This roundup is part of This Year in Gear, a look back at the year’s most notable releases. To stay on top of all the latest product news, subscribe to our daily Dispatch newsletter.
Lit Cam
Price: $2
From: apple.com
Lit Cam helps iPhones take better photos in low-light situations or even in complete darkness. It lets users control the brightness of the camera’s rear flash, as well as the brightness of the screen for shooting dimly lit selfies.
Canon EOS Rebel SL3
Price: $599
From: amazon.com
Canon’s EOS Rebel SL3 is the successor to the EOS Rebel SL2 and the newest addition to the company’s iconic line of entry-level DSLRs. The big news here: the EOS Rebel SL3 is the first Canon Rebel camera that can shoot 4K video. It’s also smaller and lighter than any of Canon’s previous Rebel cameras.
Canon IVY Cliq+ Instant Camera Printer
Price: $99
From: amazon.com
Canon’s new IVY Cliq+ uses an internal digital printer like its predecessor, but now offers users the chance to tweak and edit shots in a companion mobile phone app before printing the final result on a two-by-three-inch piece of ZINK photo paper. This upgraded model also features an 8MP sensor (rather than the 5MP of the original IVY Cliq), plus an LED ring around the lens for better flash. Both the Cliq and Cliq+ offer expandable SD card storage, optical viewfinders, USB charging, autofocus and automatic exposure.
Sony RX0 II
Price: $698
From: amazon.com
The Sony RX0 II is the company’s newest action camera and the successor of the two-year-old RXO. Sony claims it’s “the world’s smallest and lightest premium ultra-compact camera.” With some pretty significant upgrades over its predecessor, the RX0 II kind of blurs the line between action camera and traditional compact shooter.
Lume Cube
Price: $90
From: amazon.com
The Lume Cube, a terrific tool for any kind of lighting you require, is an 1.5-inch square, waterproof up to 100 feet and drop-proof. From attaching to drones, to smartphones to being used for poorly-lit video conferences in the office, this tiny box really performs well. One could say it shines.
DJI Osmo Action
Price: $349
From: amazon.com
The DJI Osmo Action is capable of shooting 4K video at 60 fps, as well as 12-megapixel stills, and it comes with a bunch of other creative features. You can shoot time-lapse, slow-mo (up to 8x) and HDR videos. The Osmo Action also has built-in electronic image stabilization, which DJI has featured in its latest drones and most-recent handheld camera, the Osmo Pocket.
Peak Design Travel Tripod
Price: $350
From: bhphotovideo.com
The Travel Tripod is a compact camera stand that competes with the best available in every way. Peak Design considered every facet of tripod use and changed it — for the better. Latches replace annoying twist locks to extend the legs, making it quick to deploy. A single adjustment ring releases the ball head to move into any orientation, and a quick-release button makes attaching and removing a camera fast and easy.
Evoc Hip Pack Capture
Price: $135
From: bikedepot.com
Evoc’s new photography collection includes a rolling bag with lots of storage and a full range of backpacks in various volumes, but its Hip Pack Capture is the standout. The bag has seven liters of storage capacity, six of which are dedicated to a main compartment that can be organized for different camera setups or accessories with a system of padded dividers. There are also smaller pockets for things like memory cards, your phone and trail snacks, and straps on the bottom to hold onto a tripod, too.
Hasselblad X1D II
Price: $5,750
From: amazon.com
At a surface level, the difference between the X1D and the new X1D II is slight. The finish is darker, the rear touchscreen is .6 inches larger and there’s a “II” after the X1D etching on top. What Hasselblad has done instead is focus on speeding up the user experience: the company says continuous shooting is up 35 percent, live view frame rate is up 62 percent, the electronic viewfinder is much improved and start up time is nearly cut in half. But maybe the most notable change is the price. It’s come down to $5,750, bringing it much closer in line with Fuji’s GFX line while offering a generally superior user experience.
DJI Ronin-SC
Price: $439
From: amazon.com
The DJI Ronin-SC is a smaller, lighter and cheaper version of the Ronin-S gimbal, designed specifically for mirrorless cameras. Aside from the differences in size and weight, the biggest upgrade with the DJI Ronin-SC is that it supports Bluetooth 5.0, which enables a subject-tracking mode.
DJI Osmo Mobile 3
Price: $109
From: amazon.com
DJI’s Osmo Mobile 3 is a big upgrade over its 2015 predecessor, the Osmo Mobile 2. First, it’s foldable. This is a first for any Osmo Mobile gimbal and it allows the new model to be way more compact and portable. Second, the trigger button from the first-generation Osmo Mobile is back. This trigger button helps maneuver the gimbal by locking orientation, rotating the gimbal for selfies, and auto-centering when tracking a subject. Third, it’s really easy to switch between portrait to landscape modes while using the Osmo Mobile 3. Just press the “M” button three times in and row and it’ll quickly reorient the smartphone.
GoodLight.One
Price: $5
From: blackbird.com
GoodLight.One uses AI as well as the data from trusted weather services, like DarkSky or Met.no, to predict the forecast up to four days in advance, anywhere in the world. According to the company, the app will tell photographers information about the quality of the light, as well as the kind of photography (such as landscapes, portraits, architecture, night landscapes and astronomical) that the weather will be ideal for.
Leica SL2
Price: $5,995
From: adorama.com
The SL2 has a redesigned body featuring improved ergonomics and more user-friendly controls, with a 4-axis stabilized 47-megapixel full-frame sensor. It’s compatible with the ever-deepening range of L-Mount lenses from Leica, Panasonic, and Sigma. Alternatives are the Sony A7rIV ($3,498), which has a much more impressive spec sheet but lacks the same premium build quality and design, and the Hasselblad X1D II ($5,750), which costs nearly the same and shares a similar luxurious build but has a larger, more impressive medium-format sensor — yielding better images but also slowing the camera down considerably. The SL2’s body will cost $5,995 (same as the outgoing SL)
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