As a professional photographer and filmmaker, relies on his versatile collection of gear to meet the demands of his work. In the past, he often turned to Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace to find used cameras and lenses. But numerous last-minute meetup cancellations and alarming stories of friends getting scammed pushed him to seek out a more reliable option.

That’s when he decided to give a try.

He began trading some gear that was collecting dust in his closet and found the process easy and smooth: no need to coordinate in-person swaps with strangers from the internet. Plus, the option to trade took some pressure off his wallet. Creatives can save up to 40 percent on retail prices, which is a big boost whether you’re on a budget or want to allocate the savings toward other business expenses like travel, accessories, or more camera gear.

“One of the biggest hurdles for me in photography has always been how expensive gear can get,” Shainblum explained. “I’d often delay buying lenses because of the steep price tags. But trading and buying used gear changed everything—it opened the door to experimenting with new lenses and exploring different styles of photography.”

Shainblum also got the buying confidence he wanted from MPB. As the leading reseller of used digital cameras and lenses* in the United States, MPB’s online platform is a trusted resource for photographers and videographers to buy, sell, and trade equipment. Every item on the platform has a free six-month warranty and is 100 percent MPB Approved, meaning product specialists thoroughly inspect and photograph each piece and document any imperfections before it’s listed. Creatives can explore a , read in-depth reviews of popular models, access valuable how-to guides, and directly on the site, starting with a free quote.

A hallmark of MPB is its commitment to making visual storytelling accessible to everyone, regardless of skill level or budget. By offering trust and consistency in what has traditionally been a fragmented market, MPB is fostering a circular resale economy within creative communities. This approach not only supports sustainability but also strengthens the sense of connection and community.

Tammy Oler, vice president of marketing at MPB, describes a circular economy as one that works to minimize waste and pollution by circulating products and materials for reuse. Oler explains that MPB puts this model to work by buying, selling, and trading used gear. In addition, MPB was the first camera reseller to transparently , while also publishing its goals and progress.

“Our sustainability efforts are linked directly to our purpose: to open up the world of visual storytelling in a way that’s good for people and the planet,” Oler said. “We make it easy and worthwhile to give unwanted gear a new life, which puts affordable used gear into the hands of more creatives.”

is the largest global platform to buy, sell, and trade used photo and video equipment. MPB provides a simple, safe, and circular way—for amateurs to pros, with any budget—to trade, upgrade, and get paid for gear.

*MPB is currently not buying or selling film or analog cameras, with occasional exceptions.

The post The Best Platform for Buying, Selling, and Trading Used Camera Gear appeared first on şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř Online.

For the past 25 years I’ve spent way too much time thinking and talking about cameras, from the iPhone to high-end mirrorless models.ĚýAs a tech nerd, I’ve dug deep into the minutia of various features, gone breathless debating differences between brands, and tried to get my hands on every model currently available to test.

Over the course of my obsession, I’ve learned how to decipher the marketing lingo and differentiate between the hundreds of options. Here’s my advice for anyone shopping for a new camera system.

Get Ready for a Long-Term Relationship

Those of us who play outside know that when we buy an expensive piece of gear, like a mountain bike, we’re essentially committing to a multi-year relationship. The price tag is big enough that we’ll need that much time to get our money’s worth. But we also know that in a couple yearsĚýwe’ll likely upgrade to what comes next in order to stay up on current technology.

Cameras are similar but require an even longer commitment. That’s because cameras come as a system—body, lenses, flashes, accessories, etc. A camera system is a big investment—expect to shell out around $1,500 for an entry-level setup and up to $10,000 for a high-end system. That’s a lot of money, soĚýyou’ll want to stick with that system to avoid the giant headache, and cost, of building an entirely new system when you upgrade one piece.

You’ll likely upgrade your camera bodies regularly because those, like mountain bikes, become outdated fairly quickly. But lenses, which are often just as expensive as camera bodies, have a much longer shelf life. The same is true for accessories like flashes and camera bags, so once you’ve dialed in your system, you’ll want to stick with that specific brand. Do your research to find out which brand suits your needs.

Choose Your Brand Carefully

A camera brand is more than a name. Each brand has distinctive characteristics, and since you plan to stick with a brand, you’ll want to ask these detailed questions when choosing.

• Do I like the ergonomics of the camera? Each camera brand has its own way of organizing buttons, dials, and digital menus and you’ll find that you often like one system better than the rest. Each camera feels different in your hand as well, so try to hold as many as possible.
• Do I like the camera’s color palette and tonality? All of the major brands—Sony, Canon, Nikon, and Fuji, as well as lesser-known brands like Olympus and Pentax—make cameras that churn out beautiful photos. But the photos are all slightly different in terms of how they reproduce colors and how they capture highlights and shadows. You’ll need to dig around, look at examples, and determine which one you like best.
• Does the brand offer the lenses I want?ĚýAll brands offer a similar lineup of high-quality lenses, but there are subtle differences that might help you make your decision. Canon, for example, offers a 28-70mm lens that goes down to f/2 instead of just f/2.8. That extra stop often can make all the difference when shooting in low light.
• Do the cameras come with the features I need? If you love landscape and portraiture photography, you’ll want a camera with a high-resolution sensor for capturing detail. If you love action, look for a brand that offers a camera with a high frame rate.

Go Mirrorless

You could spend a week combing through threads about whether DSLRs or mirrorless cameras are better, but the short answer is this: mirrorless cameras are the future and that’s where you should spend your money.

Some people like that the viewfinder on a DSLR is optical, not digital, but the digital viewfinders these days are so good that you’ll never have any problems. Some people like the larger form factor of DSLRs when handling big lenses, but it’s easy to add an extra grip to a mirrorless that makes these smaller cameras just as easy to handle.

The advantages of the mirrorless camera, on the other hand, are numerous and growing. They’re smallerĚýand therefore easier to transport on adventures. You can also shoot silently, since there’s no mirror moving around, which is an advantage in situations where you’re capturing wildlife or other sensitive scenes.

Related: Our 3 favorite cameras for adventurers and travel junkies

There used to be more lenses for DSLR cameras, but all the major companies now have a full line of high-quality lenses for mirrorless cameras, and the prices have also come down.

Go with a Full-Frame vs. APS-C Sensor

Cameras work by gathering light, and the more light a camera can gather, the better opportunity it has to make a stunning photo. Full-frame sensors gather a lot of dang light and therefore are my go-to when investing in a camera system. The big three camera companies—Sony, Canon, and Nikon—all make amazing full-frame cameras that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.

Read more: This is the most travel-friendly, pro-level camera we’ve tested

I’ve tested plenty of cameras with APS-C sensors, but there’s really only one I would recommend: the Fujifilm X100VI. Though this camera has a smaller APS-C sensor, it still shoots great images and the fixed lens makes it easy to carry and use.

In an ideal world, you own a full-frame camera for landscapes, portraiture, and sports. A camera like the Fujifilm X100VI is what you bring on vacation or for quick adventures. Think of your full-frame camera as your top-end, full-suspension mountain bike that will allow you to tackle any trail, and the Fuji as a hardtail you take out for bikepacking.

If price is your primary concern, I’d stick with a full-frame setup (instead of a camera with a smaller sensor) but go for a lower-end model that’s a year or two old.

Expensive Lenses Are a Smart Investment

Say you bought a brand new Tacoma and want to go overlanding. You have everything you need right from the lot, right? Wrong. As we’ve long preached, the one upgrade you’ll need to make to be safe when off-roading is a good set of all-terrain tires. No truck is going to make it very far without good rubber.

The same goes for cameras. You can invest in a fancy new digital camera, but unless you have high-quality lenses to match, you’re not going to get your money’s worth out of the camera.

More specifically, high-quality lenses offer sharper glass that allows a high-resolution sensor to properly do its job of creating sharp, detailed images. High-quality lenses also offer larger apertures, and larger apertures allow you to get better shots in low light and create a much stronger bokeh effect. It can be painful to buy high-quality lenses, but they retain their value and can be used for years—if not decades—even as you swap through cameras.

Pro tip: Many pro photographers I know opt for separate 24mm, 35mm, and 85mm lenses instead of buying a 24-70mm zoom. That’s because those fixed lenses are sharper and are available with a huge f/1.4 aperture instead of the f/2.8 that comes on that zoom.

Buy New vs. Old (If Possible)

Buying new guarantees your investment will last as long as possible. Unlike cars, digital cameras become outdated almost as soon as they hit the shelves. While a five-year-old Toyota Tacoma might still have 20 years of life left (if not more), a five-year-old mirrorless camera is pretty much obsolete. That’s because the mechanics of a digital camera are not designed to last more than a handful of years, and because the technology in digital cameras evolves much more quickly.

However, if price is your number one consideration when shopping for a camera system, you can find used cameras that are just a couple years old and in decent shape. To find one that’s in good working condition, shop from a reputable dealer like , which verifies the condition of used cameras. If you go this route,ĚýI suggest you buy a as your starter camera. Its technology is still (mostly) current, and you can probably find one for a reasonable $1,200.

The post 6 Things You Should Know Before Buying a Digital Camera appeared first on şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř Online.

Nowadays there’s no such thing as a bad digital camera. The iPhone you have in your pocket takes stunning images and every single mirrorless or DSLR being released by the major brands is capable of capturing images that could land on the cover of şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř.

But with great choices come hard decisions. The camera market is crowded, so you’ll have to do some research to find the option that includes the features you want—be that amazing autofocus, enormous file size, or affordable pricing. We’ve put together a list of our favorite new mirrorless cameras as a starting point.

At a Glance

• Best Overall:
• Simplest:
• Best for Action:
• Frequently Asked Questions
• How We Test

All gear in this guide was tested by multiple reviewers. If you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission. This supports our mission to get more people active and outside. Learn more.

Best Overall

Sony A7CII

Weight: 15.1 oz (body only)
Size: 4.9” x 2.8” x 2.5”
Sensor: 33-megapixel full-frame Exmor R BSI

Pros and Cons
⊕ Small
⊕ Full-frame sensor
⊕ Fair price
⊗ No auto-focus joystick
⊗ Not ergonomic with Sony’s largest zoom lenses

The Sony A7CII is our top pick because it’s small but mighty and the best option for those of us who like to adventure. At just over a pound and about as thick as three iPhones stacked together, it’s travel friendly and comes with a giant full-frame sensor that captures 33-megapixel images, advanced auto-focus, and interchangeable lenses. In short, it’s a pro-level camera that’s significantly better than any current phone camera (or any phone camera we’ll likely see in the next five years).

The interchangeable lenses you can use on the A7CII add bulk and weight, but Sony makes two that are the perfect add-on. Less than three inches long and about the diameter of a paper-towel tube, they’re much smaller than most standard lenses but fast enough to capture great photos in low light, wide enough for landscapes yet not too wide for portraits, and built with high-quality glass so it produces tack-sharp images

This camera is best for those who primarily want to shoot photos; but if you want to shoot video, you get beautiful 4K footage and incredible image stabilization for handheld shooting.

The A7CII costs $2,198 and the 35 millimeter f1.8 lens adds another $748, which brings the total to just shy of $3,000 for the basic setup. That may seem high, but it’s in the ballpark for a pro-level, full-frame camera that has the chops to shoot everything from action to landscapes.

Read our full review of the Sony AC7II here

Simplest

Fujifilm X100VI

Weight: 1.15 lbs
Size: 5” x 2.9” x 2.2″
Sensor: 40.2-megapixel APS-C X-Trans CMOS 5 HR

Pros and Cons
⊕ Easy to transport
⊕ Simple to use
⊕ Rich photos
⊗ No interchangeable lenses
⊗ Not a full-frame sensor

The X110VI won a spot on this list for three reasons: it’s small, relatively simple, and captures gorgeous images. About the size of three iPhones stacked together, the camera weighs just 1.1 pounds so backpackers, bikepackers, hikers, skiers, or anyone who’s moving fast won’t feel weighed down. You won’t want to pack it in a running vest, but the camera is certainly small enough to fit in your daypack, or even the chest pocket of your ski shell.

Some photographers will chafe at the idea of not having interchangeable lenses, but we love the simplicity of this camera. With just one, high-quality 23mm f/2 (35mm equivalent) lens to work with, you’re forced to be a more creative photographer. If you want to zoom in, you’ll need to walk closer. Need to capture a landscape? Back up or climb a hill. The 35mm focal length isn’t perfect for portraits, but it doesn’t distort the subject and can be made to work if you’re careful about your framing.

Why not just pack your iPhone 15 Pro since it’s also portable and actually has three lenses? Because the X100VI is a camera (versus a phone with a built-in camera), Fujifilm is able to pack in a significantly bigger sensor (40.2 megapixel APS-C X-Trans CMOS 5 HR) compared to what you get with the iPhone. That bigger sensor drinks in more light and therefore creates more detailed photos and also does better in low-light situations.

The X100V isn’t as powerful as a full-frame Sony or Canon camera, but it’s the perfect travel-sized option that captures better quality photos than an iPhone.

Best for Shooting Action

Nikon Z8

Weight: 2 lbs
Size: 5.7” x 4.7” x 3.3″
Sensor: 45.7-megapixel FX-format stacked full-frame CMOS

Pros and Cons
⊕ Precise autofocus that’s ideal for shooting sports
⊕ Easy to use with larger lenses
⊗ The shutter sound is awful
⊗ On the pricier side

It’s no secret that Nikon has lagged lately. The brand dominated the film and DSLR market but got its butt kicked by Sony when mirrorless cameras were introduced. Thankfully, the brand is now back with cameras like the Z8, which packs all of the most important features like stunning detail capture and great autofocus into a compact body.

, a Bay Area photographer who’s edited Pulitzer Prize stories for the San Francisco Chronicle and ran the online photo department at Wired, loved the Z8 first and foremost because of the 45.7 megapixel FX-Format Stacked CMOS sensor that makes amazing images.

“The colors were beautiful and the files were easily worked to meet my creative vision,” he said. Merithew often shoots cycling photos, so he also fell in love with the smart autofocus system that will lock onto and follow anything from a human to an airplane to a bicycle. If you half press the shutter, the Z8 will also capture a burst of pre-images, so that if you’re a little late to the decisive moment the camera already has the moment recorded. “There was no situation where I felt underprepared,” Merithew said.

Ergonomically, Merithew liked that the camera hit a nice balance between weight and heft. “It was substantial and felt great in the hand without being a total brick,” he said. Nikon has a huge range of high-quality lenses that work with the Z8, and those lenses are a worthy investment because they’ll still be sharp and relevant long after the Z8 has been replaced by whatever Nikon has up its sleeve next.

If there was one thing Merithew wanted to fix, it was the shutter sound Nikon added in to accompany the electronic shutter. The sound “made me feel less like a professional photographer and more like a teenager playing a cheap version of an 8’s handheld video game,” he said.

Sound aside, we’re glad to see that Nikon is back with a competitive mirrorless offering that fits the bill for aspiring and pro photographers alike.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the Difference Between DSLR and Mirrorless Cameras?

A DSLR has a mirror inside the camera body that reflects the light coming through the lens and shoots it up to the viewfinder. When the shutter button is pressed, the mirror moves out of the way to let the light from the lens hit the digital sensor.

In a mirrorless camera there is no mirror, so the image you see through the viewfinder is electronically generated and the light goes straight from the lens to the sensor.

Which Is Better—DSLR or Mirrorless?

You could spend a week combing through threads about whether DSLRs or mirrorless cameras are better, but the short answer is this: mirrorless cameras are the future and that’s where you should spend your money.

Some people like that the viewfinder on a DSLR is optical, not digital, but the digital viewfinders these days are so good that you’ll never have any problems. Some people like the larger form factor of DSLRs when handling big lenses, but it’s easy to add an extra grip to a mirrorless that makes these smaller cameras just as easy to handle.

The advantages of the mirrorless camera, on the other hand, are numerous and growing. They’re smaller to start because there is no mirror, and therefore easier to transport on adventures. You can also shoot silently, since there’s no mirror moving around, which is an advantage in situations where you’re capturing wildlife or other sensitive scenes.

There used to be more lenses for DSLR cameras, but all the major companies now have a full line of high-quality mirrorless lenses, and the prices have also come down so you can easily find affordable but high-quality mirrorless cameras these days

How Much Does a Decent Camera Cost?

You should plan on spending at least $2,000 for the body. That gets you a pro-level camera that uses interchangeable lenses and comes with all the best features, like a full-frame sensor and high-quality autofocus. If you can make the jump to $3,000, you get even better resolution and all the new autofocus features that make shooting sports a breeze.

What Are Key Features to Look For?

If you’re going to invest in a mirrorless camera, get a full-frame sensor. These large sensors have incredible resolution and great low-light performance. From there you’ll need to decide what kind of photographs you want to make.

Shooting sports? Go for a mirrorless camera that has a really high frame rate and all the newest autofocus technology. More focused on landscapes and portraiture? Go for a camera that shoots high-resolution or high-megapixel images.

How We Test

• Number of cameras tested: 10
• Number of testers: 5
• Number of pictures taken: 70,000 +
• Hours spent figuring out each camera: Over 50 hours total

You’ve probably heard the term “camera geek.” I bring this up because our tester pool was full of digital nerds. All the testers are former or working photojournalists who’ve followed camera development for the past 20 years and love to geek out on new specs and features. They spend hours debating which camera is the best overall, which is the best for sports, which is the best for portraits, and love to argue about where the technology is going next.

All this enthusiasm made our job easy because we just had to distribute the cameras and let them go crazy. For this test, the cameras traveled all over the United States and Europe and captured everything from bike races to beach vacations.

What made a camera rise to the top of our test was a blend of performance and usability. Our testers looked for cameras that performed, whether that was accurate autofocus or great low light captures, and then also gave notes on how easy it was to get the camera to do what you asked. Were the dials in a convenient place? Was it easy to hold the cameras with a larger lenses? Did the camera bog you down on longer adventures? To be honest, the final decisions were quite hard but these were our clear favorites.

Meet Our Lead Tester

Before Jakob Schiller was a columnist at şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř he spent almost a decade working as a photojournalist at newspapers around the country. He’s old enough to have shot film, but since the rise of the digital camera, has taken well over 1,000,000 photos on various DSLRs and smartphones. He loves photography because it facilitates adventure and captures important historical moments, but he’s also a tech lover and can geek out with the best of them about things like resolution, autofocus, and shadow detail.

The post Our 3 Favorite Cameras for şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍřrs and Travel Junkies appeared first on şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř Online.

When asked which camera takes the best photos, professional photographers like to quip that “the best camera is the one you have with you.” It’s a tongue-in-cheek way of saying that you should never worry too much about your gear. Use whatever you have, then do the work to find, frame, and capture a high-quality photo. The photographer matters more than the camera.

That mantra has become easier to follow now that we all have high-powered cameras in our pockets thanks to companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung. I’ve been blown away by the camera in the new iPhone 15 and think that we’ve finally reached a point where camera phones can produce images that we’d be happy to print and hang on our wall (a true test of image quality).

That said, I’ll eat my hat if Apple ever finds a way to make an iPhone that’s just as good, in every way, as a pro-level digital camera. Because phones are designed to be more than just cameras, they have to compromise, allowing companies like Sony, Nikon, Canon, Fuji, and Leica to still make a significantly superior product.

Case in point is the new . It’s smaller than a traditional mirrorless camera—it weighs just over a pound and is about as thick as three iPhones stacked together—playing on the trend that people want something that’s easy to travel with. Yet the small size doesn’t limit its functionality: You still get a giant full-frame sensor, advanced auto-focus, and interchangeable lenses, making it a pro-level option that’s significantly better than any current phone, or any phone we’ll likely see in the next five years.

See how it stacks up against our other favorite mirrorless cameras

Sony A7CII

Specifications

• Price: $2,198
• ISO range: 50-204800
• Weight: 15.1 oz (body only)
• Size: 4.9 x 2.8 x 2.5 inches
• Sensor: 33-megapixel full-frame Exmor R back-illuminated CMOS

Pros and Cons
⊕ Small and light
⊕ Comes with a full-frame sensor that performs well in low light
⊕ Works with all of Sony’s high-quality E-mount lenses
⊕ Fairly priced
⊗ No auto-focus joystick
⊗ Does not match ergonomically with Sony’s largest zoom lenses

All gear in this guide was tested by multiple reviewers. When you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission. This supports our mission to get more people active and outside. Learn more.

Review: Sony A7CII Mirrorless Camera

After testing the A7CII alongside many other newly-released full-frame digital cameras, I think it’s the best camera on the market for those of us who like to adventure. Weight and size matter on an all-day hike, multi-day ski tour, or when you want to haul a camera along on a 100-mile road ride, and the A7CII is small and light enough to never really bog you down or get in the way.

The interchangeable lenses you can use on the A7CII add bulk and weight, but Sony makes two that are the perfect add-on. Less than three inches long and about the diameter of a paper-towel tube, they’re much smaller than most standard lenses but fast enough to capture great photos in low light, wide enough for landscapes yet not too wide for portraits, and built with high-quality glass to produce tack-sharp images when paired with the well-tuned sensor on the camera (more on that later).

Because the A7CII is a full-frame camera, it works with Sony’s entire line of E-mount lenses. If you’re a birder and want to save a little weight on the camera but still bring along a 70-200 millimeter f/2.8—or heck, even the new 300 millimeter f/2.8—you’d be more than happy with the image quality. The ergonomics of holding a big lens matched to a small camera are not ideal, but doable if that’s where you land.

The full-frame sensor on the A7CII captures 33-megapixel images that are plenty big and detailed enough to produce stunning prints or magazine covers, but not so big that you’ll fill up unnecessary space on your hard drive. Like all Sony full-frame sensors, this one offers a wide dynamic range, so you can always go into Adobe Lightroom and tone down the highlights and pull out the shadows to create a balanced image, even when you’re shooting in lousy light.

For travel and adventure photographers who are shooting on the go and almost never bring along any external lights, knowing that you’ll always get a usable—if not absolutely gorgeous—image takes away the stress and allows you to focus on your framing and the moment.

One big update on the A7CII is a front adjustment dial that sits just below the shutter button. It’s an important addition to the A7CII because that dial allows you to quickly and easily adjust your shutter or your aperture if you’re shooting in shutter or aperture priority mode. If you want to shoot manually, there’s another dial on the back of the camera where your thumb sits so you can control aperture and shutter speed at the same time.

The only ergonomic drawback, one that I admittedly had to get used to, is the lack of an autofocus joystick. On Sony’s larger cameras, like the A7RV, there’s a small joystick that sits in the upper righthand corner on the back of the camera which easily allows your thumb to move the spot focus point around. I love that joystick because I can quickly, with just a flick of my thumb, tell the camera exactly where to focus, be that in the middle of the frame, down at the bottom, or in an upper corner.

The workaround on the A7CII is to turn the rear dial into your joystick. Ergonomically, this works fine because it’s easy to press the dial up, down, or side to side to move the focus point. The downside to this is that it requires reprogramming the standard setting.

When you get the camera out of the box, the rear dial is set up to allow you to change your frame rate (how many photos the camera takes when you hold down the shutter) and ISO. If you reprogram the rear dial to act as your autofocus joystick, as I did, you lose the ability to change frame rate and ISO quickly. These features can be changed otherways, but it’s a little more difficult. Side note: the A7CII shoots up to ten frames per second, which is plenty for capturing high-octane action shots.

Some photographers will not turn the dial into the autofocus select mechanism because the A7CII has phenomenal autofocus tracking. You can tell the camera to latch onto a subject by aiming the focus on the human, animal, insect, or even a car or a plane you want to track, and then half-pressing the shutter. The camera then tracks that subject no matter where it moves in frame, negating the need to manually move your autofocus point.

This technology has gotten significantly better in the past few years and allows the photographer to track subjects in dynamic and fast-moving situations. To switch subjects, you just line up your focus point and half-press the shutter once again.

I’d recommend the A7CII primarily for shooting photos; but if you did want to shoot video, you get beautiful 4K footage and incredible image stabilization for handheld shooting.

The A7CII costs $2,200 and the 35 millimeter f1.8 lens adds another $748, which brings the total to just shy of $3,000 for the basic setup. That may seem high, but it’s in the ballpark for a pro-level, full-frame camera that has the chops to shoot everything from action to landscapes.

There are similar cameras out there that are small but mighty, but within that testing pool, the Sony still comes out on top. The Fuji X100V, which has a loyal following and a similar price point, does not have the same high-level functionality as the Sony, and the images are not as good, in my opinion. There are rumors about an that will improve that camera’s specs, but even that will likely still leave Fuji behind Sony in the rankings.

Leica also released the recently, which is just as compact and makes beautiful Leica-quality images. But that camera comes in at $6,000 with a lens. For Leica loyalists, that price tag might be easy to rationalize; but for others, it might be too hefty.

The post This Is the Most Travel-Friendly Pro Camera We’ve Tested appeared first on şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř Online.

Apple, at its core, is a hardware company. But damn if it doesn’t also have the best marketing department in the world.Ěý

Case in point: in the for this year’s Keynote that Apple used to announce its new iPhone and Apple Watches. The video shows a group of people whose lives were saved using Apple products, from the young girl whose watch detected a high heartbeat that led to the discovery and removal of a cancerous tumor, to the middle-aged man who used the iPhone’s SOS technology to call in rescuers when he got trapped out adventuring.

I’m not ashamed to say that I sat there and cried watching all these people celebrate birthdays they would have otherwise never celebrated if not for their Apple products.Ěý

But there was another marketing feature that Apple showed off during their launch. The feature literally hung in the background and might be more relevant to your day-to-day life.

ĚýA series of large photo prints taken with iPhones adorned the walls of Steve Jobs Theater and other buildings on the Apple campus. These prints, many of which stretched to somewhere around six feet, were gorgeous and showed the rich colors, sharp details, and astoundingly good low-light information that a modernĚý iPhone camera is capable of capturing.

Most people I saw at the launch walked right by these photos without giving them a second thought. I, however, stopped to look at each one and was impressed with the display because this was the first time since I’ve been covering the iPhone launch that Apple used real, on the wall, photographic prints as a marketing tool for the iPhone.Ěý

The message I got, and the one that Apple was trying to deliver, is that with the iPhone 14 Pro, and truly with the launch of the and , we’ve arrived at a point where the photos coming out of these phones are so good enough to print them and hang them on our walls. We’ve spent years posting our iPhone shots to social media, but thanks to a series of both software and hardware upgrades, the new iPhones finally have enough resolution to allow us to print large, beautiful photos that will sit in our homes and offices and bring us much more joy and pleasure than some fleeting digital image flies by on our favorite platform.ĚýĚýĚýĚý

How the iPhone 15 Lets You Make Big Photo Prints

What it really comes down to is the sensor size. Last year the iPhone 14 Pro got a larger, 48-megapixel (mp) sensor for the main 24 millimeter camera that drank in tons of information, and if you shot in Apple ProRAW (meaning uncompressed 48 megapixel files) you got giant, information-rich images that had enough detail to create high-definition prints. This year, a similar although updated 48 megapixel sensor is included in both the 15 and 15 Pro behind their main cameras (the main camera on the 15 is a 26 millimeter focal length, and the 15 Pro is a 24 millimeter focal length). That means anyone who buys a new 15, Pro or regular, now has a print-making machine in their pocket.Ěý

Also new this year is the USB-C connector at the bottom of the 15s that will charge your phone, but also acts as a data port. Connect a USB cord that supports USB 3 speeds and you’ll be able to move up to ten gigabits of data per-second off your phone and onto a hard drive. This will allow videographers to record directly to an external hard drive, and for the photographers it will allow you to move hundreds of giant, 75- to 100 megabyte ProRAW files from your phone to an external hard drive for storage. Someone working in a studio will also be able to shoot on an iPhone and tether it via the USB 3 cable to an external monitor so that the images can instantly be viewed on a large monitor for review.

I’ve only had a limited time to test both the new ProRAW images and data transfer, but I’m very impressed. I love having a camera in my pocket that takes such rich photos that I can print them for posterity, and being able to easily clear my phone of giant ProRAW files so that I always have space is a damn nice feature. In terms of workflow, the data transfer capability is also nice because I can now quickly drag all my ProRAW files onto a hard drive and then use that hard drive for Adobe Lightroom on my MacBook Pro, which is the system I and many people use to select, tone, and print images. Gone are the days of having to select my favorite photos in the Photos app and then Airdrop just a select few ProRAW images to my MacBook Pro, or use Lightroom on my phone, which eats battery like nothing else.Ěý

Will the 15 Replace My DSLR or Mirrorless Camera?

I come back to this question every time I review an iPhone, and the answer is still a firm no. For those of us who love to adventure, we now have an even more powerful camera that weighs almost nothing and slides into our pocket so it’s incredibly convenient to use on the trail, on a rock wall, in the water, on a bike, or wherever you’re out exploring.

But even with a large 48 megapixel sensor now standard, it’s still much smaller than what comes in any full-frame DSLR or mirrorless camera. And sensor size is ultimately what matters. Even though the Sony a7IV only shoots 33 megapixel images, those images will always beat 48 megapixel images from an iPhone, particularly in low light, because the full-frame sensor inside the Sony takes in more light, and more light equals better quality all around.Ěý

It’s a smaller niggle, but when you try shooting a ProRAW 48 megapixel image on an iPhone it’s so big that the phone takes a second to process the image, so you can’t shoot in succession like you can on a Sony, Canon, Nikon, or Fuji camera, all of which allow you to shoot multiple ProRAW images per second.

Apple has done an amazing job of building different lenses into the back of the iPhone and the iPhone 15 Pro Max even gets a huge 120 millimeter (5x) zoom lens this year. But even so, all the major camera brands still win because they can offer interchangeable lenses that will always offer more range. I can guarantee you that photographers on the field during the NFL season will not be using iPhones because the iPhone lenses are too short. I can also guarantee you that Jimmy Chin will not be using an iPhone as his principal camera the next time he heads out to document climbers on a wall because he’ll need the range of whatever pro system he’s using. That said, I’m also sure that Jimmy will be plenty impressed with the detail captured by the 48 megapixel sensor.

What About Average Photographers?

Apple knew most people who buy the iPhone 15s won’t use ProRAW images or quick file transfer as much as a photo geek like me , so they found a way for you to benefit from the giant new sensor as well. They did that by making the camera on both the 15 and 15 Pro default to a more reasonable 24 megapixel size so that you can shoot in succession without a delay, but still use all the light that the big sensor drinks in.

To get the 24 megapixel image, the camera shoots one 12 megapixel image that’s designed to gather a broad range of light (shadow details, etc,) and then a 48 megapixel image that captures tons of detail. The iPhone software then combines those images together for a 24 megapixel image that captures the best of both worlds. What’s cool is that the phone also realizes that there might be slight movements between when the two images are taken so it uses software to adjust for these movements and ensure there’s no mismatch.Ěý

To make things more complicated, or varied, depending on how you look at it, the 15 and 15 Pro will also shoot a 48 megapixel image in something called HEIF MAX, which is a slightly compressed and toned format. The phone does this so that you still get the detail of the 48 megapixel image but don’t have the giant files (or the same amount of total information) that you get when you shoot a 48 megapixel ProRAW image.Ěý

I’ve shot several of the 24 megapixel default images since I got my hands on the 15 and 15 Pro a couple days ago and they’re very nice images. They lack some of the razor-sharp details you get with a 48 megapixel ProRAW image, but are still impressive, with individual eyelashes and dog hairs coming through, great color, and nice low-light information.

Other Updates

Some other updates that are not as impressive but that you should be aware of are the new focal lengths available on the 15 Pro and Pro Max, and the ability to turn a regular photo into a portrait after the fact.

On focal lengths, both 15 Pros now come with two new wide-angle focal lengths—28 millimeter and 35 millimeter—that you can choose via a button in the camera app. It’s cool to have these pre-set focal lengths because many photographers find the standard 24 millimeter main camera focal length too wide. But it should be noted that neither the 28 or 35 millimeter focal length is created by its own camera. Instead, Apple uses the 24 millimeter main camera, shoots a 48 megapixel image, and then crops in and transfers detail from the 48 megapixel image to create the two new lengths. As a result both of those new focal lengths still produce nicely defined, and medium-res 24 megapixel images.Ěý

For portraits, you can now shoot a regular photo of a person, dog, or cat on any of the 15s and turn that photo into a portrait, with a blurred background, after the fact. If you have multiple people in the shot— one person in the foreground and one in the background—you can also tell the photo which person to focus on and which one to blur out and switch back and forth as many times as you want.

Should You Upgrade to the iPhone 15?

If you have the 14 Pro already, don’t upgrade, the cameras are very similar. If you have an older iPhone and care about the quality of your photos and think you might want to print medium or large prints of the photos that come off your iPhone, then yes, you should upgrade. And this year you don’t have to spend the extra money on the Pro version of the iPhone to get the bigger sensor.

We know that an iPhone will never replace a pro-level, full-frame camera, but it’s extremely nice to have a high-resolution camera in your pocket at all times that you can pull out to capture the everyday moments that define our lives. And it’s also nice to have a high-resolution camera in our pockets that is so light we forget it’s there so that we can hike, ski, climb, ride and then stop to capture the moment without having to fumble with a backpack or some hard-to-carry mirrorless body and lens setup.

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When smartphones first hit the market 15 years ago, their cameras left a lot to be desired, and we didn’t have apps like Adobe Lightroom for on-the-fly editing. Our DSLRs were getting better, but they had a fraction of the high-end and photographer-friendly features we see today. Camera technology has come a long way since then, and today we find ourselves surrounded by intuitive, powerful cameras that capture the world in beautiful detail. Below are our three favorites for 2023.

The Winners at a Glance

Apple iPhone 14 Pro

Sony a7R V

DJI Mavic 3 Classic

How We Test

Number of Products Tested: 7

Number photos taken: 5,000

Locations visited: 25+

You’ve all heard the cliche about your grandparents walking uphill both ways in a foot of snow to school. For photographers, a similar cliche would start with film cameras and include complaints about 36-frame rolls of film, finicky cameras, and a labor-intensive development and printing process.

The point here is that thanks to digital photography, the proliferation of smartphones, and the rise of social media, nearly everyone on the planet has become a better and more prolific photographer. It’s a hobby and skill that has been democratized and the world is (mostly) a better place for it.

Today, just when you think that cameras couldn’t get any better, and the process of toning and sharing your photos that much easier, the industry turns around and launches new technology that moves both those things forward. The developments happen so fast that it’s almost impossible to keep track and choose what’s right for your photography needs.

That’s why we’re purposely keeping things simple this year. We’ve recommended just three cameras—one smartphone, one DSLR, and one drone—because those choices will cover nearly everyone’s bases. These cameras are so good that no matter where you are, or what you’re shooting, you’ll come away with stunning photos that tell great stories and capture important moments.

Meet Our Lead Tester

Before Jakob Schiller was a columnist at şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř he spent almost a decade working as a photojournalist at newspapers around the country. He’s old enough to have shot film, but since the rise of the digital camera, has taken well over 1,000,000 photos on various DSLRs and smartphones. He loves photography because it facilitates adventure and captures important historical moments, but he’s also a tech lover and can geek out with the best of them about things like resolution, autofocus, and shadow detail.

The Reviews: The Best Cameras of 2023

Apple iPhone 14 Pro ($999)

Pros: A larger camera sensor makes photos that rival those of a DSLR
Cons: Not a DSLR

Thanks to a sensor that’s 65 percent larger than the one included in the iPhone 13 Pro, plus the ability to shoot in the uncompressed Apple ProRAW format, the new 14 Pro can take 48-megapixel photos that have stunning detail for a smartphone. For regular photos, the iPhone automatically takes every four pixels on its sensor and converts them into much larger “quad pixels” that can drink in more light and produce a regular 12-megapixel image that looks great even in low light situations. On the software side, the Photonic Engine software allows the 14 Pro to combine multiple, uncompressed images into one single great photo.

Bottom Line: The iPhone 14 Pro is a powerful adventure camera that takes amazing photos and fits in your pocket.

Sony a7RV ($3,900)

Pros: Improved autofocus and class-leading resolution
Cons: You’ll need a suite of lenses to really make the most of this camera

If you’re trying to land a photo on the cover of şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř magazine, the a7RV is a great camera to use. That’s because it packs a gigantic 61-megapixel, full-frame sensor that captures humongous and detail-rich photos that look great in print (and online, of course). You’d also be impressed with the new autofocus that’s a big step up from the a7RIV model and can help you nail a wide variety of action shots by auto-recognizing and locking onto not only humans, but also birds, insects, cars, and planes. When you’re shooting action, it will capture up to ten frames per second, even in the compressed RAW mode, and for video, it shoots 8K footage and comes with impressive stabilization.

Bottom Line: If you’re willing to pay, the Sony a7RV gets you some of the best digital imaging technology on the market.

DJI Mavic 3 Classic (Starting at $1,599)

Pros: Top-shelf features in a more affordable drone
Cons: Still not cheap

DJI made this drone for those of us who need to create high-quality editorial or marketing content but aren’t professional drone pilots shooting for Hollywood productions. Case in point: It comes with a small but still powerful 4/3 CMOS 20-megapixel Hasseblad camera that has a great color profile and shoots absolutely gorgeous 5.1K footage. A 46-minute flight time is respectable and the omnidirectional sensors help ensure pilots, especially those who are new to drones, don’t crash the Classic into nearby objects. We suggest you pay the extra $150 and spring for DJI’s remote, the DJI RC, so that you don’t have to use your phone as the controller. The DJI RC has a generous 5.5-inch screen and is a joy to use, especially for those of us who are still mastering the art of drone flight.

How to Buy

The best question you can ask yourself before buying a camera is, “what kind of camera do I really need to execute on the job I want to do?” If you’re a weekend warrior who’s just looking to update your social profiles and maybe make an 8×10 print of your favorite outdoor spot, the iPhone 14 Pro is the best choice. It doesn’t have a full-frame sensor or interchangeable lenses, but it’s easier to carry, and packs enough resolution to help you nail the kind of photos you want to take. We also love that you can take a stunning photo on your iPhone, bring it into the Adobe Lightroom app for toning, and then immediately post it for the world to see.

If you’re trying to break into magazine photography or work for a marketing agency that’s putting together a big campaign, you’ll need more than the iPhone. A camera like the Sony a7RV has a full-frame sensor that’s much bigger than the iPhone’s and therefore drinks in significantly more light and makes photos that are several times more detailed and rich. The a7RV also works with Sony’s giant selection of high-quality lenses (wide angles, fixed, and zooms) that will help pros or aspiring pros create photos that just aren’t possible with the iPhone. There are a few downsides, though: building out a full Sony system will cost thousands of dollars; none of the Sony gear fits in your pocket; and you’ll need a high-powered laptop to process the gigantic files.

Finally, we know that anyone who’s truly invested in drone work will know exactly what they need to get their job done. The rest of us who are drone-curious, or might need a drone here and there, will benefit from the Mavic 3 Classic because it’s powerful enough for pro-level work but won’t totally break the bank. It’s the perfect middle ground and great place to start.

When it’s time to upgrade your gear, don’t let the old stuff go to waste–donate it for a good cause and divert it from the landfill. our partner, Gear Fix, will repair and resell your stuff for free! Just box up your retired items, , and send them off. We’ll donate 100 percent of the proceeds to .

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I’ve owned half a dozen GoPros in my day, ranging from the Hero 2 to the Hero 10 Black. Despite packing them along for plenty of backpacking trips and snowboard sessions, I rarely get goodĚý clips to prove it. The experience usually goes like this: see something film-worthy, pull GoPro out, realize the battery is dead. Or the SD card is full. Or the settings are off. By the time I get it sorted, the moment passed.

Yes, you can chalk that up to operator error, but as an entry-level filmer I’ve always hoped that GoPro would eventually produce a Hero to save me from myself. With last week’s release of the ($550)—featuring extended runtime battery, auto-upload capabilities, and two user interface options—GoPro might have actually done just that. The Hero 11 Black introduces a few capabilities that drastically improve my chances of getting the shot, and other features that ensure the shot will be superior to anything my intermediate skill-level typically affords. Let’s talk about why.

Bigger, Better Battery

GoPro’s extended runtime battery, Enduro, which was an accessory for the Hero 10 Black, now comes stock. GoPro claims the Enduro lasts up to 38 percent longer than their traditional battery, and after a few filming sessions that appears true. In its highest resolution video (5.3K), the new GoPro can shoot for up to 80 minutes on a charge, and at 1080P it’ll run more than two hours. And it juices up quickly: I was able to charge it from one to 100 percent in under an hour. It also automatically shuts off after fiveĚý minutes when not in use, which keeps me from killing the battery accidentally.

More importantly for snow sport enthusiasts, the Enduro is GoPro’s first battery that holds a charge in freezing temperatures. Gone are the days of wrapping my camera in a hand warmer for the slopes.

Automatic Uploads and Highlights

Automatic uploads to the cloud are a new feature of GoPro’s subscription service ($50 annually). Once connected to wifi, the 11 automatically transfers new content to GoPro’s cloud storage platform, negating the need to download it onto a phone or computer. Now I can keep the SD card clear without taking up space on my phone.

Along with auto-uploads, the new subscription offers an auto-highlight feature that uses AI to pull the best footage from a shoot, pieces together an edit, and sends it to the user’s phone automatically. GoPro’s leaning heavily into this feature Hero 11 Black marketing, and for good reason. It puts together a surprisingly good reel—with music—that you can then tweak to your liking. It makes going from the shoot to Instagram almost brainless.

If you’re considering buying a Hero 11 Black, the subscription is probably worth it right now. Buying the Hero 11 Black packaged with a year subscription is $400 (the regular price is $550, and the subscription is $50 a year). The package comes with unlimited cloud auto uploads, use of the editing app, discounts on GoPro.com, and most importantly, no-questions-asked camera replacement (for a fee between $69 and $99).

User Friendly Shooting Modes

The 11 supports two user interfaces—Easy and Pro. The former automates settings to present a clean, unfussy menuĚý where you simply choose a medium (timelapse, video or photo), press record, and capture. Pro Mode opens up the hood and lets the user manually control every setting. Despite that usability, Pro Mode is surprisingly intuitive. I’m decidedly not pro, but it didn’t take long for me to abandon Easy Mode altogether for better control.

Improved Field of View

GoPro introduced a new 1/1.9 sensor with the Hero 11 Black, which opens up an 8:7 field of view option. Pair that with the 11’s capacity for shooting 5.3K video at 30 frames per second, and that translates to 40 percent more resolution compared to GoPro’s previous 5.3K resolution, which maxed out on a 16:9 digital lens. In other words, you can now shoot a wide, almost-square frame at high resolution, then crop into any ratio after the fact. It’s a convenient asset for content creators posting to multiple mediums, as they’ll no longer need to shoot different fields of view for varying use-cases, be it TikTok or Youtube.

This raises another point—with how great the video quality is, shooting photos on a GoPro could be obsolete. It’s far easier to shoot video and pull a still frame after the fact—even GoPro suggests using this method now.

Millions More Pixels

If you do insist on shooting photos with the Hero 11 Black, it’ll produce 27 megapixel photos, up from 23MP on the Hero 10 Black. Again, paired with the new 8:7 sensor, that equates to millions more pixels to work with. The 11 also introduces four new photo burst modes, in addition to six the Hero had already.

Ten-bit color comes built-in to the Hero 11 Black, as opposed to eight-bit on the last rendition, which seems a trivial difference. But considering the Hero 10 was capable of seeing around 16 million shades of color, and the Hero 11 sees upwards of a billion, it’s a substantial upgrade. For advanced editors, more shades means more to work with in color grading. For everyone else, it means less apparent “stripiness” to the image, solving an issue that plagued GoPro in the past.

Light Trail Modes

The most novel and visually impactful features in the Hero 11 Black are, in my opinion, the night modes embedded within the camera’s Timelapse function. There are three of them—Star Trails, Light Painting, and Vehicle Light Trails—and each is appropriately oriented toward capturing those subjects with a trailing effect, automating a photography technique that is difficult to get right with a traditional camera. This video effect yields a timelapse of the light trails forming, which makes for some pretty radical footage, but as with any Hero 11 Black recordings, you can also pull high-resolution still frame.

These coveted night effects will, in and of themselves, undoubtedly attract hordes of TikTok influencers and other entry-level shooters to the Hero 11 Black, if solely to be able to capture these pro-looking night shots.

Horizon Lock and Image Stabilization

360-degree horizon lock was an available feature with the Hero 10, but only with the addition of Max Lens Mod accessory, which was an additional $100 and added bulk to the system. Now, Max Lens Mod is built into the camera lens. The result is enhanced stabilization and the option of 360-degree horizon lock, which essentially allows you to turn the camera completely upside down, whileĚý the horizon stays perfectly level and upright. Hypersmooth 5.0, the latest iteration GoPro’s stabilization layer, is negligibly better than the last version in my opinion, because Hypersmooth 4.0 was already pretty dialed. It adds gimbal-like smoothness to footage without the need for any extra accessories, so you can literally be bounding down a rocky trail while filming, and the footage comes out perfectly stable.

The Best POV Yet

GoPro’s new Hyperview, is the brand’sĚý widest field of view ever and an asset to any athlete with a penchant for POV shots. ItĚý essentially takes the new 8:7 view and stretches it into a 16:9 frame, resulting in a broader periphery and more immersive, close-feeling footage when paired with, say, a chest or helmet mount. Coupled with all the other enhancements of the new Hero, Hyperview only increases my odds of capturing something epic, and making it look even cooler. Now all I have to do is remember to hit record.

Coming Soon: Hero 11 Black Mini

On October 25 GoPro is also releasing the Hero 11 Black Mini, a more compact, simplified version with all the same functionality packed into a one-touch capture system. We’ll be testing that out soon, and we’ll let you know what we think.

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Content will always be king. Put another way: you have to tell a good story if you want an audience to pay attention—be it in Hollywood or on Instagram. Thankfully, it’s never been easier to create mesmerizing images and videos that will galvanize your viewers. These are the cameras we recommend for the job.

DJI Mavic 3 ($2,200)

Our favorite upgrade to the Mavic 3 drone is the new Hasselblad-made 4/3 CMOS sensor that shoots 20-megapixel photos with great color and improved range. The result: incredible high-contrast images and crisp shots in low light. Other notable features include 5.1K video; a second, built-in 162-millimeter-equivalent zoom lens; and improved obstacle avoidance. 31.6 oz

Insta360 GO 2 ($300)

This action camera makes our list because of its size. About the dimensions of a baby carrot, it nearly disappears on your body—significantly more so than similar, better-known models. The video quality isn’t quite as nice as a GoPro’s, but you still get buttery smooth and richly colored clips that are perfect for Instagram. 0.93 oz

GoPro Hero10 Black ($500)

The Hero10 costs only $100 more than the Hero9, but it’s significantly better in every way: mind-blowing electronic stabilization, ultra-rich 5.3K footage, and 23-megapixel photos (you can also pull enormous stills from the video). All that plus GoPro’s best-in-class ecosystem of accessories. It’s an easy-to-use but powerful camera that amateurs and pros will both appreciate. 5.4 oz

Google Pixel 6 Pro ($900)

The photos you get from the Google 6 Pro and Apple iPhone 13 Pro are fairly similar. But the 6 Pro stood out this year because the resolution is higher and the overall tonality is just slightly better. We were also impressed with the new software that automatically shoots accurate portraits of people with a variety of skin tones. Bonus points for a relatively reasonable price considering that it has three lenses, a 4X zoom, and software that helps with low-light photos. 7.4 oz

Sony a7IV ($2,500)

Unless you’re a full-time pro, you don’t need Sony’s flagship a1 mirrorless camera. That’s why the brand launched its a7IV, which costs less than half the price of the a1 but still comes with plenty of top-end features, such as whip-fast and highly accurate autofocus (for tracking movement), the ability to shoot up to ten frames per second (for capturing peak action), and respectable 33-megapixel files (big enough for gorgeous prints). 23.3 oz

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I spent the first two-plus years of my professional photography career shooting on a , a camera that those in the know would labelĚý“”Ěýat best. That single body helped me make a livable wage not because I’m a photo savant, but because I paired it with premium lenses. One of the long-held yet rarely written rules of photography is this: quality glass rules all.

But as camera technology becomes more advanced and use cases become more extreme, that paradigm is shifting. Full-frame cameras still hold the upper hand in resolution and editability (RAW files have no equal), but the delta between the two has shrunk considerably. While Apple deserves a tip of the hat for clever algorithms that replicate a short depth of field, your smartphone isn’t the best pocket-size adventure camera, in my opinion. I think that award goes to the new ($500).

GoPro has built a reputation as a maker of waterproof and durable action cameras—with capable photo and video engines to boot. But the Hero 10 improves on the performance chops of its predecessors. It incorporates a noticeably faster processor and new video stabilization, among other upgrades, which have earned it a permanent place in my camera bag.

The Ideal User

The true calling card of the Hero 10 is its durability—that’s what the line has always been based on. At just 5.6 ounces, with a burly waterproof casing and lens (down to 33 feet, according to the company), the 10 is able to tackle jobs that even the smallest mirrorless camera can’t. It’s ideal for ultrarunners, mountain bikers, surfers, kayakers, scuba divers, dirt bikers, and climbers who want to dip their toes in pro-level photo and video editing, without dropping thousands to get their feet in the door.

Among professional shooters, though, GoPros have long been a punchline. Their promise was good in theory, but in practice the footage rarely, if ever, was useful: video was often shaky, blurry, and, until the last couple iterations, relatively low-resolution for pro videographers. The Hero 10 Black is different. It’s a great tool for immersive point-of-view video clips and a capable still-photography camera too, thanks to high-enough resolution and RAW formatting, which improve postproduction editing.

Notable Upgrades

The biggest improvements start with the new GP2 processor, which delivers double the frame rate of the Hero 9, up to 5.3K at 60 frames and 4K at 120. With the 10, you can now capture photos at 23 megapixels—that’s three megapixels more than my trusty Canon 6D. It can capture 8x slo-mo and allows users to grab 19.6-megapixel stills from footage. These specs make the Hero 10 Black a worthy upgrade from the Hero 9.

Cruising on flowy singletrack (Video: Andy Cochrane)

After a few weeks of testing, those stats are far from the full story. GoPro rolled out HyperSmooth 4.0, a video stabilization and horizon-leveling software that helps make my mountain-biking footage look like I almost know what I’m doing. Even for bikers who over-brake in rough, rutty, and technical sections of trail, the footage won’t make anyone nauseated. (şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř covered the brand’s impressive HyperSmooth 3.0 technology before, but the 4.0 makes video look even silkier.) There is better in-camera preview functionality as well, so you can see clips out on the trail instead of waiting until you get home. The 10 also has 50 percent faster file transfers that streamline the download process. The touch interface is more responsive and easier to use, despite the same size screen.

What Could Be Improved

GoPro’s Achilles heel—poor battery life in cold conditions—persists. The Hero 10 uses the same battery as the Hero 9 (still a 30 percent boost over older versions) but has the same, if not worse, battery life due to higher frame rates and a larger demand from the upgraded processor. Although I haven’t tested it extensively in winter, on early-morning runs with temperatures floating near freezing, the battery life was subpar. Skiers, snowboarders, and snowmobilers should bring hand warmers to keep spare batteries warm, especially if they plan on shooting all day.

The Upshot

The Hero 10 Black comes with a few nice additional upgrades worth mentioning. The new lens cover is removable, splashproof, and scratch-resistant. The 10 can be used as a webcam with 1080p video and a wide field of view. It can also be used for livestreaming, time-lapses, and scheduled shooting. While I didn’t test any of these extensively for this first look, I do see them as viable tools in the future.

GoPro also improved its noise reduction in its video, which is especially useful in low light. While it’s still far from my go-to camera at dawn and dusk, it did capture an evening trail run without feeling like The Blair Witch Project. Like previous versions of the action cam, the Hero 10 offers a handful of unique that can expand the field of view and provide a directional mic, a light, and a flippable screen.

If you’re still on the fence about upgrading to the in preference to the , another action cam, or your smartphone, the decision will come down to how—and how much—you plan to use it. The price could feel fairly steep if you plan to use it as an occasional tool for capturing fun clips for friends and family. However, if you’re looking to frequently record and produce pro-level images and videos with lots of motion, the noticeably improved processor, stabilization software, and photo capabilities make it a worthy addition to the tool bag.

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—the two-day online shopping eventĚýfeaturing deals exclusive to —will take place a bit earlier than usual this year, on June 21Ěýand 22. It’s a great time to save onĚýgearĚýorĚýfinally pull the trigger on a product you’ve been eyeing. There are a lot of offers to browse, so to help you out,Ěýwe’ll be scouring the site for the best deals on outdoor tech gear, camping gear, and products that canĚýmake your time outside even more enjoyable. (Columnist Ebony Roberts rounded up the best camping deals actually worth your time.) We’ll be updatingĚýthis article throughout the sale with our favorites, and if a deal is expired, we’ll add it to the bottom of the page.

Jump to:

• 5 Amazon Prime Day Gear Deals Actually Worth Shopping

• Top Prime Day Deals We Love

• The Best Deals on Outdoor Tech

• The Best Deals on Camping and Hiking Gear

Top Prime Day Deals We Love

Klean Kanteen Wide Mouth 64-Ounce Stainless Steel Water Bottle ($23; 37 Percent Off)

Our Gear Guy, Joe Jackson, reviewed this classic bottleĚýin his test of the best growlers for the outdoors. “This fat growler was the least expensive and easiest to clean of the bunch, thanks to its bulbous design and large opening,” he wrote.Ěý

NOCO Boost Sport GB20 Car Battery Jump Starter ($50; 37ĚýPercent Off)

This portable jump starter is the size of a sandwich, but has the juice to single-handedly revive a vehicle. Charge it via the included USB cable, and throw it in the trunk for additional peace of mind wherever you drive.

Fitbit Charge 4 Fitness Tracker ($99; 33 Percent Off)

The Charge 4 was one of our favorite pieces of wearable tech in our 2020 Sumer Buyer’s Guide. “Fitbit’s first fitness tracker with GPS also ­records the time you spend in each heart-rate zone and alerts you when you need to ease back or push harder during a workout,” wrote tester Brent Rose.Ěý“Sleep monitoring with ­ma­chine learning helps you wake up at just the right moment.”

Marmot Trestles 15-Degree Sleeping Bag (Women’s) ($82; 30 Percent Off)

“The Trestles has been Marmot’s bestselling sleeping bag for years, because of its backpacking-worthy performance, comfort-boosting features, and great price,” wrote our testers in our 2019 Summer Buyer’s Guide review of the Trestles Elite Eco 30 Bag. The 15-degree version is a tad heavier at four pounds, but offers more warmth on chilly nights. If you plan on winter car camping, consider this bag.

Coleman 4-Person Carlsbad Dark Room Dome Tent ($185; 38ĚýPercent Off)

We featured the Carlsbad in a roundup of the best tents for family camping. “The Coleman Carlsbad offers a great price point with the bonus of being a dark-out tent—ideal for midday napping toddlers,” wrote our tester, Shanti Hodges.Ěý“Downside: It’s hot. The Carlsbad doesn’t breathe, even with the fly removed, so don’t plan on using this in hot seasons and regions. Also be aware that the cords inside the tent poles are somewhat weak and tend to snap easily.”

Marmot PreCip Rain Jacket (Men’s) ($54; 46ĚýPercent Off)

The Precip’s simple, streamlined design works well for urban commutes, epic hikes, and high-speed singletrack descents. Plus, Marmot makes them in solid colors that look good on everybody. You won’t find a more reliable, comfortable shell at a better price.

Apple AirPods with Charging Case (Wired) ($119; 25ĚýPercent Off)Ěý

şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍřĚýcolumnist Jakob Schiller reviewed the AirPodsĚýwhen they got an upgrade last year: “The AirPods offer everything from extended talk time to tap control to Siri, making them an even more coveted piece of everyday carry,” he wrote. “My favorite features are the longer battery life (thanks in part to the power efficiency of the new Apple H1 headphone chip) and ability to quick charge when needed. Apple says you’ll get up to an hour more of talk time, which is nice when you’re on your third conference call of the day and don’t have to worry about your AirPods crapping out midsentence.”

Traeger Grills Pro Series 575 Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker ($798; 99ĚýDollars Off)

şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř columnist WesĚýSiler ravedĚýabout his Traeger grill for its capability and convenience. The 575’s double-walled construction and digital temperature control make cooking meat and veggies a breeze. Bonus points for the wireless connectivity that allows you to monitor internal temperatures from your smartphone.

Bose QuietComfort 35 II Wireless Bluetooth Headphones ($299; 14ĚýPercent Off)

If you work in an open-space area or spend a lot of time traveling, these headphones are a must. We recommended them for getting work done,Ěýbecause they featureĚýBose’s top-notch noise-cancellation technology and 20 hours of battery life, and they’reĚýcompatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

The Best Deals on Outdoor Tech

Fitbit Charge 4 Fitness Tracker ($99; 33 Percent Off)

The Charge 4 was one of our favorite pieces of wearable tech in our 2020 Sumer Buyer’s Guide. “Fitbit’s first fitness tracker with GPS also ­records the time you spend in each heart-rate zone and alerts you when you need to ease back or push harder during a workout,” wrote tester Brent Rose.Ěý“Sleep monitoring with ­ma­chine learning helps you wake up at just the right moment.”

DJI Mavic Mini Drone BundleĚý($399; 20 Percent Off)

We featured the DJI Mavic Mini in our 2020 Summer Buyer’s Guide. “About the size of a ­sandwich, and weighing just over half a pound, the Mavic Mini is ultraportable and perfect for adventurers headed for hard-to-reach spots,” wrote our tester. “Spec-wise, the Mini isn’t quite pro quality, but it shoots attractive 2.7K video that’s stabilized using a three-axis gimbal, and it’s good for a respectable 30 minutes of flight time. An improved app with a simple interface makes the Mini easy to fly for those without much drone experience.”

Bose QuietComfort 35 II Wireless Bluetooth Headphones ($299; 14ĚýPercent Off)

If you work in an open-space area or spend a lot of time traveling, these headphones are a must. We recommended them for getting work done,Ěýbecause they featureĚýBose’s top-notch noise-cancellation technology and 20 hours of battery life, and they’reĚýcompatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

The Best Deals on Camping and Hiking Gear

LifeStraw Personal Water Filter ($14; 55ĚýPercent Off)

The LifeStraw’s membrane removes 99.9 percent of bacteria and parasites. We like it so much that we included a version of the filter in our 2018 roundup of the best men’s thru-hiking gear.

Coleman 4-Person Carlsbad Dark Room Dome Tent ($185; 38ĚýPercent Off)

We featured the Carlsbad in a roundup of the best tents for family camping. “The Coleman Carlsbad offers a great price point with the bonus of being a dark-out tent—ideal for midday napping toddlers,” wrote our tester, Shanti Hodges.Ěý“Downside: It’s hot. The Carlsbad doesn’t breathe, even with the fly removed, so don’t plan on using this in hot seasons and regions. Also be aware that the cords inside the tent poles are somewhat weak and tend to snap easily.”

Marmot PreCip Rain Jacket (Men’s) ($70; 30 Percent Off)

The Precip’s simple, streamlined design works well for urban commutes, epic hikes, and high-speed singletrack descents. Plus, Marmot makes them in solid colors that look good on everybody. You won’t find a more reliable, comfortable shell at a better price.

Zippo Refillable Hand Warmer ($15; 24ĚýPercent Off)

A good hand warmer is crucial for chilly endeavors. And if it’s reusable, like the Zippo, all the better. Just fill the palm-sized warmer with fluid, light the burner, and receive heat safely for hours. This Zippo model is consistently one of the best-reviewed reusable hand warmers on Amazon.

Marmot Trestles 15-Degree Sleeping Bag (Women’s) ($82; 30 Percent Off)

“The Trestles has been Marmot’s bestselling sleeping bag for years, because of its backpacking-worthy performance, comfort-boosting features, and great price,” wrote our testers in our 2019 Summer Buyer’s Guide review of the Trestles Elite Eco 30 Bag. The 15-degree version is a tad heavier at four pounds, but offers more warmth on chilly nights. If you plan on doing some winter car camping, consider this bag.

Expired and Past Deals

UCO 6-Piece Camping Mess Kit ($19; 21 Percent Off)Ěý

If you’re looking for a one-person backpacking meal set, this is the bundle you should get. This six-piece kit includes aĚýplate, bowl, camp cup, two utensils, and a strap that keeps it all secured. We like that all of the pieces stack together, and the plate and bowl act as a shell for easy storage.

Garmin InReach Explorer+ Satellite Communicator ($300; 33 Percent Off)

Though şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř columnist Andrew Skurka loves the Garmin InReach Mini, the device’s bigger and older brother, the Explorer+, offers a few nice features at the cost of size and weight: a bigger color screen, more efficient button layout, better virtual keyboard, and a longer-lasting battery.

DryGuy Force Dry DX Boot Dryer ($65; 20 Percent Off)

We featuredĚýthe Force Dry DX in our 2019 Winter Buyer’s Guide page of the best gear care tools. “Damp boots can ruin your day before it’s begun. Behold the Force Dry DX, which pumps air through four vertical plastic tubes,” wrote our tester. “Slide your boots over the tubes, set the timer, and wake up to warm, moisture-free gear. Works with gloves, too.”

Fireside Outdoor Pop-Up Pit & Heat Shield Combo ($95; 20 Percent Off)

Fire pits are nothing new, but at eight pounds, Fireside Outdoor's version is one of the lightest we've tested. We loved how easy it was to set up (a little over a minute) on a variety of surfaces. We didn't have to worry about damaging the patio we tested it on, thanks to the heat shield underneath. It's compact, too, making it ideal for car camping.

Garmin Forerunner 645 Music Watch ($325; 28ĚýPercent Off)

We featured the Forerunner 645 Music in our 2018 Summer Buyer’s Guide. “Garmin finally made a running watch that plays music, beaming tunes to wireless headphones via Bluetooth. You can store up to 500 songs (cool) and sync playlists from iHeartRadio and other streaming sites for offline playback (cooler). The 645 also has Garmin’s advanced running metrics, a built-in heart-rate monitor, and GPS,” wrote our tester, Brent Rose.

Coleman Classic Two-Burner Camp Stove ($44; 45 Percent Off)

The Coleman Classic is one of our Gear Guy’s top choices for car camping. “The two 10,000-BTU burners take a little while to heat things up, but no one should be in a rush when out camping,” he wrote. “If anything ever breaks on a Classic—which rarely happens—replacement parts are easy to find, and the fixes are easy to make.”

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