Sunday, September 13, 2026

The week's biggest camera story wasn't really about specs. OM System's PEN launched at $999, cheaper than any other weather-sealed mirrorless body on sale, and buyers moved on it fast enough that OM Digital has since pushed some pre-orders to November. That's a good problem to have, but it's also the company's first product since formally separating from its investment backer JIP, so the supply crunch is worth watching. Meanwhile Ricoh made its own kind of history: the entire Pentax K-series DSLR line is now retired for good, with only a vague promise of a K-mount 'new concept' to replace it. Two very different signals about where camera bodies are headed.

Lenses had a strong week too. Sony announced three E-mount lenses in one go, including two GM telephoto primes that both come in under a kilogram, a genuine first at that reach. Sigma's 85mm f/1.2 Art picked up its first real-world reviews, with Dustin Abbott calling it his new favourite 85mm and rating it ahead of Sony's own GM II. Viltrox used IBC 2026 to unveil seven new lenses across L-mount and APS-C. Third-party makers are shipping fast and pricing aggressively, and it's starting to show in how reviewers talk about the flagship options.

On the video side, Nikon's ZR firmware update brought Log3G10 recording to the smaller H.265 codec and flagged open-gate recording as coming next year, a cheap way to keep an existing body relevant. Sony went the other direction: FX5 shipments have slipped to mid-October, with no official reason given. Firmware is proving the easier lever to pull right now.

Worth watching into next week: Canon's R8 II is tipped for a September 15 announcement, with leaked specs pointing to a sensor protective curtain and rear joystick, both common complaints about the original R8. On the phone side, the iPhone 18 Pro's adjustable aperture and native manual controls are another small step toward blurring where 'real camera' starts.

And a reminder of what the gear is actually for: Magnum's photographers published first-person accounts and images from September 11, 2001, a collection worth sitting with regardless of what's in your bag.