of photo — and will only be available on Pixel 7 devices for now. With just a few taps, you can remove blur and other issues from older photos, potentially giving them a new life.
Next up is an update to Real Tone, first introduced last year, that improves skin tones on a diverse range of people. Google has added thousands of new sample images to its dataset to improve the feature for a wider range of skin tones. And now, it works with Google's low-light Night Sight mode and Portrait mode as well.
Google
The Super Res Zoom, meanwhile, doubles the optical resolution at a given zoom range, while letting you zoom up to 30x. It fixes potential noise by "remosaicing" the image to maximize sharpness. The result is a full 12.5-megapixel resolution photo at a 2x on the Pixel 7 and 10x on the Pixel 7 Pro. The aim is to provide the highest quality across the zoom range, rather than having only certain zoom levels (2x, 5x, etc.) looking good.
Zoom stabilization is another new feature that effectively upscales wide zoom photos while providing steadier shots than you'd get on. It also added 10-bit HDR capture, letting you capture brighter and more colorful photos and take best advantage of the HDR display. And finally, for the Pixel 7 Pro, Google introduced a new Macro focus that takes advantage of the wider field of view to allow for improved closeup shots.
Finally, Guided Frame is a new accessibility feature that tells visually impaired users exactly where to move their device to take a well-composed selfie. The voice coach will ask you to go up, down, or to the side, until its AI believes you're in the best place to shoot. Along with True Tone, it's one of the new features Google revealed to burnish its accessibility and inclusivity.
Apart from that, both the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro still come with 50-MP main and 12-MP wide cameras, with the Pixel 7 Pro using the same 48-MP telephoto camera as before. Both the pro and regular models have the same 10.8-MP front camera, compared to the 8-megapixel camera on the Pixel 6 Pro.
After debuting its first Leica-branded smartphones — including its super slim foldable phone — in China, Xiaomi is finally switching back to international mode with new flagships. The Xiaomi 12T series is comprised of two models, with the 12T Pro using Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor and being the world's second phone to pack a 200-megapixel camera. The 12T, meanwhile, utilizes MediaTek's Dimensity 8100-Ultra processor along with a 108-megapixel main camera.
Much like the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra (aka X30 Pro in China), Xiaomi's 12T Pro uses Samsung's ISOCELL HP1 sensor to capture 200-megapixel stills. While it's not as small as the more recent ISOCELL HP3, the HP1 is still able to offer features like 2x in-sensor zoom, 4-in-1 pixel binning to mimick 1.28um pixel sites for better sensitivity and 16-in-1 super pixel binning to simulate even bigger 2.56um pixel sites for dark environments. Should you choose to shoot in "Ultra HD" mode for 200-megapixel outputs, you can let the AI-powered "Xiaomi ProCut" tool to analyze those shots and suggest ideal compositions.
Additionally, this main camera has optical stabilization, and it's also capable of motion tracking focus, eye tracking focus, 8K video recording and HDR10+ video recording. The other shooters on the 12T Pro include an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera (f/2.2, 120-degree field of view), a 2-megapixel f/2.2 macro camera and a 20-megapixel f/2.24 punch-hole selfie camera on the other side of the phone. It's the same list of cameras for the slightly more affordable 12T, except for the less powerful108-megapixel main camera powered by Samsung's ISOCELL HM6 sensor.
Richard Lai/Engadget
Oddly, there's no Leica branding here. Engadget reached out to Xiaomi on this matter, to which a rep replied: "While Leica is a partner in our strategic imagery upgrade, they won't necessarily contribute to every device." Presumably, the Leica collaboration is currently limited to Xiaomi's China-only phones, namely the Mix Fold 2 and the three models in the 12S series.
Both the 12T Pro and 12T have the same 6.67-inch AMOLED screen, with a sharp resolution of 2,712 x 1,220 (446ppi) at an aspect ratio of 20:9. You get an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, with up to 480Hz touch sampling rate for better scrolling and gaming. The 12T Pro's display comes with a few additional features, including Dolby Vision, adaptive HDR, adaptive reading mode and SGS Low Visual Fatigue Certification.
The 5,000mAh battery in both 12T models supports 120W fast charging, which apparently takes just 19 minutes to go from zero to 100 percent; and don't worry, the charger and cable are included in the box. As with most flagship phones, the 12T series pack stereo speakers which support Dolby Atmos, though only the 12T Pro's have Harman Kardon tuning. Other features include NFC, Bluetooth (5.2 on the 12T Pro, 5.3 on the 12T) and infrared remote. With the Android 12-based 12T series, Xiaomi is guaranteeing three years of Android OS updates along with four years of security patches.
The 12T series will be available in three colors: blue, black and silver. The 12T Pro starts at 749 euros (around $740) with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and the 12T starts at 599 euros (around $590) with the same configuration. Some regions may get up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but one thing's for sure: Xiaomi has already confirmed that neither phone will be headed to the US. The nearest they'll come to the lower 48 will be Mexico, by way of Walmart and AT&T.
Four years after releasing the X-H1, Fujifilm has finally followed it up with not just one but two models. One of those is the highest-resolution APS-C camera to date, the 40-megapixel X-H2. The other is what we’re looking at today, the high-speed X-H2S designed for sports, wildlife shooting and more.
The biggest feature of the X-H2S is a new stacked, backside-illuminated 26.2-megapixel sensor. Its high speed allows burst shooting at up to 40 fps, faster autofocus and reduced rolling shutter. It also promises improved image quality, and comes with in-body stabilization, a high-resolution viewfinder, dual card slots and more.
These improvements and features don’t come cheap, though. At $2,500, the X-H2S is now one of the most expensive APS-C cameras out there, with the same price as comparable full-frame models like Canon’s EOS R6 and the Sony A7 IV. Is it worth paying that for a smaller sensor?
Body and handling
The X-H2S isn’t your typical Fujifilm camera. At 660 grams larger and heavier than the X-T4, though it is a touch lighter than the X-H1. It has a much bigger grip as well that imparts a feeling of stability, ideal if you’re attaching big lenses for sports or wildlife shooting.
As mentioned, the layout is more like rival mirrorless cameras from Canon and Sony than other Fuji models. Instead of dials that display shutter speed, exposure compensation and ISO like the X-T4, it has conventional front and rear dials. The only one on top is a mode selector, and at the back you have a joystick and D-Pad control. It’s got no less than 12 buttons, most of which can be reprogrammed for different functions. As with the X-H1, it has a top LCD that shows primary settings.
Since it’s designed for sports and wildlife shooting, which requires changing settings on the fly while keeping an eye on the subject, the layout makes sense. However, I know many Fujifilm fans prefer the traditional dials – though at least you can see settings on the top LCD display if shooting from the hip. The only control I didn’t care for was the record button, as it’s tiny and awkwardly positioned. The X-H2S uses the same logical menu system as the X-T4, so settings are relatively easy to find.
Also good for action photographers is the electronic viewfinder (EVF) that provides blackout-free burst shooting and higher resolution (5.76 million dots) than either the Sony A7 IV or Canon EOS R6 (3.68 million dots each). It also packs a high-resolution, fully-articulating touch display that lets you control focus, quick menu and other functions.
For I/O, you get a high-speed USB-C port with power delivery, plus WiFi and Bluetooth for camera controls or transfers. Unfortunately, Fujifilm’s camera app for live view shooting or image imports is relatively primitive (the low 1.7 Play Store rating is a clue), failing to show things like exposure and audio levels for video, or allow burst photo shooting.
Video users get both microphone and headphone ports, along with a nice full-sized HDMI jack for external recorders. To handle the extra speed and video capabilities, it has a pair of card slots, both UHS-II and high-speed CFexpress. And finally, the battery (the same kind as the X-T4 but upgraded) allows up to 720 shots on a charge and well over two hours of 4K 30p video recording.
Performance
Steve Dent/Engadget
With up to 40 fps burst shooting speeds at full resolution, the X-H2S is faster than any other APS-C camera, but there are some caveats to that. It will only hit those top speeds in release, rather than focus priority mode (meaning it takes the shot even if it’s not in focus). That means a lot of your photos will be blurry, so it’s not a realistic mode for action shooting. Dialing down to 30 fps, however, I got a lot more shots in focus and the hit rate was nearly perfect at 20 fps
Shooting with the mechanical shutter, I saw 15 fps burst speeds, very respectable and a match for Canon’s EOS R7. On top of that, the mechanical shutter is very quiet (and sweet-sounding), particularly compared to the clattery shutter on the EOS R7. In that mode or the 20 fps silent mode, I was able to capture upwards of 300 shots at a time to a fast CFexpress card – over 10 seconds of shooting. That’s right up there with sports-centric cameras like Canon’s EOS R3.
The X-H2S is Fujifilm’s first camera with bird and animal tracking, and can also follow cars, motorcycles, bikes, airplanes and trains. It worked pretty well for a first iteration, though it would lose tracking depending on the shooting angle and other factors.
Steve Dent/Engadget
Face and eye tracking, though, is the best I’ve seen on any Fujifilm camera. It tracks smoothly and tenaciously, giving you more shots in focus. It also did a good job of getting a subject’s eye and not their eyelashes or nose in focus. Overall, the autofocus on the X-H2S is much improved from before, but not quite up to Sony and Canon’s standards.
It does beat all its rivals when it comes to shooting discreetly, though. The stacked sensor’s rapid speed means it has minimal rolling shutter in silent mode, so you can confidently use it for shooting birds, wildlife, sports and other fast-moving subjects.
Promising seven stops with supported lenses, the in-body stabilization also performed well for photos, letting me get sharp shots at relatively low shutter speeds. However, it doesn’t work as well for video, as I’ll detail shortly.
Image quality
With a similar 26.2-megapixel sensor to the X-T4 (with the addition of the stacked technology), the X-H2S is among the best APS-C cameras for color rendition. Everything looks natural, whether you’re shooting landscapes, animals or people. JPEGs look good straight out of the camera, with a slightly better balance between noise and sharpening than before thanks to the tweaked color science.
Like the X-T4, it uses a dual-gain sensor, with the sweet spots at ISO 800 and 3200. High ISO performance is nearly on par with the X-T4, with noise reasonably well controlled and detailed preserved up to about ISO 6400. It does offer usable shots beyond that, but exposure needs to be correct or you’ll have excessive noise when boosting blacks.
The 14-bit RAW files offer plenty of room for adjustment, with some exceptions. Because of the dual-gain sensor, it’s better to shoot at higher ISOs than try to shoot at the base ISO 800 and then boost the blacks, as noise levels are higher. Still, you can boost blacks in high-contrast shots by several stops without any issues. It doesn’t perform quite as well as the X-T4 in this regard, likely due to the stacked technology which can raise the noise floor.
As ever, you get a range of useful JPEG film simulations like Velvia, black & white Acros and desaturated Eterna. These are well-designed and produce professional-looking results, and the original image data is preserved in the RAW file.
Video
The X-H2S is a great example of how stacked sensors improve a camera’s video capabilities. The X-H2S is now the most advanced APS-C camera for that, letting you shoot up to 6.2K 30p 3:2 video, supersampled 4K at up to 60 fps, ultra-slow-mo 120 fps 4K and 240 fps HD. Most of those modes are available in several different codecs as well. The list includes H.264 and H.265 (All-I and Long-gop), along with robust ProRes formats, including HQ, 422 and LT. And nearly all modes allow for 10-bit capture for smoother gradients and more.
It also supports Fujifilm’s F-Log and new F-Log2 formats, both in standard and Eterna cinema modes to max out dynamic range. And you can output RAW video to both Blackmagic and Atomos recorders in BRAW and ProRes RAW formats, respectively. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to test those functions, as Fujifilm has yet to enable them.
The 6.2K 3:2 might seem an odd video mode, but it does allow for more creative cropping at the top and bottom of an image. Meanwhile, the more standard 30 fps and 60 fps 4K video is extremely sharp thanks to the downsampling. The ultra-slow-mo 120 fps 4K video is cropped so it’s not quite as sharp, but it’s much less fuzzy than I expected. And even the 1080p 240p is very usable for many projects. Keep in mind that you can’t record audio in either of those modes, however.
Steve Dent/Engadget
Dynamic range is exceptional, exceeding 13 stops when shooting F-Log2. Combined with the 10-bit capture and robust ProRes codecs, you’ll have plenty of room for creative color correction or to fix over- orunder-exposed shots. As with photos, color reproduction favors accuracy, with skin tones that aren’t quite as warm as Canon’s but still pleasant.
Rolling shutter is minimal in standard and F-Log video modes thanks to the extremely fast readout speeds. They’re a bit slower in F-Log2 mode due to the fact that it does a 14-bit readout in this mode (the other modes are 12-bit), but even then, rolling shutter is still less annoying than on rival APS-C cameras like the Canon EOS R7 or Sony A6600.
If you’re concerned about overheating, it’s really only an issue with 4K 120p video, as it’ll tend to stop after 30-60 minutes of shooting, depending on the temperature. That’s really an edge case though, and if it’s an issue for you, Fujifilm has an optional external fan you can plug in under the display.
While improved from the X-T4, video autofocus isn’t as good as those Canon and Sony models, however. It lost focus more often and could occasionally hunt. There’s no ability to touch and track random subjects, and it could be erratic with birds, animals and other preset subjects.The good news, though, is that human face and eye tracking was quite reliable.
Another downside is the in-body stabilization: If you’re just hand-holding the camera and not moving much, you do get very steady shots. But anytime you try to pan and tilt, let alone walk, it has a tendency to jolt suddenly from one position to another. So for that reason, it’s not the best vlogging camera, unless Fujifilm can mitigate the issue a bit with a future update.
Wrap-up
Steve Dent/Engadget
Despite this issue and autofocus still not quite up to par with rivals, the X-H2S is easily the most powerful APS-C camera available right now. As the only model with a stacked sensor, it easily beats all Canon, Nikon and Sony models in terms of performance and video capabilities.At $2,500, though, it’s also the most expensive mainstream APS-C camera – even more than the higher-resolution, $2,000 X-H2.
Is it worth that price? Despite all the power, that’s a tough question. For that kind of money, people might prefer a full-frame camera like the Canon EOS R6 or the Sony A7 IV. At the same time, many Fujifilm fans may be turned off by the less, well, Fujifilm-like control setup.
It’s a more versatile camera than previous Fuji models, though, and is more suited to certain things than full-frame cameras. The crop-sensor gives it better range for wildlife shooting than full-frame models and it uses smaller lenses, too. It beats both the A7 IV and EOS R6 in terms of video capability, and again, the smaller sensor makes focus less critical. Finally, I still like it as a street photography camera – despite the lack of mechanical dials, you can still see F-stop, shutter speed, ISO, etc. on the top LCD display. So if you’re a hybrid shooter that does a variety of photo and video work, the X-H2S could be the perfect camera.
These days, the idea of a camera just for “action” feels like a bit of an anachronism. In 2022 social media is king, and action is a just one subsection thereof. You only need to look at the last few GoPros, and the competition, to see that brands with skin in the game are all too aware of that. Enter the Hero 11 Black, where everything feels a bit grown up, in a skate-dad kinda way.
As for what’s new, if you had “physical design” on your bingo card, you’re out of luck. Substantial redesigns seem to come along every three or four years, but for now the Hero 11 looks exactly the same as the 10 just with a 1 replacing the 0 painted on the side.
As usual, though, there are some extra shooting modes. SuperView is now available right up to 5K60/4K120 (previously 4K/60 was the max). Similarly, still images receive a boost from 23-megapixels up to 27. There’s also 10-bit color across the board. The shrewd among you will have spotted that this means there is a new sensor and it’s core to some of the other new features below. Despite the move up from 1 /2.3 to 1 /1.9 those extra megapixels don’t seem to have really translated to improved low light performance (accordingly there’s no such claim). Instead you have more pixels to play with.
In fact, this new, taller sensor is what enables two of the main new features: First is 360-degree horizon lock in Linear mode (up to 5.3K/30). Horizon-leveling was already pretty good on the Hero 10, but now it’s absolute. If your activities involve a lot of tight corners or literal body spinning this can be used for creative effect. If, like me, you’re just prone to wonkily mounting your camera you can really just forget about all that now. Both DJI’s new Osmo Action 3 and the Insta360 offer similar horizon lock features, but GoPro’s is available in frame rates such as 4K/60 and 2.7K/120, whereas DJI’s, for example, tops out at 2.7K/60.
The second, and probably bigger advantage to the taller sensor is the ability to record in “Full Frame.” This isn’t a camera mode per se – although it can be used as such if you like 8:7, 5.3K video. It’s more of a tool for shooting absolutely everything and then “punching out” the aspect ratio you want (or more than one) after the fact. With Full Frame, you can shoot once and pull a 4K,16:9 video out for YouTube and then a 9:16 version for TikTok, for example. Both with completely different framing if you wish. Alternatively, you can kinda set and forget, and then just frame the shot after the fact.
James Trew / Engadget
This feature has a lot of potential, especially if you’re not really sure what shooting mode to go for. I tried it out by mounting the camera on my bike perpendicular to the frame (turning the bike into a dolly of sorts). I rode past some interesting scenery and then punched out a conventional 16:9 edit and a mobile-friendly 9:16 version. The landscape clip came out pretty good as I was able to cut out a lot of pavement and focus on the subject. The mobile version still turned out better than if I had to crop it out from a 16:9, and of course there was no loss of resolution, but this particular shot didn’t end up being suitable for portrait. Either way, the Full Frame feature improved both videos and the fact I could frame each of them differently definitely got me thinking about other cool things I could do with this.
If there was a negative, you might find yourself having to think backwards. For example, I did a short intro to camera using the front screen to frame myself, but when I was choosing the aspect ratio I wanted to punch out later, I realized that I was filling the screen so had to settle for a weird crop. Something I would have avoided if I was recording in a fixed FOV like 16:9 from the start.
Keeping things frame-related, there is a new “digital lens” (which is GoPro’s marketing language for Field of View) called HyperView. Way back in 2013 the company introduced SuperView which shoehorned everything on the sensor into a 16:9 aspect ratio. It’s a bit intense, but does make first-person shots feel faster and more immersive. Well, HyperView is essentially that but for the new, taller sensor and it’s a bit bonkers.
James Trew / Engadget
You will absolutely not want to use this one for everything, but for certain shots it should be a go-to. I tried it while mounted on my handlebars and it was very noticeable how warped trees and buildings looked as I passed. Worse, those slightly weird angles made the video feel like I was watching a 90s first-person-shooter game.
That said, I did a second shot with the camera hanging low by my board as I skated around town and I can’t stop watching it. The proximity to the floor and the pace and intensity of objects as they passed by made it feel like I was in the cockpit of a tiny FPV drone. Even I felt like I needed to slow down after watching the video, despite knowing in reality I wasn’t going particularly fast.
Now, this might have been a great time to test another flagship feature – automatically generated highlight videos. GoPro has gradually been making it easier to turn the contents of your SD card into an interesting edit for a few years. Now, the company is taking things into its own (AI) hands and will rustle up an edit for you once you get back home and plug the camera in. You’ll need a GoPro subscription to take advantage of this feature, but given it’s effectively cheaper these days to buy the sub with the camera that shouldn’t keep too many people excluded.
Unfortunately, at time of writing this, the feature isn’t available to test.
Something that we can talk about are the new night lapse modes. There are three in total: Star Trails, Light Painting and Vehicle Lights. All three are pretty explanatory and they add some welcome additions to the standard time-lapse options, but I’m going to guess these aren’t really things most folk will be using regularly, though they can make for some good creative B-roll type shots or fun things to share when you’re in a location with low light pollution (or near a crazy motorway intersection at night we presume).
James Trew / Engadget
We've come this far without talking about how the videos and photos actually look. GoPro image quality has come a long way in recent years. Last year there was a noticeable improvement in sharpness. And while there’s no real change this time around, colors do seem to pop a little bit more, without the slightly over-saturated look of older cameras. That’s likely thanks to the new 10-bit color which will be appreciated by pro users having more data to crunch in post.
HyperSmooth, once again gets some love, with the software-stabilization now in its fifth iteration. Honestly, at this point the stabilization is so good that it’s hard to tell how it’s improved. Mentally I’ve written off any GoPro before the Hero 7 as I just can’t go back to pre-stabilization days. Just know that videos look as smooth and steady as you likely ever need.
Perhaps you haven’t used a GoPro before, or since the dark days when there was only a small monochrome display on the front. In which case, using a modern model can be a bit overwhelming as there are a lot of features and shortcuts crammed into the rear display. To help with that, GoPro introduced “Easy” mode which uses a single preset for each of the three main shooting modes (Time Lapse, Video, Photo).
Easy mode doesn’t make it instantly clear what FOV or framerate you’re shooting in, but it’s 5.3K/30 at 16:9 according to a test video and the small text in the “speed” shortcut menu that I’ll get to in a minute. Time Lapse defaults to Time Warp (stabilized videos made from still images), which is probably the most useful of the lot, so that makes sense. Photos default to SuperPhoto which is GoPro’s own “automatic” mode so that also makes sense.
James Trew / Engadget
Despite the lack of menu options, you’ll still find shortcuts to change the “speed” (slow motion) and the amount of Horizon Lock (or not) to use. Likewise, in photo mode you can still change the FOV if you wish and add a self-timer. I’m never going to complain about having a more accessible option for those that don’t want to be bombarded with choice, but regular users probably want to stick to Pro mode.
Whichever option you choose, it’s no good if the battery doesn’t give you time to enjoy it. That cheesy transition is me introducing the regular battery-life section. Last year the company introduced a new extreme weather “Enduro” battery as an additional accessory. Now, that battery is the standard cell for the camera.
Despite the name, the claims are ambiguous, stating a battery life improvement of up to 40 percent. That seems to be specifically tied to the performance under more intense temperatures. The most “extreme” weather I was able to test in was regular 94-degree summer heat. I had a few outings where the camera was on constantly and recording with GPS activated, save a few occasions when I was changing settings and so on. This includes plenty of connecting to the camera with my phone and pulling media wirelessly. On average, the GoPro lasted for about an hour and a half which isn’t quite as long as I’d hoped, but it is a 20 percent increase over last year’s camera in similar testing (minus GPS).
This, of course, is constant use with all the wireless/GPS on. If you’re turning the camera on and off throughout the day, not shooting in maximum resolution and not using the app heavily like I was, you can reasonably expect something decently north of that. Either way, given the new battery comes as standard there’s at least a small saving here over having to buy it as an accessory.
James Trew / Engadget
Which naturally brings us onto the overall value proposition. The good news is, the Hero 11 Black costs the same as last year’s flagship: $399.98 with a subscription or $500 without. There’s literally no reason to buy it without the subscription though as far as I can tell. However, even at the lower price, the Hero 11 Black is more expensive than the Osmo Action 3 ($329) and the Insta360 RS 4K bundle ($300).
One hundred dollars (or two, potentially) is a pretty wide spread for competing products. GoPro has the richest ecosystem of the three cameras mentioned above, but the rivals broadly sidestep this with compatible mounts. When it comes down to features, there’s a lot of overlap, but I have found GoPro’s are the better balance of practical-yet-creative. But as noted above with things like Horizon Lock, the specifics can vary from brand to brand.
What’s less in doubt is the dilemma if you were thinking of upgrading. If you’re coming from the Hero 10, there’s maybe not enough of a step forward to make it worthwhile just yet. If you’re coming from an older model, like the Hero 8 and before, the decision is much easier.
As much as this feels like an iterative update in many ways, we’ve had two years of fairly strong revisions with the Hero 9 and Hero 10. In tandem, the competition from DJI and Insta360 has really started to put some serious pressure on GoPro. The result is that it is possibly the best time in history to be buying what was formerly known as the action camera.
DJI has done another 180 on its Osmo action cam lineup. The original Osmo Action had a classic GoPro look, but then with the Action 2 (no Osmo), DJI went to an oddball modular design. It had some interesting ideas – it was nice and small, and you could add storage, a front-facing screen and more with the add-on units. But it suffered from overheating, proved to be somewhat fragile and was overly complex.
Now with the Osmo Action 3, DJI has brought back the action-cam form factor. It also made numerous small improvements from the mount to the displays to the battery – but kept the previous model’s 1/1.7-inch, 12-megapixel sensor and maximum 4K 120p video resolution.
The rival Hero 10 is in a class by itself with its HyperSmooth 4.0 stabilization, 5.3K 60p resolution and 240fps 2.7K frame rate – and GoPro has teased a new model (“taking it to 11”) arriving in exactly an hour – quite the interesting coincidence. To see how it stacks up, I tested it on a vehicle, bike and on foot, while getting a face-first look at the improved durability.
Body and handling
Without the battery module, the Action 2 has a fairly weak 60 minutes of battery life. DJI has addressed that with the new “Extreme Battery” on the Osmo Action 3 that lasts up to 160 minutes. It’s also the first action camera with fast-charging (via the Multifunction Battery Case) that allows for an 80 percent charge in just 18 minutes, or a full charge in 50 minutes.
It has a slick new magnetic quick-release mount that lets you connect the camera directly to a GoPro-style mount with or without the case. It also allows for easy vertical mounting, making the Action 3 better for social media.
That lets you detach the camera from a bike, car or other mount without the need to remove it from the case. DJI notes that the mounting system “eliminates loose connections and withstands impact such as a rider falling off their bike,” but recommends not doing that.
Steve Dent/Engadget
So naturally, I executed a perfect face plant on my mountain bike, and can confirm that the camera came away unscathed, unlike my face (yes, there’s video). The camera clearly made some contact with the ground but stayed attached to the mount and suffered no visible damage – so kudos to DJI for that.
You also get a front (1.4-inch, 360x360) and rear (2.25-inch, 640x360) screen that are both touch-enabled, making for easier vlogging or self-shooting. Gorilla Glass on the displays aids in the promised impact resistance. The menu system works in the same way as the Action 2, mainly by swiping. You swipe up to change primary settings like resolution and frame rate, down to access the main menu, left to change the shooting mode and right to play back footage. The menus work in the same way on both the front and rear displays.
It’s not terribly intuitive, but probably the best option for a screen that small. You can also connect the camera to DJI’s Mimo app, which is easier to use and more like what you’ll find on its Fly and Go drone apps. That lets you control video and photo captures remotely, while changing all the key camera settings.The app is also used to update the camera’s firmware.
As before, the Osmo Action 3 can work as a webcam, promising higher-quality video and audio than your typical built-in camera for conference calls and livestreams. This works well, with minimal setup and an easy connection via USB-C, though video is very wide. It also lets you livestream via WiFi at up to 1080/30p.
Video and stabilization
The Action 3 uses the latest version of DJI’s stabilization, Rocksteady 3.0, to eliminate camera shake in all directions up to the maximum 4K/120fps. It's nearly on par with GoPro’s HyperSmooth 4. I tested it on a vehicle over rough gravel roads, riding a bike on trails and roads with the camera mounted on my helmet, and on foot with the included selfie stick. It smoothed out the video perfectly in all those situations, only letting me down once (when I crashed), for some unknown reason.
It also uses DJI’s Horizon features that first arrived on the Osmo Action to keep the image level. HorizonSteady does a combination of shake reduction and horizon leveling, even through heavy bumps and extreme 360 degree rotations. This could be useful for… I’m not sure? Perhaps skydiving, scuba diving or the like. Note that it only works at up to 2.7K resolution and crops the image, no doubt because it requires the surrounding pixels to compensate for rotation.
Steve Dent/Engadget
HorizonBalancing corrects the tilt horizontally within ±45° and allows for steady recording at 4K/60fps. DJI calls it “a good middle ground between RockSteady and HorizonSteady, where a smooth 4K picture in dynamic movement is priority, such as an obstacle course run.” That feature kept my footage both smooth and steady, even through steep banks on a bike through streets.
The Action 3’s camera offers a 155-degree field of view (equivalent to a 12.5mm full-frame lens), considerably wider than the GoPro Hero 10’s 19mm equivalent in linear mode or about 16mm in fisheye mode. It also offers a standard dewarped (linear) view, along with wide and ultra-wide FOVs, with the latter considerably distorted. The zoom function is digital-only and looks pretty poor – you’d be better off zooming in using your video editing app.
As mentioned, DJI is playing up the vertical aspect ratio, with not just a vertical mount and user interface, but vertical shooting capability. The feature allow for 9:16 vertical shooting so you can post social media content at all the available resolutions with no need for cropping.
Video quality is excellent, at least on par with the Hero 10 at the equivalent resolution (the Action 3 has a 130Mbps max data rate, while Hero 10 tops out at 100Mbps). As mentioned, it can do 120fps at 4K, or 240fps at 1080p. On top of the video modes, you can shoot 12-megapixel photos.
The Hero 10, meanwhile, supports 5.3K at up to 60fps, 4K at 120 fps and 2.7K at 240fps. It’s nice to have the 240fps option at a higher resolution, but the DJI Osmo Action 3 is arguably a touch sharper at the full 4K 120p resolution.
The Hero 10 is better in low light, though. Despite the larger pixels, the Action 3’s video can get quite noisy, even in daylight in shaded forest, for instance. By contrast (sorry), the Hero 10 delivers clearer footage in similar situations.
With the new model, DJI has added the D-Cinelike color mode from its drones to boost dynamic range and make editing easier with contrasty footage. It also added a new color temperature sensor that automatically adjusts white balance and exposure in a single shot if you’re moving from shadows to bright sunlight or diving into water, for instance. That usually gave me relatively smooth transitions from shaded to sunlit areas, though again, the Hero 10 does a better job in this regard.
The Action 3 is waterproof at depths up to 16 meters (52.5 feet) without any housing and 64 meters with the optional waterproof case. That makes it ideal for snorkeling, light scuba diving, surfing and other watersports without the case, and deeper diving with it. I didn’t get a chance to test that feature other than splashing some water on it, but it certainly looks tight and solid.
Some users complained about overheating on the previous model, but DJI said that a new heat management system allows for continuous 4K 60p recording "until the battery runs out." I ran it at that resolution for 60 minutes with no issues, but at 4K 120p, the camera warns that the maximum recording time is nine minutes. GoPro Hero 10 users have reported recording times around 20-30 minutes at 5.3K 60p or 4K 120p.
Where the Action 2 required the optional display module for extra microphones, the new model has three built-in mics (two on the bottom front and one on top) with wind-noise reduction that offer reasonably high quality sound. You can also plug DJI’s microphone into the USB-C port or use another external mic via a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter.
It offers voice controls and voice prompts that give you the current settings without the need to stop or unmount the camera. Other features include the “Invisistick” feature to hide a selfie stick while skiing, loop recording and quick switching between five custom modes. Finally, it offers a low-power timelapse feature with presets for crowds, clouds and sunsets, along with dynamic timelapse video stabilization that offers smooth exposure and color temperature changes.
Wrap-up
Steve Dent/Engadget
So what to make of the Osmo Action 3? DJI wisely returned to an action cam form, while addressing the overheating and other complaints of users who purchased the Action 2. It also introduced features that trump the Hero 10, like the magnetic clip mount and long-lasting, fast-charging battery.
However, it still doesn’t beat GoPro where it really counts: the footage. Stabilization is nearly comparable, but the $400 Hero 10 (with subscription) has superior low-light powers, smoother scene transitions and higher resolution. Another option is the $300 Insta360 One RS, but the the linear frame rates (with the 4K Boost Lens) are lower than either the Hero 10 or Action 3 at 4K, 2.7K and 1080p resolutions — though it's a good option if you need 360-degree capture.
The Osmo Action 3 looks like a good option for many folks, though, particularly at the $329 base price. You can also grab it for $439 in the adventure combo, with three Extreme Batteries and the multifunction case, protective frame, a 1.5m extension rod, flat adhesive base, pair of quick-release adapter mounts and more. DJI also offers a large number of accessories including
From the moment Canon launched the full-frame mirrorless EOS R, everyone wondered if it would use the same mount for APS-C cameras and effectively kill the EF-M system. It did just that in May, launching not just one but two RF APS-C cameras. One was the flagship $1,500 EOS R7 that I tested last month, and the other is the $980 EOS R10, the subject of today’s review.
For that considerably lower price, some features are missing. It has a lower-resolution 24-megapixel sensor versus the R7’s 33 and is missing some of the R7’s highlight features like in-body stabilization and a second card slot.
Surprisingly though, it nearly matches the R7 in shooting speeds and offers similar video specs. It also has the benefit of being smaller and lighter for travel, street shooting and more. But technical details aside, how does it perform in the real world, particularly for casual users and beginners? I took it on vacation and did some sports and street shooting to find out.
Body and handling
Much like with the EF and EF-S lens mounts used on Canon’s DSLRs, the R10 uses the RF-S mount that’s compatible with full-frame RF mount cameras. As such, it supports every full-frame RF lens and also works with the two new RF-S lenses released with the R7 and R10. However, those are only kit lenses, so if you want a prime lens you’ll need to either buy a full-frame lens or use a DSLR EF lens with an adapter.
The R10 isn’t as pretty as its rival, the Fujifilm X-T30, but it’s better-looking and easier to use than any of Sony’s boxy APS-C cameras. It’s quite small and light, weighing just 426 grams, considerably less than the 612-gram R7 and just a bit more than the Sony A6400.
Despite the small size, it’s got a generous array of physical controls. That includes a pair of dials for exposure, a mode selection dial, a joystick, a D-pad and an AF/M button. You also get a focus selector switch on the front, a record button on top and five programmable buttons across the back and top.
Canon didn’t try anything fancy here as it did with the touch control on the EOS-R, and everything is easy to find, particularly if you’re used to Canon cameras. The grip is deep, though your fingers can get cramped with a large lens installed. The menus are typical Canon, so they don’t exactly have a fresh modern look, but they’re easy to use.
Like every other R-series camera so far, the R10 has a flip-out screen for vlogging and selfies. Canon is clearly marketing this at vacationers, young people and YouTubers, so this feature is a must. The EVF is mediocre though, with a low-res 2,368K screen and low magnification. To be fair though, other cameras in this price range have similar EVs.
The R10 has a single SD card slot and small 1,040 mAh LP-E17 battery. That’s also par for the course in this category, but it means that you can’t back up your photos so you could lose them if your card is corrupt. Battery life is also on the low side at 450 shots max (with the monitor) or about an hour of 4K 30p video shooting.
It has a USB-C port for data transfers and charging, but it’s fussy about which chargers you can use. I didn’t have any luck with any of my phone chargers or cables, so you’ll need to check what Canon recommends. It has a micro HDMI port, along with WiFi and Bluetooth and comes with a microphone input but no way to connect headphones. By comparison, Fujifilm’s X-T30 lets you hook up headphones with an iPhone-style USB-C adapter.
Performance
Steve Dent/Engadget
The R10 does the main thing most buyers want: it takes sharp photos, quickly. It can shoot at up to 15 fps in mechanical shutter mode, an impressive figure for a consumer camera and the same as the R7. In electronic mode, it can hit 23 fps, just 7 fps shy of its pricier sibling. However, you’ll need to beware of rolling shutter in silent mode that can skew photos if the camera or subject moves too quickly. But it’s not as bad as the R7 in that respect.
With a smaller buffer than the R7, it can only sustain those bursts for around two seconds, so you’ll need to time your shooting well. It does support UHS-II SD cards, though, so it can clear the buffer quickly if you have a fast card.
The best feature of this camera is the AI-powered Dual Pixel autofocus that’s similar to what you find on the R7 and even the professional EOS R3. It allowed me to keep fast-moving subjects in focus, either by keeping the AF point on them or using face and eye tracking. You can track people, animals and vehicles, but it doesn’t really support tap-to-track like other Canon models.
With people or animals it’ll fluidly track the head or eyes, and does a great job of switching between the two seamlessly. For racing vehicles, it attempts to focus on the helmet of the driver. The system is responsive, reliable and nearly idiot-proof, smoothly tracking subjects whether you’re in point or wide area AF modes. That makes it great for beginners who may not want to dive into the manual to figure out complex settings for subject tracking.
Image quality
The R10 delivers accurate colors with warm skin tones like most photographers want. JPEGs strike a good balance between sharpening and noise reduction, while RAW files deliver decent but not spectacular dynamic range. That allows for a good amount of room to tweak images.
Low-light performance is a weak point, however. You can consider ISO 6400 to be a hard limit, and even then, you’ll get a lot of noise if you try to boost blacks on underexposed shots. ISO 12,800 is possible in a pinch, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you need a clear photo. The lack of in-body stabilization also means you’ll risk getting blurry photos at shutter speeds under 1/100th, unless your hands are spectacularly steady.
As I frequently forgot, though, the R10 does have a built-in flash that’ll let you at least get a clear though not very artistic photo if you don’t have enough light. Just make sure to dial the flash strength down in the settings to avoid blowing out your subject.
Video
Steve Dent/Engadget
The R10 is one of the best APS-C cameras for video. You get sharp, downsampled 4K at 30 fps or less, and cropped video at 60 fps that’s not as sharp but certainly still usable. If you want super slow, it can shoot at 120 fps at 1080p, but video is obviously softer still.
It’s also the only sub-$1,000 APS-C camera I can think of that offers 10-bit video via the HDR PQ mode. However, unlike with most log video, you won’t find a standard lookup table (LUT) for this in Adobe Premiere or other editing systems. So unless you play the video directly to an HDR TV, it can be tricky to work with.
Autofocus isn’t quite as good for video as for photos, as the system occasionally focuses on the background instead of the subject. That doesn’t happen often though, so the video I shot was usually sharp except in a few cases.
The lack of in-body IS means you’ll need to use stabilized lenses for handheld video. And for anything like vlogging, you’ll also want to turn on the electronic stabilization or even use the enhanced IS. Electronic IS adds a significant crop, on top of the 1.6X APS-C crop, so the two kit lenses are just barely wide enough on the 18mm end of the zoom.
Steve Dent/Engadget
Vlogging at 60 fps adds another degree of difficulty, as you get a further 1.56x crop, so the 18mm lens becomes nearly a 50mm lens. While vlogging, I found I could barely fit my head into the frame, even while using a Joby Gorillapod to add some extra arm length.
Rolling shutter can also be an issue, particularly for oversampled 4K 30p video, though it’s far less severe than in Sony’s APS-C cameras. It improves in 4K 60p mode because there’s less sensor to read out, but again, you’re facing a serious crop and softer footage.
As with photos, video quality is excellent with dynamic range on par with rival cameras, though a bit less than what Sony has on offer. The oversampled video is very sharp and again, colors are precise and skin-friendly. You can get extra dynamic range shooting in HDR mode for sunsets and the like, but again, beware that it requires some work to look any good.
Wrap-up
Steve Dent/Engadget
The $980 EOS R10 is a solid start for Canon’s budget crop-sensor RF cameras. It has awesome shooting speeds, excellent autofocus, good image quality, nice handling, a flip-out display and solid video capabilities.
There is room for improvement, though. It’s not as huge a leap as I’d hoped over Sony’s $900, two-year-old A6400. And while it has 10-bit capability and better autofocus than Fujfilm’s $900 X-T30 II, the latter is better overall for video and has slightly higher resolution. It’s also a bit too expensive to qualify as a true budget camera.
Still, this camera is bound to appeal to users who want to step up from a smartphone and are tempted by Canon’s solid reputation. They won’t be disappointed with the R10, because it’s easy to use and delivers where it counts with sharp, nice-looking photos and video.
Sony has unveiled an unusual mirrorless camera that essentially marries the FX6 cinema camera's tech with remote-controlled robotics. Called the FR7, it's the "world's first" pan-tilt-zoom full-frame interchangeable-lens camera with pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) robotic technology, according to the company.
Priced at nearly $10,000 without a lens, it's designed for professional productions including reality shows, concerts, dramas, music videos and more. For instance, it could be mounted on dolly tracks, a crane or a tripod and remotely follow subjects around without getting in the way. It could also be fixed to a vehicle, with the pan-tilt-zoom capabilities giving the director more interesting angles and shots.
Sony
The large sensor allows for a more cinematic image than typical robotic TV cameras, too. "The cinematic look and feel is rapidly becoming the norm in broadcasting and live production as it opens up new ways to tell a narrative," said Sony Electronics VP Yang Chen. "In parallel, over the last 2 years, we’ve seen a steep rise in content created remotely or in small locations where access is difficult."
The FR7 looks a bit like Sony cut the back off an FX6, leaving the mount and small body fixed to a compact motorized system. It's designed to smoothly pan and tilt at speeds ranging from .02 to a rapid 60 degrees per second, while moving from plus or minus 170 degrees (pan) and -30 to 195 degrees (tilt). You can store up to 100 camera presents and control it using a web app or the optional $2,625 RM-IP500 remote controller.
The 10.3-megapixel sensor is an unusual choice, as it may not be suitable for some high-end productions due to the 4K resolution limit. However, it does offer 4K recording at up to 120 fps or 1080p at 240fps. On top of that, it has a native ISO range up to 409,600 with 15+ stops of dynamic range, making it suitable for shooting in low light. It also comes with S-Log3 gamma, wide S-Gamut3 and S-Gamut3.Cine color spaces for HDR and enhanced color grading capabilities.
Sony
It offers the same autofocus capabilities as the FX6, including Fast Hybrid AF, Real-time Eye AF and Real-time Tracking, with touch focus available via the web app. Sony promises fast and accurate eye-detect AF, which will be key for things like reality shows or live streaming with no physical operator. It also comes with a built-in electronic variable ND filter, dual SD/CFexpress Type A slots, an ethernet port for remote control (and power) and SDI/HDMI video outputs.
The FR7 costs $9,700 without a lens, or $12,200 with Sony's FE PZ 28-135mm f/4 cinema lens. It's set to go on preorder in the US on September 7th and Sony will show it off at IBC 2022 in Amsterdam later this week.
