And so surely a mirrorless camera, already less bulky than a DSLR, will prove a better bet than a smaller sensor incorporating point-and-shoot compact? Even if one will fit into my swimming shorts and the other most definitely won’t. A fair assumption to make, right?

However, assumption is not always born out in practice.

If I’m not looking to make wall sized prints from whatever I’ll be shooting and it’s more about preserving a memory of people and place than creating something the National Portrait Gallery might want, a compact snapshot would seem the clear winner. With the bonus that it doesn’t immediately identify me as a ‘professional’ photographer, or the owner of expensive gear that may prove a lure for local pick pockets.

A recent trip to Pollença in Majorca found me capturing the colourful scenes and fruit at the local Sunday market. The two 16MP cameras I had with me on my travels were the decade-old Olympus PEN E-PL7 mirrorless with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 compact zoom and, by contrast, the point-and-shoot Stylus TG-870, otherwise known as the Olympus ‘Tough’, with its own internally stacked 5x optical zoom. It can survive being dunked in the sea or used by teenagers, plus it’s also less obvious and intrusive.

Only when I brought my mirrorless camera out to capture the façade of the church in the square did a local biker perched on the front wall suddenly show an interest, waving me away with a furrowed brow and indicating he didn’t want to be included in any shot. Would I have got the same reaction with gear that instead suggested ‘happy snapper’?

So, another thing to bear in mind on my travels is people are much more wary and suspicious when it comes to street photography in this digital age, how images may be used and where they might end up – even, it seems, in a busy tourist location. Cartier Bresson’s decisive moment has become a moment of possible tension. In such circumstances an unobtrusive snapshot or smartphone becomes a plus, a more ‘obvious’ high end camera becomes a con.

E-PL7 · f/11 · 1/1000s · 42mm · ISO1000

That said, whether there are people in my scene or not, a larger sensor, in the case of the E-PL7 a Four Thirds 17.3x13mm CMOS chip, remains an advantage. Not least in giving me the ability to crop the image and still preserve a good amount of information and detail. Whereas cropping an image from a 1/2.3-inch sensor, as found in my TG-870 ‘Tough’, will potentially result in visible degradation of the image when viewed 100% – but not always. Naturally it depends on the size of my crop.

TG-870 · f/5.1 · 1/200s · 12.6mm · ISO125

Traveling anywhere with a camera runs the risk of damage in transit, the lens getting elbowed in a busy throng, or worst of all, stolen. For these reasons again a compact camera, more affordable than a compact system camera / mirrorless, gets another tick, with a ‘toughened’ compact, like the TG-870, the most sensible choice of all. It’s not like I feel I’m missing out in terms of handling. After all, more recent compacts, though thinner on the ground than a decade ago, feature Wi-Fi, touch screens and typically 4K, 30fps video capture alongside 16MP or 20MP stills.

But I feel I’m being cleverest when I pair the above with a compact and lightweight mirrorless like the E-PL7 that is neither much deeper in profile – save for the addition of a compact, removable zoom lens – or a great deal weightier overall. The E-PL7 is a manageable 357g without lens, compared with 221g for the TG-870.

In which case it simply comes down to my pulling the mirrorless out of my rucksack when I’m feeling artistic and want to capture as much detail as its sensor and glass gives me. And then using the point-and-shoot snapshot for when I’m at the beach, by the pool, or simply want something I can sling in the rucksack and go about my business stress-free.

So, to sum up the pros and cons of each, while I feel the mirrorless camera is giving me better image quality and more manual control, the compact snapper provides greater portability and, in generally being much cheaper, there’s less concern during transportation – in that it’s not as much of a gut punch if something happens to it.

Yes, I can’t change the lens on the point-and-shoot, but its short focal length zoom is adequate for everyday snaps and achieving wide-angle landscapes, group shots or close-up selfies.

Fine quality (least compression) JPEGs straight out of the compact reveal well saturated colours, even if, when scrutinising enlarged sections, they’re a little less well defined and lacking in contrast compared with my mirrorless, which has maintained shadow and corner detail much better.

But viewed standalone, if you know you’re going somewhere with plenty of natural daylight and mostly bright blue skies, and aren’t aiming for creative shallow depth of field or bokeh style effects, then a compact snapper will do just fine for family holidays. Even if I’ll still be tempted to reach for the mirrorless when I know a scene or a subject is potentially a ‘keeper’ and so want to capture it in the best quality available to me ain that moment

Ultimately, accepted photographic wisdom dictates that the best camera for the job is the camera you have with you. Even if, for 90% of photographers, that ‘camera’ is neither a dedicated compact nor mirrorless, but a smartphone.

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I’ve constructed this list based on both my own reviews and those of the AP team. I’ve aimed to include a mix of high-end pro bags and affordable camera bag options for newbies and those on a budget, as well as bags in multiple different sizes (as everyone’s setup is different after all). A hiking bag for landscape shooters is going to be a different proposition to the kind of slim bag favoured by city-shooting street photographers, so I’ve aimed to keep this list as broad as possible to reflect that.

Our testing process for camera bags is straightforward, as you might expect: we load ’em up, and take ’em out! This way, we can assess a camera bag’s comfort, durability, ease of use, weatherproofing, security and more. It gives us an accurate overall picture of how good the bag is and whether it’s worth its asking price, which in turn informs whether it makes it into this guide. So, let’s take a closer look, and if you’re unsure how to choose the best camera bag for you, scroll down to the bottom of this page for helpful tips and answers to frequently asked questions. For more kit guides, check out our rundowns of the best tripods to buy and the best kit for wildlife photography.

Best camera bags – the quick list:

• Best camera bag for photographers: Manfrotto Pro Light Multiloader Backpack M – Buy now
• Best camera bag for travel: Shimoda Urban Explore 20 – Buy now
• Best everyday backpack: Vanguard Veo City B46 – Buy now
• Best compact rangefinder-style camera bag: Billingham TEN-16 – Buy now
• Best mid-sized backpack for everyday use: Vanguard Veo Metro B25L – Buy now
• Best roll-top camera backpack: Wandrd PRVKE 21 V4 – Buy now
• Best camera bag for mirrorless: Manfrotto Street Slim Backpack – Buy now
• Best small slingbag: Nomatic McKinnon Camera Sling Bag 5L – Buy now
• Best camera bag with laptop sleeve: Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 25L – Buy now
• Best camera bag for DSLRs: Tenba DNA 16 DSLR Backpack – Buy now
• Best cheap camera backpack: Vanguard Veo Active 42M – Buy now
• Best large camera backpack: Vanguard Alta Sky 68 – Buy now
• Best camera sling bag: Think Tank Urban Access Sling 8 – Buy now
• Best messenger bag for photographers: Billingham 307 – Buy now

Looking for the best deal on camera bags? Not only will you find the best camera bags, but also some of the best deals, as our ‘Buy now’ buttons are set to automatically take you to the best prices from trusted retailers. You’ll also find a list of other retailers below each bag, so you can find the right deal for you.

The best camera bags you can buy today:

Best camera bag for photographers: Manfrotto Pro Light Multiloader Backpack

Specifications at a glance:

This exceptional backpack earned the full five stars in our recent review. For serious photographers, it is pretty much perfect. There’s plenty of room, with dimensions of 35.5 x 26 x 54 cm, but what sets the Multiloader apart is its quick-access functionality. The single zip running along the outside can be opened in numerous different ways thanks to four zip pulls, giving flexible access to the side panels and front section.

It’s a sizeable bag – it would be a hefty prospect full up – but I felt that the harness distributes the weight well and makes it easy to carry. If your equipment justifies its size, the Manfrotto Pro Light Multiloader Backpack M is a compelling choice.

Read our Manfrotto Pro Light Multiloader Backpack M review.

Best camera bag for travel: Shimoda Urban Explore 20

Specifications at a glance:

Stylish, slim and brilliantly engineered, the Shimoda Urban Explore 20 earned the full five stars from our review team. It is one of the best camera bags to cross our desks. Comfortable to wear, with plenty of space for a camera, lenses and extra accessories, this backpack is designed in particular for urban photographers and those who enjoy city breaks. It has access points at the rear and the side, making it easier to grab things quickly, and is constructed from durable Cordura fabric. A metal frame inside and a protective camera compartment help keep your gear safe; from bumps and knocks as well as opportunistic thieves.

This all comes at a cost, as the Shimoda Urban Explore is one of the more expensive bags on our list. It’s also worth noting that the version we tested was the smallest 20L capacity, suited to smaller camera setups. Those using DSLRs or larger full-frame mirrorless cameras may want to consider the 25L or 30L versions.

Read our Shimoda Urban Explore 20 review.

Best everyday camera bag: Vanguard Veo City B46 backpack

Specifications at a glance:

This brand new offering from Vanguard is a stylish everyday bag with lots of essential design features for the modern city and travel photographer. Its design is fairly typical, with a top-opening compartment for personal items and access to the main camera compartment via the rear. There is no side access to the camera compartment. It is possible to access a camera via the top, though at the expense of the top compartment.

The top compartment is adequate for ready-access things like food or a packable jacket. It also has a zipped compartment with two internal velcroed pockets. These have red and green markers; a good option for storing charged and used batteries. The top section also contains a tablet compartment, into which I was able to fit a 10″ tablet in its case.

I’d rate this as a premium bag, a few quirks notwithstanding. With plenty of sections and pockets, it should will satisfy many types of photographers.

Read our recent full review of the Vanguard Veo City B46 backpack.

Best compact rangefinder-style camera bag: Billingham TEN-16

Specifications at a glance:

The Billingham TEN-16 accepts flat-bodied rangefinder-style cameras up to about 14cm wide, 8cm tall, and 7cm deep, including the lens, and thanks to the flexible design, there’s a bit more wiggle room. Inside, there is one large main compartment and two slim pockets at the back, the smaller front one would fit a spare SD card, whereas the one behind can comfortably take a smaller smartphone. A neatly designed drawstring fabric closure helps keep your camera protected from the elements, and you can secure the cover via Billingham’s signature ‘clogball’ closure.

It comes with an adjustable and removable leather shoulder strap and has two loops at the back, which let you attach it to your belt or to certain Billingham bags as an end-pocket. It is available in Black/Black, Burgundy/Chocolate, Sage /Chocolate and Black/Tan colour combinations.

Read our review of the Billingham TEN-16.

Best mid-sized backpack for everyday use: Vanguard Veo Metro B25L

Specifications at a glance:

The Vanguard Veo Metro 25L is a medium-sized backpack with a neat ‘urban’ styling. It comprises of three sections, with one large compartment for your main kit and two smaller sections for one for personal items on the top and another for holding a 16” laptop or tablet at a separate pocket at the back. There are two side pockets as well, which will hold a tripod or a water bottle.

If you want to avoid opening the main compartment at the rear, you have a quick access point on the side and can set up another at the top. It has plenty of movable dividers, and useful hidden pockets for things like AirTags, a passport or a powerbank with a pass-through hole for the charging cable to the outside, for comfortably charging your phone or camera on the go.

The shoulder straps and waist belt, and nack panel are generously padded, making it comfortable to carry even when fully loaded. It is made of waterproof material, but comes with an extra cover to protect against heavy rainfall. 

Read our full review of the Vanguard Veo Metro B25L

Best roll-top camera backpack: Wandrd PRVKE 21 V4

Specifications at a glance:

I’ve been a huge fan of Wandrd’s camera bags for some time now, and the refined V4 version of the PRVKE 21 may just be one of the best I’ve ever tested. Retaining the stylish roll-top design of previous incarnations, this new camera backpack now includes a zipped opening for faster access to the upper section, as well as more comfortable straps that are fine to wear for long hikes. The internal storage feels really versatile; it moulded brilliantly around my setup, but could easily be reworked for something quite different. You get a laptop sleeve, a tablet sleeve, an AirTag pocket and memory card organisers, and you have multiple options for how to access your kit, with openings on the side and rear as well as the top.

While it looks stylish enough for city-wear, the PRVKE 21 V4 is hardy enough to protect your gear, with PVC-coated tarpaulin and DWR-treated zips that do an excellent job of repelling rain and dirt. Tote-style handles also give you an extra option for grabbing the bag off a shelf or luggage rack (though if I do have one nitpick, it’s that these handles interfere a little with accessing the roll-top zip).

I reviewed the 21L version, and it’s worth noting that Wandrd also offers 15L, 31L and 41L versions that are otherwise much the same, if your setup is smaller or larger than mine. Also, one thing I’d say is that while you can buy the bag on its own, it’s worth spending a little more if you can and getting the Photography Bundle which includes the Essential Camera Cube for storing and protecting your camera and lenses. As the name implies, it is, well, essential.

Read my Wandrd PRVKE 21 V4 review for more

Best camera bag for mirrorless: Manfrotto Street Slim Backpack

Specifications at a glance:

This smart and affordable backpack is a great choice for a day trip with a mirrorless camera. Split into two sections, the top half is for personal effects and the bottom half for camera gear. The camera section has enough room for a body and three lenses up to 19cm long. It has 12L capacity.

I liked the unpadded top section, it is perfect for carrying an extra layer or two, a packed lunch or overnight essentials. There’s also a collection of internal pockets for personal effects and spare batteries. In addition, there are external pockets on either side to hold a drink or compact tripod.

Read our Manfrotto Street Slim Backpack review.

Best small slingbag: Nomatic McKinnon Camera Sling Bag 5L

Specifications at a glance:

The Nomatic McKinnon 5L slingbag is ideal for a small or mid-sized mirrorless camera and one or two lenses. A small and easy-to-carry bag for a short trip. By moving the velcro divider, you can easily rearrange the inner compartments to fit different-sized lenses or other accessories. A convenient choice for travel, as the grab handle can also be used to attach the bag to a suitcase, while the shoulder strap can also be minimised to become a hip strap. A quick latch system helps to open and close without zipping the bag completely for quick access.

On the inside, there are three pockets for SD cards and another two for camera batteries, and filters. There is a useful foldout section that can be used as tray for changing lenses or SD-cards.

Read our review of the Nomatic McKinnon 5L camera slingbag.

Best camera bag with a laptop sleeve: Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 25L

Specifications at a glance:

With a generous 16-inch laptop sleeve, this bag from Peak Design is ideal for anyone who wants to take their photo-editing setup on the go. Part of a relatively new range, the Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 25L is designed for those who like an outdoorsy adventure, equipped as it is a tough, weather-resistant outer material and an optional Rain Fly cover. The straps are comfortable and the interior is capacious – just what you want.

The Outdoor Backpack won the Reader’s Choice accessory of the year award at the AP Awards in 2025. At first instance, it looks like any ordinary backpack – but you can make it into a photographer’s backpack by adding Peak Design’s dedicated Camera Cubes. Annoyingly, this is an extra expense, but it does all fit together rather well once you do it, with loops inside the backpack that let you clip the cubes into position. Also, the backpack isn’t too expensive in the first instance.

In our full review, we came away impressed from our time with the Peak Design 25L Outdoor Backpack. Having dual access points makes it highly useable when you’re out and about, and while the Camera Cubes are an extra expense, being able to swap the backpack from everyday to photo-focused makes it extra versatile. Also, if this one is a little large for your setup, we’ve also reviewed the excellent Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 18L, which is a great little daypack with many of the same features.

Read our full Peak Design 25L Outdoor Backpack review.

Best camera bag for DSLRs: Tenba DNA 16 DSLR Backpack

Specifications at a glance:

The two-section DNA 16 DSLR Backpack can accommodate a mirrorless or DSLR camera and 2 or 3 lenses including a 70-200mm f/2.8. It also has a laptop section that can house computers up to 16 inches in size.

The camera compartment is at the bottom of the bag and when the padded insert is removed, it can turn the bag into a regular backpack. When the insert is in place, however, it can tip forward when the zip is opened to give easier access to your kit. Tenba plumped for a roll-close top section for this bag, which gives some flexibility in capacity.

Best cheap camera backpack: Vanguard Veo Active 42M

Specifications at a glance:

This 17L rear-access backpack is designed for carrying a mirrorless camera with 3 or 4 lenses including a 70-200mm in its removable camera insert. Meanwhile, the top section is available to hold accessories and personal items. There are also mounting points, which allow for carrying a tripod on the front or side of the bag. Additionally, there are dedicated pockets for a 13-inch laptop and 10-inch tablet and a sealed pocket for a 1L hydration pouch.

The outer fabric is tough ripstop nylon while the bright yellow interior makes it easy to see your kit in low light. There’s also a pass-through for a USB cable from a pocket that can hold a power bank – perfect for charging your phone on the move.

Read our Vanguard VEO Active 42M review.

Best large camera backpack: Vanguard Alta Sky 68

Specifications at a glance:

Vanguard’s Alta Sky 68 backpack is designed for people who want to carry a larger camera with a lot of hefty lenses. As such, it’s big enough to cope with an 800mm f/5.6 lens attached to a pro-level DSLR or mirrorless camera. And it can carry up to around 7 other lenses.

With weight in mind, the Sky Alta 68 has well-padded and contoured shoulder straps with sternum and load-lifter straps. It is possible to adjust the padded and breathable 3D back panel, with extra padding against the shoulder blades and the lower back, across three settings according to the height of the person carrying the backpack.

Best camera sling bag: Think Tank Urban Access Sling 8

Specifications at a glance:

A good sling bag can be ideal for urban street shooting. Lightweight and manoeuvrable, these can be worn on either shoulder and slung around the body for quick access to gear without needing to remove it. The Think Tank Urban Access Sling 8 is one of our favourites. It’s designed to hold a mirrorless setup and two or three lenses to suit the light-travelling street photographer, and it offers camera access from either side.

There’s a useful tripod attachment on the front of the bag, and the Urban Access 8 also offers an 8-inch sleeve for a small tablet. A removable webbing waist belt affords some extra security and stability, if needed, and a well-sealed rain cover is included. While space is limited, it’s pitched about right for the type of user who’ll want a sling bag – if your gear is much bigger than this, a backpack will be a better fit.

Best messenger bag for photographers: Billingham 307

Specifications at a glance:

Every Billingham bag is instantly recognisable, and the 307 displays the same traditional styling consistent throughout the Billingham range. It may be one of the most expensive bags in this roundup, by a long way, but the 307 is made to a high standard, with an exterior made of durable FibreNyte – a lightweight synthetic alternative to canvas. The bag can be carried comfortably using the padded shoulder strap or the large top handle, with the top flap secured by a quick-access buckle.

A top zip acts as a secondary seal, and easily glides open. Inside is space for a DSLR with lens attached, and a further four lens or flash units within the well padded dividers. However, there is no dedicated pocket for small accessories, or for a laptop/tablet.

You’ll be able to find this bag for up to half the price if you settle for a used option.

Choosing a suitable camera bag

Most of our picks are camera backpacks as they are the most versatile and suit most photographers’ needs. But whichever type you choose – sling bag or messenger type included – a good photographer’s bag should contain enough interior space, be comfortable to carry for long periods, and tough enough to withstand adverse conditions and the odd mishap.

Many camera bags have quick-access options, with extra flaps and zips that allow you to swing the bag around and grab kit without having to completely remove it. You may also want to think about weatherproofing – some camera backpacks are made from water-repellent fabric, and/or have pull-out rain covers.

Those already in the market for a backpack and are security-conscious about your gear should check out our Best rear-loading backpack guide to find out why they’re a good idea and the ones I rate highly.

There are great affordable options in our guide to the best second-hand messenger bags.

Other considerations for camera bags

For extra items like a water bottle, charging bank, notebook etc., you may want to pick up a bag with external pockets. Some camera backpacks also have tripod attachments. Also, if you’re carrying a lot of weight (like a DSLR and multiple lenses), consider a bag with a waist belt or harness, to alleviate some of the weight from the shoulders. In either case, padded straps are a good idea. It’s also common for camera backpacks to have laptop sleeves for safely storing a portable computer – useful for editing your images on the go.

FAQ: Are camera bags allowed on planes?

The vast majority of camera bags, and all of the ones featured on this list, will almost certainly be allowed on a plane. Most camera bag manufacturers will keep their bags within the dimensions that are commonly allowed for cabin luggage, meaning you should be able to have your camera bag close to hand and won’t need to check it in. Naturally, these requirements will vary from airline to airline, so it is always worth checking before you travel.

Taking your camera with you on a trip? Have a quick look at our top five carry-on cabin bags for flying with camera kit.

FAQ: How should I pack my camera?

Always position your camera with the lens facing down; these delicate structures are very susceptible to dust, and if you store them facing upward, any loose particles can make their way to your mirror or camera sensor.

FAQ: Are camera bags washable?

Camera bags are not something you can just throw inside your washing machine; this can ruin the inserts and padding and disintegrate the water-resistant coating. However, if it does come to cleaning it, you can try diluting a small amount of washing up liquid in warm water, and use a damp lint-free cloth to gently wipe down the bag. Always make sure to air dry it completely afterwards.

FAQ: How to keep your camera bag dry?

You can try dehumidifier bags or silica-gel packs to keep moisture away. Also, store your gear in an ideal environment. Remember, if you have been out on a cold day, don’t bring your bag straight into the heated house and unpack. Instead, leave it inside your camera bag in a cool dry place until it reaches room temperature.

Text by Angela Nicholson, with contributions from Jon Stapley, Michael Topham and AP Staff.

Related articles:

• Best second-hand messenger bags
• Best rear-loading backpacks
• The best cameras for photography
• Best cameras for video, vlogging, and videography
• Best camera phones for photography

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The post These are the best camera bags for photographers to buy in 2025 appeared first on Amateur Photographer.

For a shooter willing to embrace third-party lens offerings, new companies like TT Artisans, 7 Artisans, and Thypoch offer wide aperture lenses at substantially lower costs than what was available in the past. Another option for achieving this look is to use a smartphone with computational photography technology, which uses software to simulate the look of a fast lens. This rendering doesn’t stand up to pixel-level scrutiny, but it works fine for posting on social media platforms. Despite the shallow depth of field look being available to so many non-professional shooters today, there are professionals like me who continue to embrace the look.

My main camera is a Leica M10 with a 35mm f/1.4 Summilux lens shot wide open. This combination produces images that I love, but it is not the best choice for much of my corporate photography work. My professional workhorse is the Nikon Z9, but the camera is usually paired with zoom lenses that open to f/2.8. I’ve been considering adding a fast prime to the Z9 for the few occasions when a zoom lens is not mandatory.

Nikon offers several fast lenses, including a Nikon Z 50mm f/1.2, but the lenses of most interest to me are the Nikon Z 85mm f/1.2 and the Nikon Z 135mm f/1.8 Plena. Of the two, my preference would be to shoot with an 85mm focal length so I can be closer to my subject. And while an 85mm f1.2 lens will undoubtedly produce a pleasing, soft background effect, the Nikon Plena lens is marketed with an emphasis on how beautiful it renders the out of focus elements in an image and I was curious to see if the performance gain would be worth the downside of having to be farther away from my subject than I would like to be. Both lenses are big, heavy, and share a similar design, but oddly, the 85mm is the larger of the two. Both balance equally well on the Z9.

To compare these lenses, I shot a variety of wide-open images of a model named Rachel in NYC’s Meatpacking District. I photographed Rachel from a variety of shooting distances, positioning her both near and far from background elements. I often changed my shooting position so that the composition would be similar between the 2 lenses. The images are provided here straight out of camera (unless otherwise noted) so you can draw your own conclusion.

In my review of the images, it was clear to me that the background blur was pleasing from both lenses, with Rachel’s eyes appearing tack sharp and the background being blurred beyond recognition at times. This look is desirable when you want the viewer’s attention to be drawn to a single aspect of an image rather than the image as a whole. In a city like New York that tends to be crowded, using a shallow depth of field can help you isolate a subject on almost any street corner.

A photographer cannot rely on a fast lens to magically transform every random corner into a prime shooting location. At one point, I positioned Rachel near the most unattractive element I could find, which was a small forklift. I wanted to see if the background blur might render this vehicle unrecognizable. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and despite the forklift being blurred in the photograph, it was still recognizable as a forklift, making the image suitable only for the trash bin.

The blurring effect of any fast lens works best when the subject is far from the background and the photographer is close to the subject. As you position yourself farther from the model, the blurring effect is lessened, making the background more discernible. It is safe to say you should pay attention to the background elements no matter what lens or aperture settings you have selected.

Determining which of the two lenses produces a more attractive rendering is subjective. Both lenses produce great results, and modern autofocus technology all but ensures that you can create sharp images even when shooting wide open. As someone who loves shooting with a 35mm focal length, I didn’t like having to be far away from Rachel to compose with the 135mm Plena. The problem exists with the 85mm lens, but to a lesser degree. It is difficult to communicate with the model when she is far away.

Had we been shooting indoors in a typically small NYC office or apartment, I might not have had the space to move far enough away from her to compose as I desired. These problems would have a negative impact on the usability of the 135mm lens for my shooting style. If I were to make a purchasing decision based on which lens I preferred shooting with, it would be the 85mm lens.

However, in reviewing photographs after the shoot, the differences between the images taken from the 85mm and the 135mm were subtle, but the 135mm lens lived up to Nikon’s hype and had the more pleasing rendering of out of focus elements. Therefore, I would purchase the 135m Plena, despite it being a specialty item for me, which would be useful in only a few situations.

It is great for tight portraits where the subject’s head is cropped and excellent for capturing shots of eye makeup or fingernail designs when shooting fashion. And while the lens can be utilized for 3/4 or even full length portraits, I don’t think a 135mm focal length is the best choice for these shots because of the aforementioned issues that come with being some distance away from the person you are photographing. The lens would be good for concert photography in situations where your shooting distance just happens to be right for a 135mm lens, but you don’t always have control over where you will be taking photos.

Many people choose cameras and lenses that are versatile. When paired with a 24-70mm zoom lens, my Nikon Z9 is well suited for in shooting any genre of photography you can name. Still, there can be artistic benefits in using photography tools that are more limited in their functionality. The small, retro-styled Nikon ZF isn’t as versatile as the Z9, but it would be my first choice if I were using a Nikon for street photography. If I were photographing fashion, I’d rather have a fast 85mm lens than a slower 70-200mm zoom. Today, any smartphone is capable of taking a great photograph, and there isn’t much need for a specialized lens for general image capture.

But if you want your images to have a look that is unlike most other photographers, you might need to consider a tool like the Nikon Z 135mm Plena that excels in only a few specific areas of photography.

Related reading:

• Complete guide to Portrait photography and portrait types
• Best cameras for portrait photography
• 13 quick portrait photography tips

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Video shooters can get locked-off shots and deliver pieces to camera without needing another person on hand, while photographers can experiment with long exposures and time-lapse. Phone tripods are a varied category, including miniature sets of legs that can be quickly deployed on a tabletop, to flexible mounts that can be wrapped around branches and poles for an unusual perspective.

Alternatively, there are also mounts that can be used to clamp a smartphone securely on a standard, full-size photo or video tripod, as well as stabilising gimbals that help create smooth footage on the move – ideal for run-and-gun vlogging – and even a cheap grip can make your phone easier to hold for shooting.

Therefore, as well as the best phone tripods, we’ve rounded up the best smartphone accessories for photography. If you’re still looking for your ideal phone for photos and videos, check out our guides to the best camera phones for photography and the best budget camera phones.

Here’s a quick glance at the best smartphone tripods, gimbals and accessories in this article: 

Looking for the best deal on Smartphone tripods? Not only will you find the best phone tripods and accessories, but you’ll also find some of the best cheap phone tripod deals, as our ‘Buy now’ buttons are setup to automatically take you to the best prices, from trusted retailers, plus you’ll also find a list of other retailers below each tripod, gimbal and accessory, so you can find the right deal for you.

Best phone tripods:

• Best smartphone tripod: Benro Tablepod Flex Kit – Buy now
• Best full-size tripod for phones: Joby RangePod Smart Tripod – Buy now
• Best tripod for vlogging: Smallrig Vlog Tripod Kit VK-50 – Buy now
• Best smartphone mini tripod: Manfrotto Pixi EVO 2 mini tripod – Buy now
• Mini smartphone tripod: Manfrotto Pixi Mini Tripod – Buy now
• Flexible smartphone tripod: GorillaPod Stand PRO – Buy now
• Best for home studio: Neewer Ring Light Kit – Buy now

Best phone gimbals:

• Best gimbal for smartphones: DJI Osmo Mobile 6 – Buy now
• Best budget-friendly gimbal: DJI OM 5 – Buy now
• Best gimbal for iPhone: Insta360 Flow Pro – Buy now
• Zhiyun Smooth 5S – Buy now
• Zhiyun Smooth Q4 – Buy now
• JOBY Smart Stabilizer – Buy now

Best accessories:

• Best smartphone camera grip: ShiftCam SnapGrip – Buy now
• Best smartphone quick-release plate: Benro ArcaSmart 70 – Buy now
• Smartphone LED light: JOBY Beamo Mini LED light  – Buy now
• Best smartphone slider: JOBY Swing Phone Mount – Buy now
• Best universal smartphone clamp: Manfrotto MCPIXI – Buy now

Read on as we count off the best camera phone tripods and mounts you can buy right now.

Best phone tripods and mounts

Best smartphone tripod: Benro Tablepod Flex Kit

At a glance:

• Type: Mini / flexible tripod
• Price: $160 / £103

To be prepared for a range of situations, the Benro Tablepod Flex Kit is a great way to cover your bases. It’s effectively two tripods in one, featuring both rigid carbon fibre legs and flexible Gorilla-pod style legs that can be manipulated to rest on uneven surfaces, or grip protruding objects like branches or poles. Both sets of legs can be used simultaneously: the flexible legs holding extra accessories like lights, while the rigid legs support the whole setup. Alternatively, you can reconfigure the kit to turn it into a selfie stick.

While this kit is one of the more expensive accessories for a smartphone, we concluded in our review that it justifies its asking price. The bendy legs are a little fiddly to use in practice, but once you get used to their quirks, you effectively have a little portable studio setup on your hands. The lightweight but sturdy carbon fibre legs are easy to carry everywhere with you, for shooting at a moment’s notice.

Read our Benro Tablepod Flex Kit review.

Best full-size tripod for phones: Joby RangePod Smart Tripod

While smartphone tripods tend to typically be miniature tabletop things, the Joby RangePod Smart Tripod is a full-size travel tripod that comes packaged with a phone holder. So, if your smartphone photography or videography aims are a little more ambitious, this could be the right tripod for you. Constructed from aluminium, the RangePod smart tripod is durable, lightweight and solid, with 160cm maximum height and four-section legs secured via twist locks.

In testing, we found that the Joby RangePod Smart Tripod does basically everything you could want from a tripod of this type. It’s sturdy, quick to deploy and packs down well. The phone clamp is versatile, secure and compatible with most handsets, and the padded bag is handy for travel, even if its rope straps aren’t the most comfortable in the world. This tripod may be a little larger than many smartphone shooters need, but if you’re looking for something properly stable and versatile, the RangePod offers outstanding value for money.

Read our full Joby RangePod Smart Tripod review.

Best tripod for vlogging: Smallrig Vlog Tripod Kit VK-50

At a glance:

• Type: mini tripod and selfie stick
• LED video light
• Shotgun microphone
• Price: $64 / £77

This compact kit combines the functions of a tripod and a selfie stick and includes a practical video light and microphone. The arm has a three-section collapsible design and can extend up to 30cm, providing some extra distance when recording or creating a high-angle of-view shot. It has a 1,5 kg load-bearing capacity and folds down to 18 cm. The kit features Smallrig’s Easy Loading smartphone holder, and the handle’s design let me easily switch between portrait and landscape orientations.

Two cold shoe mounts on each side of the holder allow you to attach accessories. This set-up includes a bi-colour LED video light (2700-6500K) with a small softbox to eliminate harsh shadows, and a shotgun microphone with a 3.5mm to Type-C cable.
Note this is a tripod with handy accessories for video; however, it doesn’t have any image stabilization like gimbals do. That said if you want to elevate your video content Smallrig’s Vlog Tripod Kit is a useful add-on.

Smallrig also offers an app called RECnGO that allows for multi-angle recording, video and sound editing and pro live streaming straight to TikTok Instagram or Facebook.

Best smartphone mini tripod: Manfrotto Pixi EVO 2 mini tripod

At a glance:

• Type: Mini tripod
• Price: $35 / £42 (£33 seasonal deal at time of publication)

While photographers using mirrorless cameras need to cart around big, heavier tripods, smartphone photographers can do things the easier way. The EVO 2 is one of the best mini tripods around to pair with your phone device. Capable of supporting up to a whopping 2.5kg, the mini tripod offers two different leg angles to give stability on uneven ground.

With a choice of three colour combinations, the aluminium build is lightweight yet robust, and the EVO 2 even offers the ability to tilt the device a full 90 degrees, so smartphone photographers have the choice to shoot in landscape or portrait modes.

Mini smartphone tripod: Manfrotto Pixi Mini Tripod

At a glance:

• Type: Mini tripod
• Price: $35 / £36

When you need a tripod to keep things steady, but are restricted to travelling light, the Pixi Mini from Manfrotto be your solution. Small enough to fit in the pocket of your jeans and highly affordable, the lightweight build of this mini tripod disguises a robust build that will stand up to standard knocks and bumps.

The Pixi Mini features a push-button mechanism that enables the small ballhead to be manoeuvred to whichever composition you need. And there’s a 1/4 thread to pair up with the phone clamp attachment to hold your smartphone in place. Weighing just 170g, this mini tripod can hold up to a whopping 1kg – in case you need to start adding to the rig with accessories such as lights.

Flexible smartphone tripod: GorillaPod Stand PRO

At a glance:

• Type: Flexible tripod
• Price: From $38 / £66

If there’s a more versatile support for smartphone photography out there than the GorillaPod, then I don’t think we will find it. This innovative tripod features malleable legs that can be flexed into positions to make use of supports you didn’t think would be possible. Wrap the lens around a tree, a fence post or even the frame of a bike – the possibilities are endless.

Built with premium ABS plastic and stainless steel and weighing 244g to keep it light and portable, the GorillaPod PRO measures just 5.5×7.5x31cm and is best described as the swiss army knife of smartphone supports. There are bigger versions of the GorillaPod available but this model hits the sweet spot on both price and design for smartphone photography.

Best for home studio: Neewer Ring Light Kit

At a glance:

• Type: tripod and ring light kit
• Price: $108 / £96

An all-in-one studio set up for smartphone photography and video, this Neewer kit comes with a light stand/tripod that extends to 61″/155cm, and even though it is relatively light, it holds your phone securely even when it’s fully extended. The 18″ ring light is dimmable and has a daylight white 5600 Kelvin colour temperature by default. With the additional white and orange coloured diffusers, you can soften and add more warmth to your lights.

The main tube has a gooseneck design, so it’s very flexible and easy to adjust. In the middle of the ring light, there’s a standard cold shoe with a ball head adapter which is compatible with most smartphones and smaller cameras too.

Best Gimbals

Best gimbal for smartphones: DJI Osmo Mobile 6

At a glance:

• Type: Gimbal / selfie stick
• Price: $89 / £85 seasonal price

Most photographers will be familiar with DJI for its range of industry-leading drones, but the brand also makes amazing accessories for smartphones. The Osmo Mobile 6 is the latest to be available to smartphone photographers. Best described as a handheld stabiliser gimbal, it folds down to a portable, travel-friendly package that can be opened up and used when the right photo moment presents itself.

Featuring a built-in extension rod to increase the distance between user and smartphone when capturing wider selfie shots, there’s a lot of tech built into this three-axis stabiliser – take the DJI’s Active Track 5.0 technology, which allows you to follow a subject around for smoother video footage. For all this, the Osmo Mobile 6 tips the scales at just 309g.

Read more about the DJI Osmo Mobile 6 here.

Best budget-friendly gimbal: DJI OM 5

At a glance:

• Type: Selfie stick / gimbal
• Price (used): $79 / £80

Now that it has been superseded by the Osmo Mobile 6, the OM 5 (note the different way DJI names its smartphone gimbals) is now a much more budget-friendly route into smartphone supports.

Offering a three-axis stabilising gimbal to allow capture of smooth video footage or sharp long-exposure stills, the OM 5 features an innovative magnetic design, enabling the smartphone to be clipped in and out of the gimbal at lightning speed – important if you are racing to capture a special movement.

Despite a 215mm extension rod that turns the gimbal into a selfie stick, the OM 5 folds down to just 174.7×74.6×37mm – perfect for those who are travelling and have limited space for equipment. Thanks to a USB-C charging port, it takes just 1.5 hours to charge to full and offers an operating time of 6.4 hours.

Read our DJI OM 5 Smartphone Gimbal review

Best gimbal for iPhone: Insta 360 Flow Pro

At a glance:

• Type: 3in1 gimbal, selfie stick and tripod
• Price: $149 (standard bundle) / £169

The Insta 360 Flow Pro is an AI tracking smart gimbal available for both Android and iPhone. But iPhone users may be more tempted to opt in as the Flow Pro is the first gimbal to include Apple’s latest subject tracking technology, DockKit. It also allows you to shoot using your iPhone’s native camera app, and over 200 third party iOS camera apps.

You can activate it by simply raising your hand with your fingers open, and the 360 Flow Pro automatically starts recording and tracking. It offers 3-axis image stabilisation and features 360 Infinite Pan Tracking, so the top of the gimbal rotates without limit. However, when moving on a horizontal axis, its range of motion is more limited than other gimbals.

The Deep Track 3.0 technology promises unmatched AI subject tracking, Person Re-identification and All Angle Tracking help you keep track of your moving subject, especially if there are similar subjects in the frame. It also offers a specific Animal, Slow motion and Zoom subject tracking. A handy tracking ring light shows when tracking is activated.

With a built-in selfie stick (20cm / 8.5in) and tripod that folds into the handle, the 360 Flow Pro is quite versatile. Folded down, it retracts to a convenient 79.6×162.1x36mm size that easily fits into a jacket pocket, and weighs 366g (13oz). There is a built-in cold shoe for connecting an external microphone. The Insta 360 Flow Pro is NFC compatible, so you can pair with only a tap. It also allows for auto-reconnection so you can be app and running in a cinch. 

Sporting a 2900 mAh battery it can last up to 10 hours and if your phone happened to run out of battery you can use it as a power bank.

Best gimbal with light: Zhiyun Smooth 5S

At a glance:

• Type: Gimbal / selfie stick
• Price: $179 / £166

If you are looking for a bells and whistles accessory for your smartphone photography, this could well be it. The Smooth 5s is a three-axis smartphone gimbal that takes things to a new level.

Not only does it keep a smartphone steady when shooting stills and video, but it also features a powerful built-in 650 Lux luminance LED light to illuminate subjects close to the gimbal. Along with the built-in light, the 5S can also accommodate two additional lights, essentially enabling creators to film single-crewed.

Other features include an integrated joystick to help you manoeuvre the smartphone at your leisure, and dials and mode buttons to quickly access different features. The 5S has a number of built-in creative modes so you can get creative, including a panorama option that will move the camera automatically to shoot multiple frames before merging them together.

Best cheap gimbal: Zhiyun Smooth Q4

At a glance:

• Type: Gimbal / selfie stick
• Price: $99 / £94 on its own ($150 / £119 in COMBO kit with accessories)

Smartphone gimbals don’t need to be big or bulky. The Q4 is one of the smallest packages on the market. Tipping the scales at just 370g and measuring just 181x107x56mm, this is a gimbal you can fold down and carry around in your jacket pocket. Despite being small, the Q4 offers a max operating time of 15 hours – more than enough for most photographers who are heading into the city to capture some fun content.

The design is far more simplified than the more pro Zhiyun Smooth 5S but the Q4 does boast a 215mm extension rod to shoot from a wider angle and a multi-functional control wheel enables quick operation and switching between modes.

Read more about the Zhiyun Smooth Q4.

Best entry-level gimbal: JOBY Smart Stabilizer

At a glance:

• Type: gimbal / selfie-stick
• Price: £45

JOBY is better known for its range of mini tripods, but did you know the brand also makes a gimbal for smartphones, too? Priced at the entry-level point of the market, the JOBY gimbal comes with a mini tripod, carry bag and features a telescopic handle that extends out to 7 inches to help provide wider-angle compositions.

The battery lasts up to 10 hours and you can even charge up your smartphone from the gimbal using the included cable, allowing you to continue with your smartphone photography. Weighing 428g, more features can be unlocked by accessing the free Smart Stabilizer app, including focus tracking options.

Best phone accessories

Best smartphone camera grip: ShiftCam SnapGrip

At a glance:

• MagSafe hand grip
• Bluetooth Shutter release
• $70 / £70

Anyone who takes a lot of pictures on their phone — which, let’s face it, is most of us — can probably admit that the experience of phone shooting is not brilliant. The slim devices just aren’t designed to be comfortably held in a picture-taking position, and are incredibly easy to drop while you’re trying to get the right angle for a shot. So, ShiftCam has come up with the clever SnapGrip, a magnetic grip that secures itself to your iPhone (or Android device, via an adapter) and provides a much more secure hold. But it’s not just a grip — with Bluetooth connectivity, the SnapGrip also provides a physical shutter button, as well as a built-in 3200mAh powerbank that can charge your phone while you’re using it.

Compatibility is best with larger phones like the latest flagships, though we also tested it with older iPhones and it worked well enough. With secure magnetic attachment, it instantly makes your phone so much easier to operate, especially one-handed, making it ergonomically feel more like a ‘proper’ camera. The connectivity is fast and reliable, and while the incorporated charger isn’t the fastest, it’s still useful to have.

Read our full ShiftCam SnapGrip review.

Best smartphone quick-release plate: Benro ArcaSmart 70

At a glance:

• Type: Arca-swiss compatible clamp
• Price: $35 / £35

If you already have a decent amount of photography kit but find yourself increasingly using your smartphone for serious shooting, this clever gadget from Benro could allow you to use it for a bargain. It’s a smartphone clamp attached to a mounting plate that’s compatible with standard Arca Swiss tripod heads – essentially, it lets you use your phone on one of the standard best tripods for photography – which you may already have.

Additional accessories, such as LED lights, can also be affixed to the top of the clamp via the cold shoe. If you already own a perfectly good Gitzo for your camera, this device is a cost-effective adaptor that will allow you to use it with your smartphone, too. In our review, we found it to be beautifully made and highly effective for its intended function – with the quick-release functionality making it possible to quickly swap between phone and camera if so desired.

Read our full Benro ArcaSmart 70 review.

Smartphone LED light: JOBY Beamo Mini LED light

At a glance:

• Type: LED light
• Price: $55 / £44 (seasonal deal price)

As the saying goes, let there be light, and the solution to this is to invest in a Beamo Mini length for your smartphone photography. Designed to minimise flaws and produce flattering skin tones, the lights feature not one but two cold shoe mounts so they can be added to smartphone rigs, and they even have a magnetic backing.

The great thing about these flights is their robust build; in fact, they are both waterproof and rugged, so you should have no qualms about using them in harsh weather conditions. At full power, the light offers 1000 lumens, and power can be ramped up in five steps. JOBY offers these clever lights as single items, two-light kits and bundled with its mini tripods.

Best smartphone slider: JOBY Swing Phone Mount

At a glance:

• Type: Smartphone slider
• Price: $75 / £104

Here’s a clever accessory that will appeal to smartphone content creators who wish to capture professional-looking time-lapses, videos and B-roll. Designed in partnership with Syrp, the device connects via the JOBY motion app and can be programmed to move, adding motion to your time-lapse creations.

With a battery life of up to three hours, the Swing mount offers a linear travel distance of 38cm and can support a payload of 600g, which should cover all but the heaviest of smartphones. Other features include a built-in bubble level to ensure straight horizons, and there’s also a Ballhead 1K and GripTight phone mount accessory bubbled into the package.

Best universal smartphone clamp: Manfrotto MCPIXI

At a glance:

• Type: universal clamp
• Price: $25 / £16

With this clamp from Manfrotto you can secure smartphones between the width of 60-104mm, allowing plenty of space for bulky phone cases. It would nicely hold a wide phone like the iPhone16 Pro Max or Galaxy S25 Ultra. The universal cold shoe mounting point at the top lets you attach lights for vlogging or other accessories. There are also two 1/4” mounting points so you can attach the clamp to your tripod in landscape or portrait format.

Best pro phone mount: Joby Griptight Pro 2

At a glance:

• Type: universal phone mount
• Price: $60/ £60

It is easy to switch between landscape and portrait orientation without having to remove your phone, thanks to the twist lock at the back. It fits phones between 56 to 91mm wide, making it ideal for any smartphone on the market. The cold shoe mounting point is detachable and reveals another mounting point for accessories with a 1/4″ screw. This pro-grade smartphone mount has a stainless steel plate and plastic clamp that provides a firm grip. For iPhone users, there is also a MagSafe version available where you can rotate the phone in 360 degrees.

What are some accessories you can buy for your smartphone?

Mini tripods – best for long exposures and video

Just as when using a mirrorless camera to capture long exposures, there are times when a tripod is equally advantageous to shooting with a smartphone. Now, because they weigh much less than bigger cameras, mini tripods are an excellent solution to provide stability and keep your smartphone still, while remaining small, portable and convenient.

Along with being important when shooting long exposures, mini tripods can be used to hold the camera while capturing selfies or group pictures. And they are essential for capturing time lapse video footage where it’s critical the smartphone stays still.

Stabilisers – why would you need one?

A stabiliser (or “gimbals” as they are also known) are powerful and very useful accessories that bring a host of big benefits to smartphone users shooting stills or video. Most come with built-in extension rods to capture wider fields of view or shoot stills from an aerial viewpoint.

However, it’s moving video footage that really benefits from a gimbal as most offer a three-axis system to correct for any pitch, tilt or yaw, enabling you to move around while still capturing smooth footage. Most gimbals also pair up with a companion app to unlock further features and functions such as follow focus and tracking.

Lights – what are they for?

Any smartphone photographer who has shot in low light conditions will tell you that darkness can compromise image quality. The solution is to invest in a light, but with smartphone photography, you want to keep your kit lightweight and convenient. The trick is to source small, power LED lights that can illuminate your subject with flattering light without creating a heavy payload.

Text by Matty Graham, with contributions from Jon Stapley.

Related articles:

• Best camera phone accessories for photography and video
• The ultimate guide to tripods
• Best camera phones for photography
• Best smartphones for video
• Best used smartphones to buy

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The post Best phone tripod for iPhones and smartphones appeared first on Amateur Photographer.

Filters are used for many different purposes. They tend to be very popular in landscape photography, and indeed, we have dedicated guides to the best filters for landscape photography, as well as a step-by-step on how to use filters for better landscapes. The most commonly used types are neutral density (ND) filters and polarisers, but there are also B&W filters, light-pollution filters for astrophotography, close-up filters and plenty more to consider.

We’ve included them all, but don’t worry if you’re not too familiar with the terminology — we’ve a guide on how to choose a camera filter and what the different types do at the end of this article. We’ve also added explanations of the differences between square and circle filters, and how to find the right fit for your lens. So, let’s get into it…

The quick list

Looking for the best deal on camera filters? Not only will you find the best camera filters, but you will also find of the best cheap camera filter deals, as our ‘Buy now’ buttons are set up to automatically take you to the best prices from trusted retailers. You’ll also find a list of other retailers below each filter, so you can find the right deal for you.

• Best circular ND camera filter set: Kase Revolution – Buy now
• Best budget ND filter set: Urth Magnetic ND Selects Filter Kit – Buy now
• Best circular ND filter: LEE Filters Elements Little Stopper – Buy now
• Best polarising camera filter: Hoya Fusion CIR-PL – Buy now
• Best two-in-one camera filter: K&F Concept Variable ND4-64&CPL – Buy now
• Best square ND camera filter: LEE Filters Big Stopper – Buy now
• Best variable ND filter: PolarPro 82mm Peter McKinnon Signature Edition II Variable ND – Buy now
• Best graduated camera filter: Cokin Z-Pro Expert Kit – Buy now
• Best UV / lens-protection camera filter: Hoya Protection Filter –Buy now
• Best light pollution camera filter: Kase Wolverine Neutral Night – Buy now
• Best infrared camera filter: Hoya R72 Infrared Filter – Buy now
• Best black and white camera filter: Tiffen Red 25 – Buy now
• Best close-up camera filter: Hoya HMC Close-up Filter Set – Buy now
• Best soft focus camera filter: H&Y Revoring Black Mist filter 67-82mm – Buy now
• Best creative filter: Lensbaby Omni Creative Filter System- Buy now

Read on for full details of each filter, with price guides, size options and our technical team’s recommendations…

Best circular ND camera filter set: Kase Revolution

At a glance:

• Sizes: 77-95mm (step-up adapter rings available)
• Price: $199-330 / £230-320 (multi-filter kit prices)

When you’re testing a filter, it makes sense to put it through the wringer. We gave the Kase Revolution filters something of a baptism of fire by trying them out on the Sony A7R IV, a full-frame mirrorless camera with a whopping 61MP of resolution. If you want to measure the optical effect a set of filters has on an image, this is the camera to do it with – and the Kase Revolution passed the test with flying colours.

Optical quality

The optical quality is hugely impressive, and we detected no real loss of detail. If you stack a bunch of the filters together on a really sharp lens, you’ll notice a little vignetting, but not enough to seriously ruin an image. There’s also a slight warm colour cast, something that’s easy to correct in software should you wish to.

Swap in seconds

These filters operate via a clever magnetic attachment system; simply screw the magnetic adapter onto the front of your lens, and you can quickly take filters on and off, or swap between them in seconds. We tested out the Pro kit, meaning we got an ND8, ND64 and ND1000, as well as a polariser. They’re colour-coded (silver for polariser, blue for ND8, gold for ND64 and red for ND1000), though there’s no clear logic to the colour choices, so it’s not exactly intuitive. The fact that we have to get into the colour coding to find something to criticise should indicate to you how good these filters really are.

Read our Kase Revolution Magnetic Circular filters review

Best budget ND filter set: Urth Magnetic ND Selects Filter Kit

At a glance:

• 37- 82mm filter threads available
• $235 / £155

Urth, previously known as Gobe rebranded to reflect the company’s commitment to positively impact the planet by using low-impact materials to create products that last. Their filters use German Schott B270 glass and 10 layers of nano-coating on each side for easier cleaning and better light transmission. The Magnetic ND Selects Filter Kit PLus+ includes three neutral density filters, a lens adapter and two end caps for safe storage. The three magnetic circular filters allow you to cut down light by 3, 6 or 10 stops.

The adapter provided in the kit mounts to the front of your lens so you can easily snap on or change between ND filters. However, if you use lenses with various filter thread sizes, it is worth noting that Urth doesn’t sell stepping rings or adapter rings, these can be purchased separately (£15-£19).

Thanks to the magnetic system, you can stack multiple filters on top of each other, creating an even stronger ND effect. This results in a slight vignetting in the corners, but this is barely noticeable at regular viewing sizes.

Read our review of the Urth Magnetic ND Selects Filter Kit.

Best circular ND filter: LEE Filters Elements Little Stopper

At a glance:

• Sizes: 67-82mm
• Price: $175 / £169 ( 77mm size)

LEE Filters was famous for years for its powerful light-stopping filters that were exclusively available in square format (of which you’ll see more shortly). It was music to the ears of many landscape photographers when the company announced it was finally going to release circular versions of its popular ND filters, naming them the ‘Elements’ range.

Superb construction

The Elements Little Stopper reduces incoming light by six stops. While it produces less dramatic an effect than the famous 10-stop Big Stopper and LEE Filters 15-stop Super Stopper, it’s built with no less attention to optical quality. The filter is constructed from a high-end optical glass. There’s very little of the pronounced vignetting effect you sometimes get with cheaper filters.

The frame of the filter is constructed from robust black anodized aluminium, with knurled edges for better grip in all weather. There are a number of sophisticated coatings on the glass elements, including scratch-resistant and anti-reflective, as well as hydrophobic and oleophobic for easier cleaning.

Vs the Big Stopper

As mentioned, the six-stop light reduction of the Little Stopper is less pronounced than that of its 10-stop sibling, meaning you can use it to a more subtle effect. LEE Filters recommends it particularly for the very beginning and very end of the day when light is low and the 10-stop reduction of the Big Stopper might simply be overkill. The LEE Elements filters are also stackable, meaning you can combine their effects for ultra-powerful light reduction if needed.

Handily, the Elements Little Stopper also comes with its own protective hard case. It’s available in only four sizes, which isn’t as many as some other filter options.

Best polarising camera filter: Hoya Fusion CIR-PL

At a glance:

• Sizes: 37-82mm
• Price $25-89 / £35-75

The Hoya Fusion circular polarisers attach directly to the camera’s filter ring, so you need to select the correct size – they are available in common filter sizes from 37-82mm. You can also get polarisers from many other filter makers to fit square filter holders.

Polarising filters have three main effects. They darken blue skies, cut through reflections in water, glass and polished surfaces, and increase colour saturation in glossy, reflective surfaces, which can be as diverse as man-made objects or leaves in a landscape.

It’s possible to replicate the blue sky effect in software, but not the other two. Polarising filters change the properties of the light itself and the way light is reflected by the surfaces of objects in a scene. If you need to cut through the glare off a car’s paintwork or windows, or off the surface of a lake or river, a polarising filter is the only thing that can do it. Software won’t help you.

Best two-in-one filter: K&F Concept Variable ND4-64&CPL

At a glance:

• Sizes: 37-82mm
• Price: $79-109 / £64-£89

Given that photo and video gear can be expensive, it makes sense to find savings where you can. The K&F Concept Variable ND4-64&CPL is a filter that gives you the effect of both a polariser and a variable ND filter, for about the same price in total as either of those individually. The filter has two independently rotating sections; twist the front section and you’ll control the neutral density effect between 2 and 6 stops, and rotate the entire filter to manipulate the polarisation effect.

As you can see, the filter has large orange grips that make it easy to control its effects, though they do mean it can’t be used in conjunction with lens hoods. These grips also serve to visually signify the polarisation angle — which, it’s worth noting, will change whenever you adjust the density effect, meaning it’s a good idea to visually keep track of it.

This filter is part of K&F’s Nano-X range, and this means the glass has been treated with nano coatings to cut reflections and ensure the utmost quality. As such, while our testing did record a very slight warm colour cast, we also found no real perceptible impact on image quality or detail. The filter is also waterproof, oil-resistant and scratch-resistant, and comes with a handy protective pouch for when you’re not using it.

Read our full K&F Concept Variable ND4-64&CPL review.

Best square ND camera filter: LEE Filters Big Stopper

At a glance:

• Fittings: square filter holder (this version) or circular (various sizes)
• Price $151 / £59

This is the legendary LEE Filters ‘Big Stopper’, a neutral density filter that cuts the light passing through the lens by 10 stops, allowing long exposures of many seconds even in bright daylight. This is the version designed for Lee’s square filter system, but you can also get circular versions to fit straight onto a lens.

Reducing the light might sound like a crazy thing to do when most photographers want fast shutter speeds to freeze action and avoid camera shake – but these filters are designed to deliberately lengthen exposures so that moving subjects such as water or clouds become blurred. They can also be used successfully in busy urban scenes to prevent people from ruining your shot.

The only way to achieve this is with long exposure times of several seconds or even longer, and the only way to get this in regular daylight is with an ND filter. Obviously, this means using a tripod, but this landscape blur effect has become such a standard ‘look’ that many photographers regard it as an essential add-on.

Best variable ND camera filter: PolarPro 82mm Peter McKinnon Signature Edition II Variable ND – 2-5 Stop

At a glance:

• Sizes: 67-95mm
• Price $220 (82mm) / £239

Variable ND filters might seem a potentially useful alternative to regular ‘fixed’ ND filters, but actually, they have a different purpose. This PolarPro Peter McKinnon Signature Edition is at the premium end of the market – cheaper alternatives are available. It offers a 2-5 stop darkening effect, but you can also get a 6-9 stop version.

The side-effects

Variable ND filters work by combining two polarising filters that can be counter-rotated to produce a variable darkening effect. So far, so good. But this cross-polarisation has side effects that limit its usefulness. If you push it too far, you get a kind of soft ‘X’ shape in the middle of your images that’s impossible to edit out. Variable ND filters can only operate effectively within a relatively narrow 3-5 stop window, and the wider your lens’s focal length, the quicker this X-effect appears.

That’s the bad news. For stills photographers, variable ND filters are a very poor substitute for ‘fixed’ ND filters because they don’t offer enough strength and because of the potential for that cross-polarised ‘X’ effect.

For videography

But for videographers, it’s different. Here, a variable ND can be extremely useful for adapting to changing light without altering the aperture (iris) value and hence the depth of field, or the shutter speed/shutter angle.

This is such an important control that many high-end cinema cameras have switchable ND filters built in. For cameras that don’t, a variable ND filter is the next best thing.

Best graduated camera filter: Cokin Z-Pro Expert Kit

At a glance:

• Sizes: 100mm filter holder, other sizes available
• Price $132 / £269

The Cokin name will be instantly familiar to those brought up on film SLRs, and it’s still going strong. This Z-Pro Expert Kit contains a selection of landscape filters plus a filter holder and lens adapter rings – but you can get graduated filters and holder separately too, and in various kits.

Graduated filters are the easiest type to reproduce digitally – provided you capture an image with enough highlight detail in the sky. Usually, if you shoot raw files and are careful with the exposure, this will give you all the extra sky detail you need. You will be able to bring this out in your photo editor and with a lot more control than a graduated filter fitted over the lens.

The disadvantages

There are advantages to using a graduated filter on the lens, to be sure, but there are some serious disadvantages. First, the darkening effect will be ‘baked into’ your photo. You will be able to modify it later in software, but it may be more complicated than with a ‘straight’ image. A graduated filter will produce a ‘soft’ or a ‘hard’ gradation that you may have to work around later.

Second, graduated filters will also darken buildings or other objects that jut up into the sky. They are pretty blunt tools!

On the plus side, a graduated filter can bring a bright sky within the dynamic range of your sensor and can save you some editing work later if you don’t like spending time in Lightroom or Photoshop. You will, however, need a square filter system, with all the fuss that involves.

Best UV / lens-protection camera filter: Hoya Protection Filter

At a glance:

• Sizes: 37-82mm
• Price $25-85 / £24-70

Here’s a filter type that’s designed to have no optical effect at all!

Lenses are expensive and we’re all acutely aware of that – especially if we get a bit of grit or sea salt stuck to the front element or buy a lens with what the previous owner called ‘cleaning marks’. That’s scratches in the coating, by the way.

So we all probably think from time to time about lens protection, and the simplest and most popular solution is a UV or ’Skylight’ filter, or these days just a plain, clear ‘protection’ filter that is not designed for any image improvement but has the more definite advantage of protection against knocks, scratches or other accidents.

It’s unlikely that modern sensors need UV filtering or ‘Skylight’ filters to warm up blue-sky landscapes, but having an extra layer of protective glass in front of your lens may be reassuring. It might also affect the image quality, but hopefully not by much.

Best light pollution camera filter: Kase Wolverine Neutral Night

At a glance:

• Fittings: Square filter holders (pictured) or circular
• Price $174 / £175

Anyone who has spent serious time working at astrophotography will know what a pain light pollution can be. A decidedly modern-day problem, light pollution refers to an excess of artificial light, making it difficult or impossible to photograph (or even see) the stars in the night sky. If you live among the wan, yellow haze of streetlights, or in the 24-hour glare of a modern city, you probably don’t spend much time stargazing.

As an alternative to driving out to a rural area every night, consider this light pollution filter by Kase. The Wolverine is available in circular and 100mm square configurations, and it works by filtering out light of specific wavelengths, targeting the ones produced by artificial lighting. The idea is that only the natural light of the stars and moons is left. While it doesn’t solve the problem entirely, the Kase Wolverine does radically reduce the orange glow of streetlights (it’s less effective with LED lighting). Constructed from tough, scratch-resistant glass, it’s a well-made filter that improves the possibilities of astrophotography in urban environments.

Best infrared camera filter: Hoya R72 Infrared Filter

At a glance:

• Sizes: 46-77mm
• Price: $46-83 / £38-70

Infrared photography was popular amongst film users because you could get black and white and colour films especially sensitised for infrared wavelengths, which are much longer than those of visible light.

You can get infrared photos on smartphones, and get infrared filters for digital cameras, but there is a problem. Sensors are specifically designed with infrared ‘cut’ (blocking) filters, so all that infrared filters can do is block the visible light, allow infrared through and trust that the camera sensor still has enough infrared sensitivity to make an image.

The likelihood of success depends on the camera and sensor, but an infrared filter like the Hoya R72 infrared series is certainly a cheaper alternative to try if you don’t want to get your camera converted to infrared. There are companies that can do this, but it’s a one-way process.

Best black and white camera filter: Tiffen Red 25

At a glance:

• Sizes: 40.5-82mm
• Price $16-50 / £20-81

Black and white film users will be used to using different ‘contrast’ filters, such as red, yellow, orange or green filters, to change the way these colours are turned into shades of grey. Yellow, orange and red filters are popular amongst landscape photographers, for example, for darkening blue skies and lightening vegetation.

In principle, you can still use these filters on a digital camera, and you’ll see the effect if the camera is set to black and white mode. However, because of the way sensors work, using a red filter, for example, means only the red photosites on the sensor will receive any light, so the quality will not be the same as you would get from a red filter with black and white film.

In fact, using a black and white filter when you shoot will not achieve anything you couldn’t do later in software with ‘channel mixing’ techniques, though you will at least see the effect live in-camera. With that in mind, you might not want to spend too much on black and white ‘contrast’ filters, so the Tiffen range is a good start (filter colours other than red are available).

Best close-up camera filter: Hoya HMC Close-up Filter Set

At a glance:

• Sizes: 46-77mm
• Price $56-92 / £49-90

Close-up filters, or close-up lenses, are a quick and simple way to photograph small objects when your camera lens can’t focus close enough. They are typically sold in sets of three with different ‘diopter’ settings, which is the language usually used for spectacles and reading glasses. This Hoya close-up filter set is pretty typical, and probably as much as you would want to spend.

Effectively, they apply a fixed close-up correction, and the effect and possible magnification will depend on the lens you’re using and how close it can focus in the first place.

In principle, you can use close-up lenses in combination to get even more magnification, but because these are generic optical corrective lenses, you can’t expect the same quality as a regular camera lens, and this will only get worse if you use them in combination. For casual use, though, they are a much cheaper option than a macro lens.

Best soft focus/Black Mist camera filter: H&Y Revoring Black Mist filter 67-82mm

At a glance:

• Sizes: 46-62mm, 58-77mm, 67-82mm
• Price $102 / £109

Revoring is one of the newer names in filters and gets its name from its unique spring-loaded filter attachment that can fit a range of filter thread sizes, not just one.

Revoring is probably best known for its combined polariser/variable ND filters, but it also makes a series of Black Mist filters in strengths from 1/2 to 1/8.

Soft focus filters have gone out of fashion somewhat as photographers can now create a soft focus effect with much more control in software – or use some of the newer ‘artisan’ lenses deliberately designed to give a soft effect when used wide open. One old trick is to smear vaseline over a clear filter, or stretch stockings over the lens. This looks odd but does actually work!

What we’re seeing now, though, is this new type of ‘black mist’ filter which does give some of the effect of a soft-focus filter and reduces image contrast at the same time, so could be particularly useful for portraits shot in high-contrast lighting, for example.

Best creative filter: Lensbaby Omny Creative Filter System

At a glance:

• Sizes: 49-58mm, 62-82mm
• Price $99 / £99

Lensbaby is mostly known for its creative lenses like the Lensbaby Sweet 22 that achieve distinct in-camera effects. The Lensbaby Omni, on the other hand, is a filter system that attaches to the front of your lens and lets you easily position three separate ‘filters’. These filters are the Crystal Seahorse, Stretch Glass and the Rainbow Film, and they create some very unique visuals with light flares, rainbows and distortions to elevate your shot.

The Omni can be attached to any make of lens as it is based on filter thread sizes. There are two step-up/down ring sizes available, the smaller one for lenses with 49 to 58mm, and a larger one for lenses with thread diameters from 62mm to 82mm.

To expand the creative effects, there are various extension packs available on the Lensbaby website, like the Crystal or Color Extension Pack.

Read about how you can use the Omni system to create enchanting seascapes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do photographers still use camera filters?

Absolutely they do. It is of course true that Photoshop has made filters less essential than they once were. However, there are multiple filter types that produce effects that are difficult or impossible to replicate digitally.

Examples include polarizing filters, ND filters, infrared filters, light pollution filters and close-up filters. These all change the behaviour of the light, the intensity of the light and the light spectrum reaching the sensor.

There are other filter types which can be replicated digitally, but that you may still find useful to use, either because they save editing time later or because they help you visualise the end result while you’re shooting, rather than having to guess at what you can achieve later. Examples here included graduated filters and black and white ‘contrast’ filters.

Camera filters are particularly commonly used in landscape photography, where slower shutter speeds are often used to create specific effects.

Can you stack camera filters?

In most cases, yes you can. Circular filters can be stacked on top of each other, either to intensify one effect or add multiple effects at once. For instance, you might be shooting an image of a lake, and want to reduce the amount of light coming in so you can slow down your shutter speed to get a smooth look on the surface of the water. That necessitates an ND filter. But then, you also want to cut down on the reflections that are being created by the high summer sun – so you add on a polariser. Ta-da – both effects in one shot!

However, it’s important to remember that there are drawbacks. Adding an extra layer of glass will always have some impact on image quality, and this goes double if you’re adding two filters. Essentially, any common effect that is generally introduced by filters, such as vignetting (darkened corners of an image) will be compounded by adding more than one. So try to resist the temptation to go wild! Also, more expensive filters will have less of an impact than cheap ones, so if you’ve gone for budget filters, it might be best to stick to using one at a time where possible.

Are camera filters necessary?

The short answer: it depends. No camera filter is necessary in the sense that you can always take a photo without one, and many photographers have no use for them. It really comes down to what you like to shoot and how you treat your equipment.

For instance, a UV filter generally doubles up as a protective filter, and many photographers leave one attached to the front of their lens at all times, as it generally has a minimal impact on image quality. This is not strictly speaking necessary – until the moment you accidentally drop your £1,500 lens with the front element facing down. Then you may find that the UV filter on the front was very necessary indeed.

There’s also the fact, as we’ve said several times, that if you want to achieve certain effects, a filter is the only real way to do it. You’ll never replicate the reflection-cancelling effect of a polariser; you need to use a polarpolariserizer. There’s also not really a way to handle a sky that’s much brighter than the ground, beyond using an ND grad.

How do you clean camera filters?

Just like your lenses, most camera filters are constructed from high-grade optical glass, with advanced coatings on the outer surface that are vulnerable to rough treatment. As such, when it comes time to clean your filters, you want to be a little more gentle than just smearing household cleaner on a cloth and wiping it.

It’s best to take the cleaning process in stages. The first step is to remove any larger particles of dust or dirt; the best way to do this is to blow them away with a compressed-air rocket blower or similar device. Once this is done, you can apply some lens-cleaning solution to a cloth (ideally a microfibre cloth, or a lens tissue) and then gently rub the surface of the filter in circular motions, working from the centre outwards.

This isn’t something you have to do regularly – we’d recommend only cleaning the filter when it actually needs it. Too much cleaning may introduce more problems than it solves!

Why do photographers use filters?

Camera filters may sound like a relic of a bygone era – surely we can just do it all with Photoshop these days? But the truth is, as any seasoned photographer will tell you, that camera filters are vital for producing effects that can’t easily be replicated in software. They can modify the intensity and quality of light before it hits the camera sensor (or the film negative, for that matter), and this can lead to all sorts of interesting and useful effects.

For example, neutral density or ND filters reduce the amount of light coming into the sensor. This allows for the use of longer shutter speeds than would otherwise be possible, meaning you can blur the motion of a moving subject without letting in too much light and blowing out your highlights. Polarisers, meanwhile, reduce the glare of sunlight and light from reflections, delivering richer colours and making it possible to see through reflective surfaces, everything from shop windows to lakes and rivers.

How do I choose a filter for photography?

Filters come in two main types: circular filters which attach directly to the lens, and square filters designed to be used in a filter holder screwed onto the lens. Both have their pros and cons.

Round/circular filters are simpler to use, but you have to get a filter size that matches your lens’s filter thread. If you want to use filters with a number of lenses you face the possibility of having to buy a different-sized filter for each.

There are ways around this, for example buying a filter big enough for all your lenses and then using inexpensive ‘stepper’ rings to fit the filter to smaller ones. There’s also the interesting spring-loaded Revoring system which takes a single-size filter but can adapt to different-sized filter threads. Another option for users of Canon EF lenses on RF bodies is the ‘drop-in’ filter, which is inserted between the camera and lens – see our piece on the pros and cons of drop-in filters for mirrorless for a lowdown on how this all works.

Limitations

Even with these workarounds, round filters have another limitation. They are ideal for some filter types, such as polarisers or ND filters, but not good at all for others that require careful angling and positioning, notably graduated filters. They’re not great if you want to combine filters, either, because while you can screw one round filter on top of another, this increases the risk of vignetting, or ‘corner shading’ with wide-angle lenses.

Square filter systems are popular with enthusiasts and professional photographers because they allow you to combine two or more filters, such as a polariser, a graduated filter and an ND filter – a combination often used in landscape photography. There are still some differences between square filter systems, though. Some offerings, such as the PolarPro Summit Landscape Filter System, are based around the idea of using filter frames that slot into a square filter holder.

Filters that come with their own filter frame are a good idea. Not only they can help prevent chipping or damaging the filter but they also give a highly durable and hardwearing feel compared to plastic alternatives. The other benefit that filter frames provide is that they can prevent you from handling the surface of the filter itself with grubby, oily fingers, helping to ensure the filter surface remains spotless at all times.

Square filters vs round filters

But the cost can quickly mount up if you choose higher-quality premium filters, and square systems are quite bulky and fiddly to use since most include a special adaptation for mounting a circular polariser along with the rest. With a square filter system, you can quickly run out of hands, patience and space in your camera bag.

Ultimately, the decision is yours. Round filters are simple, but you need to match the size to your lens’s filter ring, and they are of no use for graduated filters. Square filter systems give you more scope, but they are fiddly and bulky and best suited to slow and deliberate work, not fast-moving handheld photography.

Text by Rod Lawton, with contributions from Jon Stapley & Michael Topham and AP Staff. 

Related articles:

• Best camera phone accessories for photography and video
• Best 100mm square filter holder systems for landscape photography
• The pros and cons of drop-in filters for mirrorless
• Lens filters: how to use them properly
• Magnetic filter systems round-up

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The post Best camera filters for photographers – refine your images in camera appeared first on Amateur Photographer.

Smartphone photography has become the predominant medium for taking photos. Advancements in technology, the ease of social media, and the size and convenience of phones have transformed the ubiquitous smartphone into the everyday camera for the masses. The popularity of smartphone photography has, of course, also given rise to a new range of accessories to help you take better photos.

The best smartphone accessories for photography, including lens filters, stabilizers, and mini tripods, can help improve the quality of your images without breaking the bank. Below, we’ve rounded up the best smartphone accessories of all types for all different kinds of photography.

At the bottom of this page is a primer on the different types of accessories available. And if you’re looking for a great smartphone camera, we also have a guide to the best camera phones for photography. For more affordable models, check our list of the best budget camera phones.

Best camera phone accessories: the quick list

Looking for the best deal on camera phone accessories? Not only will you find the best camera phones, but also some of the best camera phone deals, as our ‘Buy now’ buttons are set up to take you to the best prices from trusted retailers. There is also a list of other retailers below each camera, so you can find the right deal for you.

• Best power bank: Anker Power Bank (Compact, 10,000mAh) – Buy now
• Best case and grip: ShiftCam SnapGrip and Peak Design case (for iPhone) – Buy now
• Best multi-purpose tripod for phones: Joby RangePod Smart Tripod – Buy now
• Best continuous lighting: NEEWER 18inch Ring Light Kit – Buy now
• Best gimbal: DJI Osmo Mobile 6 – Buy now
• Best lens filter: Sandmarc Hybrid ND / Polariser filter – Buy now
• Best smartphone lens: Moment Wideangle 18mm lens – Buy now
• Best mini tripod setup: Joby GripTight ONE GP – Buy now
• Best shutter release: CamKix Bluetooth Camera Shutter Remote Control – Buy now
• Best cheap light: Joby Beamo Mini – Buy now
• Best premium light: Sandmarc Prolight Collection – Buy now

Read on for a full breakdown of the pros and cons of each smartphone photography accessory…

The best camera phone accessories to buy for photos and video

These are our picks for the best smartphone accessories that can take your work to the next level.

Power bank: Anker Power Bank (Compact, 10,000mAh)

Price: from $46 / £18

First off, we’ll start with the basics. Assuming you already have a cable and wall charger, the next essential accessory you need is the humble power bank. Without power, your phone is as good as useless.

For power banks, we recommend sticking to trusted brands, and here we’re recommending Anker, as I’ve used a number of products from Anker, all without any problems. You’ll want to make sure you get one with 10,000mAh or more, which should be good for a couple of charges for main phones. It also comes with an 18 month warranty.

Best case and grip: ShiftCam SnapGrip and Peak Design case (for iPhone)

Price: $70 / £70

A phone case is a must-buy for many phone users, but did you know you can also get a grip that makes your phone feel like a camera? That’s where the ShiftCam Snapgrip comes in: it’s a magnetic grip that also includes a mini power bank. With its MagSafe connector, the SnapGrip fits directly onto most iPhones since the 12-series. It uses Bluetooth, meaning you can use the shutter button on the grip to take photos, and it works in portrait and horizontal orientation. It’s also compatible with premium cases, such as those from Peak Design.

Read our full ShiftCam Snapgrip review.

Best multi-purpose tripod for phones: Joby RangePod Smart Tripod

Price: $139 / £99

The Joby RangePod Smart Tripod is a well-made tripod that can be used with full-size cameras, as well as phones, thanks to the included high-quality phone holder. If you’re looking for a sturdy tripod that doesn’t compromise on build and can be adjusted to different heights, then this is a great choice. It’s got a 360 head, so you can use it for panning for either panoramic shots or smooth video pans.

Read our Joby RangePod Smart Tripod review.

Best universal smartphone clamp: Manfrotto MCPIXI

Price: $25 / £16

With this clamp from Manfrotto you can secure smartphones between the width of 60-104mm, allowing plenty of space for bulky phone cases. It would nicely hold a wide phone like the iPhone16 Pro Max or Galaxy S25 Ultra. The universal cold shoe mounting point at the top lets you attach lights for vlogging or other accessories. There are also two 1/4” mounting points so you can attach the clamp to your tripod in landscape or portrait format.

Best continuous lighting: NEEWER 18inch Ring Light Kit

Price: $110 / £96

No guide to phone accessories would be complete without a ring light. Whether you’re taking selfies, recording videos, or taking product shots, additional lighting can be the difference between a great shot, or something that looks like the Blair Witch project.

The NEEWER Ring Light Kit, offers an 18inch (45cm) ring light that uses dimmable LED lighting, and comes with a stand, a phone holder, a carry bag, and can be adjusted from 5600K colour temperature to 3200K if needed.

Gimbal: DJI Osmo Mobile 6

Price: $139 / £89

DJI’s Osmo range of gimbal stabilisers revolutionised vlogging for the masses, and this latest iteration of the device adds a slew of new features to make content creation even easier. New to the Osmo Mobile 6 are a Quick Launch feature and improvements to DJI’s ActiveTrack technology. This enables users to track subjects even as they turn to the side or spin.

The 3-axis gimbal provides silky smooth footage despite its small 300g form factor, which can fit in your pocket. The Osmo Mobile 6 also adds a new status panel that lets you quickly switch between modes such as Tilt lock, FPV or SpinShot. Used in conjunction with DJI’s Memo app, you can also access modes such as Timelapse, DynamicZoom, Gesture Control, Panorama and Story Mode.

To see more, check out our picks of the best camera phone tripods and mounts.

Lens Filter: Sandmarc Hybrid ND / Polariser filter

Price: $130 / £104

Sandmarc’s polarised ND filters offer smartphone photographers control over shutter speed that one gets from an ND filter (due to limiting the amount of light reading the camera), along with the rich colours of a polariser filter (and reduced reflections). Weighing just 18g, the filters are made of anti-reflective glass mounted onto an aluminium frame. The filters are also coated to reduce flare.

Sandmarc’s hybrid filters are available for a wide range of Android devices and iPhone models up to the latest iPhones.

Moment Wideangle 18mm lens

Price: $69 / £95 (M-series); $140 / £160 (T-series)

Moment manufactures a wide range of accessories for smartphone photography. Its 18mm wide-angle lens is fantastic for giving your images a more expansive field of view. The newer ‘T-series’ of lenses is designed for the latest generation of phones, while the older ‘M-series’ will work with older models of phone – check with Moment if you want to be sure of compatibility with your specific device.

The lens’ f/1.8 aperture allows you to create nice bokeh and shallow depth of field effects. Thanks to its six-element HD glass design, the lens produces images that are beautifully clean and crisp, perfect for making the most of the latest phone cameras.

Mini tripod setup: Joby GripTight ONE GP

Price: $30 / £35

Joby offer a range of portable, flexible tripods, with the GorillaPod being the most famous of them all. Here, you get a compact, flexible GorillaPod, combined with a neat phone holder. You can push the legs together and use this as a video grip, or adjust the legs to attach to anything handy nearby. Excellent value for money, it makes a great gift or budget tripod option.

Check out the best smartphones for video so you can pair this tripod with your video kit.

Shutter Release: CamKix Bluetooth Camera Shutter Remote Control

Price: $5.50 / £8

The CamKix Bluetooth remote control is a small dongle that you can slip into your pocket and use to trigger the shutter on your smartphone camera from up to 30 feet away. It’s ideal for taking large group shots or wider-angle selfies with more of an environmental context.

The remote control is compatible with a wide range of iOS and Android devices going back quite a way (iOS 6.0 and Android 4.2.2 up). It is powered by a 3V battery, which comes included in the price along with a lanyard and carabiner hook. The CamKix will fire your camera with a simple click of the button.

Lighting: Joby Beamo Mini

Price: $55 / £60

In the age of streaming and endless video calls, the Joby Beamo Mini is perhaps the most useful smartphone accessory you will find on this list. This pocket-size LED light packs a powerful punch of 1000 lumens of light, which you can adjust continuously or across 5 steps using a dedicated button.

As well as being waterproof and rugged, the Beamo Mini has a magnetic back, so it can be mounted onto many metal objects quickly. It also has two cold shoe mounts for attaching other accessories, such as a second Beamo or a microphone.

The Beamo Mini offers a colour temperature of 5100 Kelvin, and charges via a USB port. Underneath is a standard 1/4-inch screw thread, meaning you can mount it to any mini tripod, full-size tripod, or stabilisers like the Manfrotto Twistgrip System mentioned above.

Lighting: Sandmarc Prolight Collection

Price: from $99

Sandmarc’s Prolight Collection is an RGB and Bi-Color lighting system designed to mount on to your phone to provide a natural, constant light while filming video.

The pocket-size Prolight RGB provides 16 million hues of illumination and is the all-rounder in the Collection. Perfect for filming in indoor or outdoor settings thanks to its wide 1,000 to 10,000K colour temperature range and a colour rendering index of 96+.

The Prolight Bi-Color delivers a brightness of 1500 Lux and is designed to be used as a key or fill light. It also provides a colour temperature of 3,000 to 6,500K with a CRI of 95+.

Both lights can be bought individually or in a bundle for $149.99, saving you about $20. Both lights also mount to Sandmarc’s Sandmarc Pole – Film Edition and Film Rig, which is also worth investing in should you take your smartphone filmmaking seriously.

Check out the best smartphones for video that you can pair this tripod with to up your video kit.

What are the best camera phone accessories for taking photos?

Here is a quick run-down of the main types of accessories you’re likely to use for smartphone photography.

Smartphone camera lens add-ons

A smartphone camera lens is a small accessory that clips onto your phone’s camera and allows you to capture different types of photos. There are many types of smartphone camera lenses available, including wide-angle lenses, fisheye lenses, and telephoto lenses. A wide-angle lens is great for capturing landscapes or group shots, while a fisheye lens can create a fun, distorted effect. A telephoto lens is ideal for capturing close-up shots of distant subjects, such as wildlife.

Filters

Just like with your interchangeable lens camera, filters can help to enhance or alter the colours and tones in your photos, giving them a unique look. Some popular filters for smartphone photography include polarizing filters, which reduce reflections and improve the contrast and saturation of colours; neutral density filters, which reduce the amount of light entering the lens to allow for longer exposures; and gradient filters, which darken part of the frame while leaving the other part unchanged.

Tripods

A mini tripod is a small and portable phone tripod used, like regular tripods, to stabilize your smartphone for taking photos or filming. This is especially useful for shooting in low light or at slow shutter speeds, as it helps to reduce camera shake and blur. Some mini tripods also have flexible legs, which allow you to wrap them around objects or bend them into different positions for unique angles and shots.

Stabiliser (or gimbal)

A stabiliser is a device that helps to steady your smartphone while filming video, providing smoother and more professional-looking footage. There are several types of stabilisers available, including gimbal stabilisers, which use motors and sensors to keep the camera level and stable, and handheld stabilisers, which are designed to be held in your hand and provide a stable base for your smartphone.

• For more support options have a look at our guide to the best phone tripods.

Lighting (sometimes called external flash)

An external flash is a small, portable flash unit that is attached to a smartphone to provide additional light for low-light situations. This can be especially useful for taking portraits or capturing detail in shadowed areas. Most external flashes are actually continuous LED lighting, which gives you adjustable brightness levels. Some also let you adjust the colour temperature settings, which allow you to customise the light output to suit your needs. Continuous lighting can come in various shapes and sizes, and may use older bulb technology; more recently, LED lighting has become the norm.

Remote shutter release

A remote shutter release is a small device that allows you to control the camera of your smartphone remotely, without touching the screen. This can be especially useful for taking self-portraits or group shots, as it allows you to position the camera at a distance and trigger the shutter remotely. Some remote shutter releases also have additional features, such as timer functions and burst-mode capabilities.

Protective case

A protective case is a must-have accessory for anyone who wants to keep their smartphone in good condition while taking photos. A good protective case will provide protection against drops, bumps, and scratches, while also allowing easy access to the camera and other buttons. Some cases also have additional features, such as built-in filters or grips, which can enhance your photography experience.

While the most common place to keep your smartphone will probably be your pockets, a camera bag, case or crossbody smartphone bag can come in handy, especially if you’re out shooting video with a mini tripod, lenses and more.

Related reading:

• How to take better smartphone photos
• How to take amazing portraits on a smartphone
• Using a smartphone for Street Photography
• Guide to black and white smartphone photography
• Find more phone supports in our guide to the best phone tripods

Want the chance to feature on our website and social media? All you have to do is share your camera phone photographs on social media with the tag #APSmartphonePicoftheWeek. You can also send in photographs to ap.ed@kelsey.co.uk with “Smartphone Pic of the Week” in the subject line.

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The post Best camera phone accessories for photography and video in 2025 appeared first on Amateur Photographer.

I’ve drawn on the AP team’s reviews to put together this guide, as we test and review every new Sony camera that comes out. I’ve given a recommendation for the best use case for each of these cameras, and at the bottom of this page you can find a few answers to frequently asked questions about all things Sony, as well as a little more information on the criteria I’ve used for making my picks.

Sony cameras can be fantastic for wildlife photography, or landscape photography, or just shooting photos for social media. You can click through on each entry to find our full reviews of each camera, complete with sample images – and remember to also have a look at the best Sony lenses to pair with your camera.

Best Sony cameras: our quick list

Want to cut to the chase? Here’s our quick list of the best Sony cameras to buy, along with links to get the best prices…

• Best Sony camera for photography: Sony A7 IV – Buy now
• Best Sony camera for resolution: Sony A7R V – Buy now
• Best Sony camera for beginner vloggers: Sony ZV-E10 II – Buy now
• Best lightweight full-frame Sony camera: Sony A7C II – Buy now
• Best APS-C Sony camera all round: Sony A6700 – Buy now
• Best lightweight high-res Sony camera: Sony A7CR – Buy now
• Best professional Sony camera: Sony A1 II – Buy now
• Best Sony camera for sports photography: Sony A9 III – Buy now
• Best Sony camera for video: Sony A7S III – Buy now
• Best Sony compact for travel photography: Sony RX100 VII / VIIA – Buy now
• Best Sony for travel vlogging: Sony ZV-1 Mark II – Buy now
• Best Sony bridge camera: Sony Cyber-Shot RX10 IV – Buy now

Looking for the best deal on Sony cameras? Not only will you find the best Sony cameras, but you’ll also find some of the best Sony camera deals, as our ‘Buy now’ buttons are setup to automatically take you to the best prices, from trusted retailers, plus you’ll also find a list of other retailers below each camera, so you can find the right deal for you.

Read on to learn more about each of these excellent cameras…

Best Sony camera for photography all round: Sony A7 IV

Specifications at a glance:

The Sony A7 cameras have always been good for a bit of everything. While the A7R models focus on resolution, the A7S models on low-light video and the A9 models (and A1) on speed, the A7 cameras have quietly gone about the business of being some of the best full-frame all-rounders on the market.

The Sony A7 IV is great, kicking it up a gear in response to increased competition from Canon and Nikon. This translates to a revamped 33MP sensor, with 10fps burst shooting and super-fast autofocus to play with, as well as handling improvements like a fully articulating LCD screen and a higher-resolution viewfinder.

An enthusiast’s all-rounder

The impressive range of full-frame E-mount lenses allows you to customise the system according to what you plan to shoot. For serious photographers, it’s one of the most fully-featured cameras you can buy right now without getting into ultra-pro territory. Sony pro cameras are seriously expensive, as we’ll see in the rest of this guide, and the A7 IV still gives you full-frame quality without that sky-high price. I think as long as your budget stretches to it, the Sony A7 IV is probably the right pick for the majority of photographers.

It earned the full five stars in our review, with our Technical Editor Andy Westlake praising its image quality, its fully articulated screen and its improved handling compared to previous A7 cameras. Currently, prices are down to around $1,998 / £2,149 body-only – not exactly cheap, but more affordable than it was.

Best for: enthusiast photographers who want to shoot all kinds of subjects

Read our Sony A7 IV Review.

Best Sony camera for resolution: Sony A7R V

Specifications at a glance:

The Sony A7R V is the latest in the high-resolution line of A7R cameras. However, given that the A7R V boasts class-leading AI autofocus, increased buffer capacity and 8K video capability, the lines between different Sony cameras are becoming more and more blurred.

Whereas different Sony cameras used to be specialists in different areas, we’re seeing more cameras like the A7R V and A1 that are simply good at everything – and are priced accordingly. Is this a good strategy? We’ll find out in the years to come, but in the meantime, the result is undeniably great cameras like the A7R V.

61MP full frame sensor

So, what we get here is the same 61MP sensor as the Sony A7R IV. While some might be disappointed that it’s not an upgrade, that many pixels are difficult to argue with. If you want higher resolution than that, you’re probably looking at medium format anyway.

Elsewhere on the camera is an upgraded autofocus system, with enhanced subject detection powered by a new AI processing unit. It’s capable of recognising a huge range of subjects, including cars, trains, airplanes, insects, and the usual human, animal, and bird. According to Sony, this unit also improves metering and auto white balance.

Low-res shooting options

Stabilisation has been dramatically improved, now delivering up to 8 stops of effective exposure compensation with the right lens. Users also have more image recording options to help manage those huge 61MP files, including lossless raw compression, and lower resolution options (26MP and 15MP) for those times you don’t need all that detail.

It all adds up to a hell of a camera. Is it worth almost $4,000/£4,000? That’s up to the individual user. Our conclusion in our review was as follows: ‘If your needs are tilted more towards image quality than outright speed, it’s difficult to argue against the Sony Alpha 7R V being the best full-frame stills camera available… if you can justify the A7R V’s price, you’ll be blown away by just how good it is.‘

Best for: making large prints

Read our Sony A7R V review.

Best Sony camera for beginner vlogging: Sony ZV-E10 II

Specifications at a glance:

The Sony ZV cameras are designed specifically for vloggers – while they can shoot stills, it’s not their primary purpose, and a camera like the ZV-E10 II is definitely prized for its video capabilities. A lightweight mirrorless model sporting an APS-C sensor, the ZV-E10 II is priced and pitched towards amateur vloggers, perhaps those who are looking for their first serious video camera. As the name implies, it’s Sony’s second run at this model, and the Mark II version comes with lots of welcome improvements that make it superior to the original ZV-E10.

One is the inclusion of the NP-FZ100 battery, as opposed to the NP-FW50 on the previous model, providing much greater battery capacity that allows the camera to keep on shooting for longer before needing a charge. The autofocus is also improved, though it lacks the AI-powered subject detection systems we’ve seen on other new cameras, and the body of the camera has a larger handgrip that makes it more comfortable to hold.

Ideal for run-and-gun vloggers

While it’s lightweight enough to use handheld, the ZV-E10 II brings some serious video capabilities to the party. It inherits its Exmor BSI CMOS imaging sensor from the Sony FX30, a cinema camera, and it also boasts plenty of other features that make it a much more powerful video companion, such as LUT import. LUTs (Look Up Tables) are essential preset colour settings for video that allow you to give your footage specific looks, saving time in post-processing.

The ZV-E10 II is also much more mobile than its predecessor thanks to one big issue being fixed – the rolling shutter that plagued the original ZV-E10 has been much improved, making panning shots much more achievable. Phase-detection autofocus coverage is also even more comprehensive, meaning you can acquire and keep focus even on moving subjects. For newbie vloggers, there are a few handy time-saving modes it’s worth getting to know, such as Product Showcase and Background Defocus.

Best for: vloggers who want an agile, portable rig

Read our Sony ZV-E10 II first-look review.

Best lightweight full frame Sony camera: Sony A7C II

Specifications at a glance:

The original Sony A7C was the smallest, cheapest full-frame mirrorless camera in Sony’s stable. Despite being an impressive technical achievement, our review left us a little disappointed: the size of the camera made it unnecessarily frustrating to operate. Nevertheless, Sony has committed to this format, and in 2023 we saw the arrival of the Sony A7C II.

Essentially, a Sony A7 IV crammed into a similarly tiny body to its predecessor, the Sony A7C II performs extremely well. It produces fantastic image quality, with impressive noise control at high ISOs. It inherits the subject-detect autofocus that has made its way into recent Sony cameras, and it can shoot at up to 10fps (though you need to use the lossy compressed raw in Hi+ mode to get this rate).

Awkward handling

While definitely an improvement over what came before it, the A7C II still exhibits several of the problems of the original A7C. Handling is undeniably awkward, with a small handgrip, paucity of control buttons and lack of an AF joystick. The screen and viewfinder are also both quite small and low-res for a camera at this price. Once again, there’s also the conceptual question surrounding a full-frame mirrorless camera of this size, given that it needs to be used with full-frame lenses, many of which will negate the weight-saving.

Best for: Travel photography and video

Read our Sony A7C II review.

Best APS-C Sony all round: Sony A6700

Specifications at a glance:

The Sony A6700 is the latest model in Sony’s line-up and replaces the previous flagship A6600 model. It has a new 26MP sensor first seen in the company’s FX30 cinema camera, but in body designed for hybrid shooting – i.e. both stills and video photography. The body is slightly thicker than the previous Sony A6600 but still very compact, thanks to its ‘rangefinder’ design which incorporates an electronic viewfinder set into the back corner rather than mounted on the top of the body.

AI processor

This is a camera designed for video as well as stills, and it offers a big step up in technical specifications, notably the ability to capture full-width (no crop) 4K video and 30p and 60p oversampled from the camera’s full 7K resolution, and even 4K 120p video, albeit with a crop. This camera incorporates Sony’s latest AI-driven subject-detect autofocus and the dedicated AI processor first seen in the mighty Sony A7R V.

The A6700 is a very mighty camera indeed, and the only thing stopping it from hitting top spot in our list is its handling and controls, which are improved over previous versions but still sometimes frustrating.

Best for: vloggers, hybrid content creators and filmmakers

Read our Sony A6700 review.

Best lightweight high-resolution Sony camera: Sony A7CR

Specifications at a glance:

If browsing this guide, you like the sound of the A7R V’s resolution but wish it could come in a camera body the size of the A6700 – then your weirdly specific dreams have been realised. The Sony A7CR is of a piece with the Sony A7C II, in that it’s another camera that crams a lot of tech into a very small body.

Here, we get a 61MP full-frame sensor and Bionz XR processor, an on-sensor phase-detection autofocus system boasting 693 autofocus points. The AI-powered subject-detection system is present and correct, though the simplified shutter mechanism means a top speed of 1/4000sec rather than 1/8000sec. It also lacks a mechanical front curtain, and while this generally isn’t much of a problem, the electronic front curtain can sometimes cause unattractive background blur when you’re shooting at large apertures (a problem that can be fixed by switching to the electronic shutter, though you then run the risk of rolling shutter effects).

Small is king?

Once again, if you’re as obsessed with smaller-than-ever cameras as Sony is then you probably love the sound of the Sony A7CR – and if not, you’re probably wondering what you’re missing here. It’s true that this camera offers the same image quality as the A7R V in a smaller package, but you also have to put up with a lack of an AF joystick, a single card slot and a rather poky viewfinder. We have to wonder whether these cameras really provide such an advantage with a big full-frame lens attached.

As we said in our review, ‘The A7CR offers stunning image quality in a compact package, just as long as you’re prepared to accept the compromises this entails.‘

Best for: pro shooters who need to travel light

Read our Sony A7CR review.

Best Sony camera for professionals: Sony A1 II

Specifications at a glance:

The original Sony A1 was one of the first monster ‘do-everything’ professional mirrorless cameras. No longer would pros have to choose between speed and resolution – here was the camera that could handle both. The Sony A1 II consolidates and builds on that legacy. It’s the most advanced camera Sony has ever made, and unquestionably the choice for Sony-using pros – but it comes at a sky-high price, and that complicates the picture somewhat.

The Sony A1 II is very similar to the A1, offering a 50MP stacked sensor design, with 30fps burst shooting, a maximum shutter speed of 1/32,000sec, 1/400sec flash sync and 8K 30p video. The improvements are mostly in the autofocus, with Sony having incorporated a new AI processor that brings its subject-detection autofocus modes bang up to date. The clever system – able to recognise humans, animals, vehicles and many other specific subjects – is much faster than it was before, and has an auto detection mode rather than needing the subject to be pre-selected. Also, with 759 selectable focus points and 92% frame coverage, you’ll be fine getting the shot even without the AI system. Pros will also want to note that the A1 II has a built-in ethernet port for fast image downloads.

A competitive field

So, yes, the Sony A1 II is one of the most advanced cameras around, and certainly the best Sony camera. However, it comes at an absolutely sky-high price, costing significantly more than comparable mirrorless rivals like the Nikon Z8 and the Canon EOS R5 Mark II, and it doesn’t really do a lot of things better than those cameras. Certainly not enough to justify such a hike.

We gave the Sony A1 II a full five stars in our review, because it is a five-star camera. However, the full picture is a little complicated because it’s only really worth the buy if you’re a pro who’s heavily invested in the Sony E-mount system. If not, then it’s hard to escape from the fact that this camera is almost double the price of the Nikon Z8, and does not offer double the capability.

Best for: big-budget pros

Read our Sony A1 II review.

Best Sony camera for sports photography: Sony A9 III

Specifications at a glance:

Sony shook up sports and action photography with its blisteringly fast A9, and later consolidated its victory with the improved A9 II. From there, the line went a bit quiet, and the release of the fast-shooting Sony A1 led some to question whether the A9 line was being gently retired. Nope! The Sony A9 III made its spectacular debut at the tail end of 2023 — the first full-frame camera with a global shutter sensor, allowing it to expose and read out every single pixel simultaneously, rather than line by line as in other sports cameras.

What this means in real terms is no rolling shutter distortion due to rolling shutter, no banding artefacts in artificial light, and flash sync available at all shutter speeds without needing to use a power-sapping high-speed sync mode. Pair all this with an incredible, capable continuous shooting and autofocus system that allows for shooting at up to 120fps with full AF tracking and no viewfinder blackout, and you start to see what an incredibly capable sports camera this is.

A true specialist

Of course, that’s just what it is — an incredible sports camera. It’s specialised to the point where its native base ISO is 250 and its resolution is a comparatively low 24.6MP. These numbers make perfect sense for sports shooters, who generally use higher ISOs to compensate for fast shutter speeds, and don’t need extra resolution that is mostly just going to slow down the process of sending files to sports desks. For anyone else though, this is something of a detriment, especially in a camera with a price tag of $6000 / £6100 body-only. For this reason, the Sony A9 III is a near-perfect camera for professional sports shooters, but not particularly suitable for anybody else.

Best for: sports pros

Read our Sony A9 III review.

Best Sony camera for video: Sony A7S III

Specifications at a glance:

The full-frame Sony A7S cameras were originally introduced as low-light photography specialists. However, they were quickly adopted by the videography community, and Sony leant into this, producing successor models with better and better video specs. 

The A7S III boasts all the refined handling the series is known for, but brings a newly designed back-illuminated Exmor-R sensor to the party. This means faster readout speeds, cleaner ISO performance, better phase-detection focusing and much more.

While it’s not an 8K camera, the A7S III captures 4K video at up to 120fps, with 10-bit 4:2:2 colour and All-I compression at 600Mbps. It looks superb, and thanks to the camera’s improved internal structure, it dissipates heat effectively for long recording times (Sony claims at least an hour of 4K 60p). There’s a huge suite of video options, including Log profiles, 24-bit internal audio recording – we could go on. Suffice to say, this is the full package when it comes to video.

Class-leading viewfinder

A somewhat surprising standout feature of this camera is an absolutely divine electronic viewfinder. With 9.44m dots of resolution, it’s an absolute monster for brightness and detail, and firmly puts to bed any lingering arguments about DSLR optical viewfinders being superior. This is just light-years ahead.

Sony also, thankfully, overhauled the menu system. This might sound like a trivial point, but Sony cameras have for years been held back by their ungainly, unintuitive menu systems, and the touch interface of the A7S III is a total breath of fresh air.

Best for: Video and vlogging

Read our full Sony A7S III review.

Best Sony for travel photography: Sony RX100 VII / VIIA

Specifications at a glance:

Sony’s most recent and possibly final RX100 compact camera, the RX100 VII is a pocket-sized premium compact, boasting 20.1-MP, 1-inch type Exmor RS CMOS sensor and Sony’s Bionz X processing engine. It has a lot going for it and produces excellent imagery, but also suffers from some design flaws that have plagued the series since its inception. Bear in mind that you will also see it sold as the RX100 VIIA – this is the hasty reskin Sony put together to comply with EU rules about USB charging, the solution being to remove the micro USB port’s ability to charge the camera, rather than upgrading it to USB-C.

Otherwise, this is a solid premium compact. It’s got the same 24-200mm lens as the previous RX100 VI, and covers a great focal range. It also packs in plenty of high-end features for a camera in this class; the real-time Eye AF and Real-time Tracking systems are very effective at holding focus on subjects during stills and video shooting.

Slip it in your pocket

The little Sony RX100 VII is super compact and pocketable, meaning it’s ideal for city breaks and hikes as it won’t add much weight to your bag. The pop-up viewfinder is a nice touch as well, and 4K video at 25p with full pixel readout is super handy. The only downside is that its astonishing feature set is crammed inside a body and interface design that does little justice to it. It’s a difficult camera to hold and use – fiddly unless you have very tiny hands. It’s also still quite expensive for a camera that would otherwise quite well-suit being someone’s second body – do many people have four-figure sums to spend on their holiday camera?

That said, in our review, we were consistently impressed by how much technology was packed into the RX100 VII’s tiny body, saying, ‘This is, without doubt, the most accomplished pocket camera on the market.

Best for: world-explorer photographers who travel light

Read our Sony RX100 VII review.

Best Sony camera for travel vlogging: Sony ZV-1 Mark II

Specifications at a glance:

While it seems unlikely that Sony will produce any more stills-focused compact cameras in the near future, in the vlogging world these cameras are having something of a renaissance. Enter from stage left the Sony ZV-1 Mark II, the latest release from Sony and a successor to the popular, vlogger-oriented ZV-1.

This isn’t so much a replacement for that camera as it is an update. The ZV-1 II offers a similar feature set in a lot of ways, fielding a 20MP 1-inch type CMOS sensor, a flip-around touchscreen.

Zoom range

The key difference though is in the lens – the ZV-1 II’s lens is significantly wider than that of the ZV-1, covering an 18-50mm equivalent focal range compared to 25-70mm equivalent. This makes it wide enough for arm’s length vlogging – a criticism levelled at the ZV-1 – and is unique among zoom compact cameras generally, making the ZV-1 Mark II potentially an interesting camera for stills shooters too.

Naturally, it comes with drawbacks. While you do still get an f/1.8 maximum aperture, this drops to f/2.8 once you zoom past 24mm and f/4 at 35mm. This means you get less in the way of attractive background blur, even when you’ve activated Sony’s Background Defocus mode. This certainly isn’t a ruinous issue, but if you do want to capture images with a shallow depth of field and the background nicely thrown out, the original (and significantly cheaper) ZV-1 may be a better choice.

Ultimately though, this is still one of the best cameras for vloggers. In our review we appreciated how Sony has overhauled the touch interface to make the camera much easier to use, and the new directionality settings on the built-in mics. Vloggers are unlikely to be disappointed with this one.

Best for: vloggers and aspiring YouTubers

Read our Sony ZV-1 Mark II review.

Best used Sony cameras

Here’s a selection of Sony cameras which are no longer sold new but can be strongly recommended as used buys. There are plenty of these on the used camera market, often in excellent or as-new condition and showing few signs of wear. If your main interest is video, you might be better off going for one of the new Sony cameras above, but if you are principally interested in stills photography, these models deliver much of the resolution and performance of current models, but at a fraction of the price.

Best Sony bridge camera: Sony Cyber-Shot RX10 IV

Specifications at a glance:

The Sony RX10 IV is one of the most powerful bridge cameras ever made. A great, self-contained choice for wildlife photography, it pairs a 20.1MP 1-inch sensor with a 24-600mm (equivalent) f/2.4-4 lens, and also sports an incredibly capable autofocus system that consistently nails moving subjects.

The asking price has come down since launch, making the RX10 IV a much more tempting prospect than it was in the past. Those who want a marriage of image quality and convenience in a camera should really consider the RX10 IV; however, it has been increasingly difficult to find on the second-hand market.

Impressive up to 600mm

In our testing, we found that the sensor/lens combination delivers excellent image quality across the board. Many bridge cameras offer an enormous shooting range, but in practice their image quality is overly compromised at the extreme ends of their big lenses. No such issues here – you can push the Sony RX10 IV to 600mm and still get great images, though there is some fall-off if you stop down past f/8.

Our verdict? ‘The Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV sets a new standard for all-in-one superzoom models. If you’re interested in getting an all-in-one travel camera, or simply want to photograph your local wildlife without needing to buy a huge zoom lens for a DSLR, it’s the best you can buy.‘

Best for: wildlife photographers who want an all-in-one package

Read our Sony RX10 IV review.

Best used Sony camera for beginners: Sony A6000

Specifications at a glance:

This fantastic camera has been around since 2014, and the fact that it’s still one of the best mirrorless cameras for beginners is an indicator of how many things Sony got right with it. The Sony A6000 kicked off an entire series of APS-C mirrorless cameras for enthusiasts, and over the years its price has come down to the point where it’s one of the best budget cameras you can buy. There are also plenty of E-mount lenses designed specifically for APS-C cameras, so you won’t feel short-changed when it comes to the glass.

Competitive specs

It’s amazing how many of the A6000’s specs are still competitive today. The autofocus system can acquire a subject in as little as 0.06 seconds, and the burst mode can manage 11fps – all of which is more than enough for speedy action photography. The only area where the A6000 has started to fall behind is video, as it pre-dates the 4K boom, and doesn’t have a mic jack.

In our review when the A6000 came out, we said, ‘Top-spec technology and a host of cutting-edge features may just see the Alpha 6000 mirror the longevity and success of its predecessor and keep it competitive in years to come.‘ Not to toot our own horns, but we called that one pretty well.

Best for: cash-conscious beginners and enthusiasts

Read our Sony A6000 review.

Best used Sony camera for image quality: Sony A7R II

Specifications at a glance:

Released in 2015, the full-frame Sony A7R II has since been discontinued. However, it is still widely available on the second-hand market, and if you’re looking for high-resolution full-frame shooting, we reckon it’s one of the best bargains you’ll find.

It’s a camera that demands plenty of accuracy on the part of the user. 42 megapixels is an unforgiving resolution, and if you’re a hair off on your focusing, it’s going to be noticeable. Fortunately, the Sony A7R II was the first high-resolution mirrorless camera to come sporting 5-axis image stabilisation, meaning it’s easier to shoot at slow shutter speeds and still get pin-sharp shots.

Impressive detail at ISO 25,600

We published a special feature not long ago on why the Sony A7R II is one of the best used cameras you can buy, and one of the features we singled out was its high-ISO performance. You can push the A7R II all the way up to ISO 25,600, and it’ll still handle detail really well.

The A7R II proved something of a favourite among the professional photography community. Landscape pro Joe Cornish was blown away by the high-ISO performance of the A7R II, and appreciated its lightweight build for use out in the field. Meanwhile, we also saw motorsport photography pro Nick Dungan put the A7R II through its paces on the track. It’s not really designed for this genre, but the A7R II did well at nailing challenging shots, and Nick ended up concluding he would seriously consider adding it to his kit bag.

Best for: getting ultra-high resolution as cheaply as possible

How to choose the best Sony camera

Camera types

Sony manufactures cameras in two classes: compacts and mirrorless cameras. Compact cameras have a fixed lens that can’t be changed, while mirrorless cameras allow the user to swap between Sony E-mount lenses at will. Compact cameras are generally smaller, sometimes cheaper and easier to use, while mirrorless cameras offer greater image quality and shooting versatility, with the trade-off being that a complete mirrorless setup can cost quite a bit more, and be less portable.

Sensor size

Sony compact cameras have 1-inch sensors, and Sony mirrorless cameras will use either APS-C or full-frame. Which to choose? Full-frame sensors will deliver the best image quality and overall performance, particularly in low light, but require larger and more expensive cameras and lenses. APS-C tends to be thought of as the mid-range option, and this is the sensor size used in the Sony A6700.

For a thorough run-down, check out our guide to APS-C vs full-frame sensors.

Features and priorities

You need to figure out which features are most important to you. Want to capture wildlife images? Look for fast burst speeds and sophisticated autofocus systems. If you’re looking to add video to your repertoire as well as stills, you’ll want to look at the maximum video resolution and frame rate the camera can capture. Sony makes some of the best hybrid cameras for photographers who need both.

Still not sure on what type of camera you’re looking for? You may want to check out our guide to DSLR vs mirrorless. And if you do end up choosing a Sony mirrorless, you’ll want to pick up some of the best Sony lenses to go with it.

How to charge your Sony camera

Almost all Sony cameras use USB charging, so you can simply plug in the charger in the box, or the USB cable into a spare charger (or USB port), and charge your camera. If you want to charge the battery outside of the camera, then a spare battery charger can be bought from all the usual retailers.

Found your perfect Sony camera? Why not have a look at some of our choices for the best Sony lenses (E-mount), have a look at our other buying guides, and our latest reviews, for more great products.

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The post Here are the best Sony cameras in 2025 for photography and video appeared first on Amateur Photographer.

If you’ve always wanted to use a full-frame camera but have been put off by the price, then you’re in luck! In this guide, we reveal the absolute best used and second-hand full-frame camera bargains on the market. Whether you want a DSLR or a mirrorless full-frame camera, these are the models that will give you incredible value for money and a pro-like experience for a fraction of the retail price.

New versions of cameras come out roughly every year or two, and the little secret that many manufacturers don’t like to disclose is that cameras have been very, very good for some time now. Unless you’re a professional looking to shoot the Olympic Games, you really don’t need the latest cutting-edge autofocus and resolution technology from the likes of the Nikon Z8 or Canon EOS R3.

But that doesn’t mean you have to settle for a smaller-sensor camera – simply choose a second-hand model and use the same camera professionals were buying four or five years ago. You may have noticed they were capturing fantastic images then, too! We go into more detail on how to choose the best second-hand full-frame camera at the bottom of the page.

Overview

Looking for the best deal on second-hand cameras? Not only will you find the best second-hand cameras, but you’ll also find some of the best cheap used camera deals, as our ‘Buy now’ buttons are set up to take you to the best prices from trusted retailers, plus you’ll find a list of other retailers below each camera, so you can find the right deal for you.

Second-hand full-frame DSLR camera bargains

• Best enthusiast Nikon DSLR: Nikon D750 – Buy now
• Cheapest full-frame DSLR: Canon EOS 5D – Buy now
• Cheapest full-frame Nikon DSLR: Nikon D700 – Buy now
• Best Canon all-rounder: Canon EOS 5D Mark III – Buy now
• Best full-frame from Pentax: Pentax K-1 Mark II – Buy now
• Best high-resolution full-frame DSLR: Canon EOS 5DS R – Buy now

Second-hand full-frame mirrorless camera bargains

• Best all-rounder mirrorless: Sony Alpha A7R – Buy now
• Cheapest full-frame mirrorless camera: Sony Alpha A7 – Buy now
• Best entry level mirrorless: Canon EOS RP – Buy now
• Best second-hand full-frame camera with IBIS: Sony Alpha A7 II – Buy now

Second-hand full-frame DSLR camera bargains

Best enthusiast Nikon DSLR: Nikon D750

At a glance:

• Price from $730 / £640 (in excellent condition)
• Sensor 24.3MP full-frame CMOS
• Sensitivity ISO 100-12,800 (ISO 50-51,200 extended)
• Continuous shooting 6.5fps
• Video 1080p Full HD at 60fps
• Rear display Tilting 3.2-inch/1.2m-dot LCD
• Viewfinder Pentaprism, 100% coverage at 0.7x

Released towards the end of 2014, the Nikon D750 is a solidly built and highly customisable full-frame DSLR aimed at the enthusiast and semi-pro market. At the time of its launch, a new D750 body would have set you back £1,800, a figure that has since fallen dramatically. It is now possible to pick-up a used camera body for roughly a third of that price, depending on its condition and shutter count.

So, what do you get for your money? The D750 is built around a 24.3MP full-frame CMOS sensor and a Nikon Expeed 4 image processor. While this chip isn’t as powerful as the Expeed 6 used in the D750’s successor – the more recent Nikon D780 – it’s nonetheless highly capable; facilitating a maximum continuous shooting speed of 6.5fps, a native sensitivity range of ISO 100-12,800, plus expanded settings up to the equivalent of ISO 51,200.

Movie capture, meanwhile, extends to a maximum of 1080p Full HD at 60fps with external microphone and headphone inputs provided for enhanced audio capture and real-time monitoring.

Autofocus through the D750’s optical viewfinder is taken care of via Nikon’s Multi-CAM 3500 II phase-detection module. This provides 51 individual AF points in the centre of the viewfinder. While coverage doesn’t extend to the boundaries of the frame, performance is nonetheless speedy and accurate with the 3D tracking mode exceptionally good at capturing moving subjects.

Switching to live view, the D750 employs on-sensor contrast-detect AF with coverage across the entire frame. Performance is again relatively speedy, although not quite as fast as many mirrorless cameras – or indeed those Canon DSLRs equipped with Dual Pixel AF technology.

Elsewhere, the D750 also comes equipped with built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, twin SDXC (UHS-I) card slots, a 3-inch/1.2m-dot tilting rear LCD display and a large and bright pentaprism viewfinder that provides 100% coverage.

Although several years old now, image quality from the D750 remains nothing short of excellent. Indeed, while more modern Nikon DSLRs might provide greater speed and performance benefits, you’ll be hard pressed to see much difference in critical image quality at the same resolution. In addition to 12-bit and 14-bit uncompressed raw capture, the D750 provides a generous array of JPEG image processing tools and picture control modes that can be employed to get the look you want straight from camera.

You’ll also benefit from a wide-range of Nikon F-mount lenses.

Build quality

Regarding build quality, the D750 is fully weather-sealed and also benefits from magnesium alloy construction. This provides excellent protection from everyday knocks, while giving the camera a very professional feel in the hand. Buttons are well spaced and clearly labelled, and for anyone coming from another Nikon DSLR, the layout should feel instantly familiar.

While the Nikon D750 might be starting to show its age, especially when compared directly to the D780, it remains an excellent DSLR for both enthusiasts looking to go full-frame on a budget and seasoned pros looking for a solid backup body.

The release of the D780 also means that there should be good availability of Nikon D750s on the second-hand and used market as people upgrade. If you’re in the market for a second-hand full-frame DSLR that’s capable of fantastic image quality, with extensive customisation options and tank-like build quality, the Nikon D750 comes highly recommended and is well worth considering.

For more Nikon options, have a look at the best Nikon DSLRs.

Read our Nikon D750 Review

Cheapest full-frame Canon DSLR: Canon EOS 5D

At a glance:

• Price around $190 / £150 (in good/excellent condition)
• Sensor 12.8MP CMOS full-frame
• Sensitivity ISO 100-1600 (ISO 50-3200 extended)
• Continuous shooting 3fps (17 frame raw buffer depth)
• Video Not available
• Rear display 2.5-inch, 230k-dot fixed LCD screen
• Viewfinder Pentaprism, 96% coverage at 0.71x

Released in 2005, Canon’s original EOS 5D is credited as the first affordable full-frame DSLR to hit the market. While a brand new 5D body cost around $3,299 / £2,500 at the time of its launch, these days it’s possible to source a second-hand example in good condition for at least 10x less!

Given its age, it is no surprise to find that many of the 5D’s core specs – such as its nine-point AF module and 2.5-inch/233k-dot LCD display – look out-of-date by modern DSLR standards. That said, the 5D’s 12.8MP sensor is still capable of great image quality in the right hands.

To get the most out of the camera, you’ll most likely need to shoot at lower ISO speeds, or be prepared to process the raw files yourself. But if you’ve got the time to do this, it’s likely you’ll benefit from the latest raw processing technology found in new photo editing software.

Another nice thing about the Canon EOS 5D is that you can pair it with a 50mm prime lens, which can be found for bargain prices. Read our second-hand classic: Canon EOS 5D feature

Cheapest full-frame Nikon DSLR: Nikon D700

At a glance:

• Price around $250 / £300 (in good condition)
• Sensor 12.1MP full-frame CMOS
• Sensitivity ISO 200-6400 (ISO 100-25,600 extended)
• Continuous shooting 5fps (8fps with MB-D10 battery pack)
• Video Not available
• Rear display 3-inch/921k-dot LCD
• Viewfinder Pentaprism, 95% coverage at 0.72x

Released in 2008, the Nikon D700 was essentially Nikon’s answer to the phenomenally popular Canon EOS 5D. Built around the same 12.1MP full-frame CMOS sensor used in the then-flagship Nikon D3 DSLR, the D700 further benefits from a 51-point AF system, a pop-up flash that can be used as a commander off-camera Creative Lighting System, and weather-sealed magnesium alloy construction.

Two things to note are that the D700 doesn’t provide any video recording functionality, and only comes with a single CF-type card slot, which means it cannot take regular SD cards. Other than that, the D700 remains an exceptionally capable camera.

The Nikon D700 is rated as having a shutter-life of 150,000 actuations (or shots), so the smaller the shutter count on the camera you’re buying, the more potential it has for lasting longer. The camera has excellent build quality and 1000 shot battery life, making it a camera you can rely on. As with other old digital cameras, you’ll benefit from processing the raw files to get the best out of this camera, particularly if shooting at higher ISO speeds.

Read our second-hand classic: Nikon D700 feature

Best Canon all-rounder: Canon EOS 5D Mark III

At a glance:

• Price around $630 / £490 (in excellent/good condition)
• Sensor 22.3MP full-frame CMOS
• Sensitivity 100-25,600 (ISO 50-102,800 extended)
• Continuous shooting 6fps
• Video 1080p Full HD at 60fps
• Rear display 3.2-inch/1.040m-dots
• Viewfinder Pentaprism, 100% coverage at 0.71x

At the time of its release in 2012, a brand new 5D Mark III body sold for around $3,499 /  £2,250 (body only). However, it’s now possible to find second-hand bodies in excellent condition with under 40K shutter actuations for around $750.

Built around a 22.2MP full-frame CMOS sensor and Canon’s DIGIC 5+ image processor, the 5D Mark III is a highly versatile DSLR that provides an advanced feature set and plenty of customisation options. The camera gives impressive noise performance, with a vastly improved ISO range compared to the first 5D.

There are a wide range of Canon EF-mount lenses available, with budget options, all the way up to premium tilt-shift lenses. Canon’s L-series lenses are amongst some of the best Canon EF-mount lenses.

While Canon’s ground-breaking Dual Pixel AF technology wasn’t introduced to the 5D range until the 5D Mark IV, the 5D Mark III nonetheless inherits a range of high-end specs from the EOS-1D X, including a 61-point AF system, alongside customisable tracking options.

For more options have a look at the best Canon DSLRs.

Read our Canon EOS 5D Mark III Review

Best full-frame from Pentax: Pentax K-1 Mark II

At a glance:

• $1,300 / £1,100 used, body only
• 36.4MP full-frame
• 3.2in 1.04m-dot vari-angle-touchscreen
• Sensor-shift stabilisation & GPS
• Pentaprism OVF with 0.7x mag and 100% FOV
• Weather-resistant

The most recent Pentax K-1 II represents a modest upgrade from its predecessor the K-1, with the most notable improvement being the increased sensitivity by 2EV to a whopping extended ISO 819,200, however, the original K-1 is becoming increasingly more difficult to find second-hand.

With a large pentaprism optical viewfinder and a 36MP full-frame sensor, the K-1 II performs excellently in low light. Elsewhere, the K-1 also benefits from Pentax’s Pixel Shift technology that’s designed to improve the resolving power of the sensor, along with built-in Shake Reduction image stabilisation technology. This is topped with GPS and a unique feature called Astrotracer that arguably makes the K-1 II the DSLR choice for astrophotography. There are also some great value, high-quality Pentax K-mount lenses available, so landscape and portrait photographers are very well catered for.

Launched with a body-only price of $1,799 / £1,999 in 2018, it’s now possible to pick up a second-hand K-1 II body for roughly half that price, depending on its general condition and shutter count.

Have a look at the limited edition silver Pentax K-1 Mark II and lenses.

Best high-resolution full-frame DSLR: Canon EOS 5DS R

At a glance:

• Price around $1,375 /  £1,000 (in excellent/good condition)
• Sensor 50.6MP full-frame CMOS
• Sensitivity ISO 100-6400 (ISO 50-12,800 expanded)
• Continuous shooting 5fps
• Video 1080p Full HD at 30fps
• Rear display 3.2-inch/1.04m-dots
• Viewfinder Pentaprism, 0.71x magnification

The Canon EOS 5DS R is among the most expensive of our full-frame bargains picks, but when you consider that it launched with an RRP of $3,899 / £3,200, that second-hand price of around 3x less starts to look quite tasty.

Launched as a pair with the Canon EOS 5DS in 2015, the EOS 5DS R represented a new frontier of DSLR resolution, boasting a sensor with a whopping 50.6MP at its disposal. That’s still at the upper-end of full-frame resolutions today, and makes the EOS 5DS R a seriously tempting prospect for landscape photography.

Constructed to meet the needs of professional photographers, the Canon EOS 5DS R is built like a tank. It’s designed in every way to make the most of all that detail, with a spring-less mirror assembly that minimises vibrations (which really do matter at 50MP), a reinforced tripod mount, and a USB 3.0 connection for fast image transfer. For high-resolution photography, this is one of the savviest, smartest second-hand buys you can make.

As mentioned, the EOS 5DS R was launched in a pair with the EOS 5DS. The main difference between the two is that the EOS 5DS R cancels out the effect of its low-pass cancellation filter, enabling higher resolution at the cost of a slightly increased risk of moiré patterning occurring in images. If you see the EOS 5DS for a good price, it’s also well worth snapping up.

Read our Canon EOS 5DS R review

Second-hand full-frame mirrorless camera bargains

Best all-rounder mirrorless: Sony Alpha A7R

At a glance:

• Price around $479 / £490 (in excellent/good condition)
• Sensor 36.4MP full-frame CMOS
• Sensitivity ISO 50-25,600
• Continuous shooting 4fps
• Video 1080p Full HD at 60fps
• Rear display Tiltable, 3-inch, 921k-dot LCD
• Viewfinder 2.35m-dot EVF

Just as the original Canon 5D brought full-frame DSLR technology into the realm of relative affordability, the Sony A7 and A7R performed the same feat for full-frame mirrorless cameras. Indeed, at the time of their release in 2013, the only similarly small full-frame option on the market was the Leica M9, which, at nearly $5000/£5000, was almost triple the price of the A7R body-only launch price.

Fast-forward twelve years and the A7 series is now in its fifth generation, with the latest A7R V model sporting a 61MP back-illuminated full-frame sensor, albeit at a cost of nearly $4,000 body-only.

For those looking to reap the benefits of Sony’s A7 series without breaking the bank, the original A7R can now be picked up very cheaply second-hand. This might require some patience in order to secure a good example as the first-generation A7R doesn’t appear in the second-hand market as often as many more recent models.

While the 24.3MP A7 was positioned as an enthusiast-grade all-rounder, the A7R comes equipped with a 36.4MP sensor, marking it out as an ideal choice for those prioritising resolution. In keeping with this, the A7R does without a low-pass filter in order to enhance the resolution of fine detail. The A7R’s 36.4MP full-frame CMOS sensor is paired with a Sony BIONZ X image processor that facilitates a sensitivity range of ISO 100-25,600 (expandable to ISO 50) and a maximum continuous shooting speed of 4fps.

Unlike the standard A7 with its hybrid (phase and contrast detect) AF module, the A7R’s 25-point AF system employs only contrast detect technology to ascertain focus. As a result, it’s a little slower than its A7 sibling. The A7R wasn’t designed as an action or sports camera, but its AF performance is speedy enough in all but the dimmest of conditions; adequate for all but the most demanding users. Most other cameras that rely solely on contrast-detect tend to struggle with this, too.

While the ability to record 4K movies wasn’t introduced until the A7R Mark II, the A7R does provide 1080p Full HD video capture at up to 60fps and also sports microphone and headphone jacks on the side.

Build quality

Constructed from magnesium alloy, the A7R feels solidly built in the hand and is designed to be resistant to dust and moisture. That said, its plastic port covers at the side are a bit flimsy and have since been improved on the A7R IV.

Image quality from the A7R remains very good, even by today’s standards, especially when the camera is used at lower sensitivity settings. While some noise does begin to creep into images at ISO 800, the camera generally keeps the unwanted side effects of noise at bay.

Dynamic range, although not quite on a par with the A7, is also impressive given the camera’s high-resolution sensor, while automatic white balance can be relied upon to deliver consistently true-to-life colour. It offers extremely good image quality for the price, and there is a wide-range of Sony E-mount lenses available.

Read our Sony Alpha 7R Review

Cheapest full-frame mirrorless camera: Sony Alpha A7

At a glance:

• Price $500 / £424 (in excellent condition)
• Sensor 24.3MP full-frame CMOS
• Sensitivity ISO 100-25,600 (ISO 50 expanded)
• Continuous shooting 5fps
• Video 1080p Full HD at 60fps
• Rear display 3in/1.22m-dot LCD
• Viewfinder 2.4m-dot EVF

Sony has long offered three distinct models within its Alpha 7 range, each of which caters to a slightly different target audience. Whereas A7R models are designed for maximum resolution and A7S models prioritise video and low-light shooting performance, the regular A7 has always been about providing an all-round package.

Released in 2013 alongside the A7R that we’ve already covered within this round-up, the A7 was notable for being the first affordable full-frame mirrorless camera to hit the market.

The good news is that used Sony A7 cameras can easily be picked up for under $500 / £500 these days, although you may need to shop around as stock levels have dropped. While subsequent models in the A7 range have undoubtedly added useful new features and come equipped with more up-to-date hardware, the A7 remains an extremely capable camera and the cheapest full-frame Sony.

Built around a 24.3MP full-frame sensor and Sony’s BIONZ X processor, the A7 further benefits from hybrid AF technology that combines 117 on-sensor phase-detection pixels with a further 25 contrast-detect points for frame-wide coverage.

Worth noting is that the Sony A7 II and Sony A7R II introduced 5-axis in-body image stabilisation (IBIS), as well as improved handling, so this is something to be aware of, particularly if you have the budget to spend a bit more.

Read our Sony Alpha 7 Review

Best entry level mirrorless: Canon EOS RP

At a glance:

• Price $900 / £1,049 (in excellent condition)
• Sensor 26.2MP full-frame CMOS
• Sensitivity ISO 100-40,000 (ISO 50-102,400 extended)
• Continuous shooting 5fps
• Video 4K at 25fps
• Rear display Vari-angle 3-inch/1.04m-dot LCD touchscreen
• Viewfinder 2.36m-dot EVF

The Canon RP is an entry-level full-frame mirrorless camera that’s designed to appeal to those looking to go full-frame on a budget. Released in 2019 with a body-only price of $1,300 / £1,400, used RP bodies can now be picked up for much less in ‘excellent’ condition.

For the money, you get a super compact full-frame camera that’s actually lighter than Canon’s 800D APS-C DSLR. While controls and features have been stripped back to increase the RP’s appeal to novice users, the camera does come with Canon’s Dual Pixel AF technology and 4K video recording abilities – albeit at a rather limiting 25fps.

Designed to be used with RF-mount mirrorless lenses, the RP was sold with an EF lens mount adapter in the box.

Read our Canon EOS RP Review

Best second-hand full-frame camera with IBIS: Sony Alpha A7 II

At a glance:

• Price $920 / £550 (in excellent condition)
• Sensor 24.3MP full-frame CMOS
• Sensitivity ISO 100-25,600 (ISO 50-102,400 extended)
• Continuous shooting 5fps
• Video 1080p Full HD at 50fps
• Rear display Fixed 3-inch/1.23m- dot LCD
• Viewfinder 2.36M dot OLED

Ten years old but still a strong contender, this was the first full-frame mirrorless camera to feature 5-axis in-body image stabilisation – something that quickly became a must-have feature in mirrorless cameras. It also inherits the excellent OLED electronic viewfinder from the Alpha 7 and a redesigned handgrip and control layout enhances operation and handling.

The biggest drawbacks are the relatively loud shutter and the fiddly rear control wheel, so it’s not the best choice if you photograph timid wildlife or go in for candid street photography. Otherwise, the A7 II is a solid performer and benefits from the wide range of Sony E-mount lenses.

Read our Sony Alpha 7 II Review

Why use full-frame at all?

The larger sensor size carries a number of advantages and has been popular with professionals and high-end enthusiasts ever since the arrival of the Canon EOS 5D in 2005. A large full-frame sensor can give you greater dynamic range as the individual photosites that make up the pixels are generally larger than those found in smaller sensors. This means cleaner images with less noise even at high ISOs, which makes for better low-light performance.

Full-frame sensors are also better for creating shallow depth of field in images, which is perfect for portraits. For a complete run-down of the advantages (and disadvantages) of full-frame see our comprehensive guide to full-frame vs APS-C.

How to find the best second-hand full-frame camera bargains

Buying second-hand is a great way to save some cash, but it pays to do it right. Reputable second-hand dealers such as Park Cameras, Wex, Ffordes, LCE, CameraWorld, and MPB (or Adorama, B&H Photo Video, and MPB in the USA) will offer decent warranties on used gear, meaning that you’ve got some cover for any faults in the camera that may develop.

We’ve included both DSLRs and mirrorless cameras on this list – some people prefer the rugged build and optical viewfinders of DSLRs, while others like the lightweight agility and super-fast focusing of mirrorless.

If you go for a DSLR, make sure you check the shutter actuation count, which should be listed on the dealer’s website. We would recommend you think carefully before getting a pro body with more than 50,000 shutter actuations, or a non-pro body with more than 20,000. For that, the price had better be really good.

We’ve taken a hard look at the best DSLR and mirrorless second-hand full-frame bargains you can find right now. These are all cameras we reviewed on first release, and we have returned to many of them since; so each of them here comes with our genuine, informed recommendation.

Want more choice? Check out our general guide to the best second-hand cameras, which includes APS-C models as well as full-frame, and we have a guide to how to build a complete second-hand system for under $1,000/£1,000. We also have some tips on how to get the best prices for used cameras and lenses.

Disclaimer: prices and retailers of the cameras in this article were chosen based on those who had stocks of the specific cameras at the time of writing this article. The availability of stocks and exactly who has certain cameras varies, naturally, so please do check all the latest stockists and prices before making any camera purchase.

Further reading:

• Best full-frame mirrorless cameras
• Which maker has the best range of full-frame mirrorless lenses?
• What are the best cheap full-frame cameras?
• Best second-hand full-frame mirrorless cameras

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The post The best second-hand full-frame camera bargains appeared first on Amateur Photographer.

Portrait modes recreate the classic shallow depth of field effect you would normally see when shooting with a standard camera and wide-aperture lens. As phones have improved, so have these, dramatically – but they don’t always get better with every upgrade. As such, I haven’t simply selected the latest flagships for this list, as sometimes slightly older phones offer better functionality or value for money when it comes to portraiture, specifically.

Remember to shop around for various contract deals, and you may also already be able to find some of these models second-hand. All of these phones are ones that the AP technical team and I have tested and reviewed, and you can see samples of our portrait photographs taken with them throughout.

The best smartphones for portrait photography: our quick list

Looking for the best deal on the best smartphones for portraits? Not only will you find the best camera phones for portraits, but also some of the best deals, as our ‘Buy now’ buttons are set to automatically take you to the best prices from trusted retailers. There is also a list of other retailers below each phone, so you can find the right deal for you.

• Best Android phone for portrait photography: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Buy now
• Best iPhone for portrait photography: iPhone 15 Pro: Buy now
• Best premium phone for portrait photography: Xiaomi 15 Ultra: Buy now
• Best smaller phone for portrait photography: Google Pixel 9 Pro: Buy now
• Best cheap phone for portrait photography: OnePlus 12: Buy now

Read on to learn more about each of these phones, including key specs and the results of our review team’s testing…

Best smartphones for portrait photography

Best Android phone for portrait photography: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra was our clear pick as the best overall smartphone in 2023, and the S24 Ultra won Smartphone Camera of the Year at our 2024 AP Awards. True to form the Galaxy S25 Ultra tops our best camera phone for 2025 – though for reasons we shall explore, the S24 Ultra remains our pick for portraits.

With its multiple lenses, comprehensive camera app and excellent screen, the S24 Ultra is a fantastic all-rounder. It has a dedicated Portrait mode which you can use to either take headshots or leave a little more context. It puts in a good job with portraits here, creating fairly natural outlines and also works well with other non-human subjects such as pets.

You don’t have to shoot in Portrait mode, as the standard setting also producing excellent results – albeit without the same kind of shallow depth of field effect you might wish for. If you want to shoot in raw format, you can, but again not in Portrait mode – head to the Pro mode and enable DNG recording to do that. Shoot with the 3x telephoto lens in Pro mode to get a typical portrait focal length, while also taking advantage of the flexibility of raw shooting.

Galaxy S24 Ultra · f/1.7 · 1/100s · 6.3mm · ISO1000

As with the S23 Ultra, one of the key headlines of the S24 Ultra is its 200 megapixel main sensor. Images are only actually output in 200MP in a specific mode, otherwise the standard output is 12MP. In theory, this sounds useful for portraits, but in practice, extra detail isn’t hugely obvious and unless you want to print your portraits at a huge size, 200MP is overkill. If you’re shooting after dark, Night and Portrait mode can be combined together to great effect, though here it’s the 1x setting, rather than the closer 3x setting, which produces the best results.

One last useful specification here for portraits is the inclusion of an “S-Pen” stylus, which can be used to remotely trigger the camera shutter. That’s helpful for self-portraits and group-portraits, where you can frame from a distance. This is one of the key reasons why we’ve chosen to keep this phone on this list as opposed to the newer, shinier Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, in which this functionality was removed. Since the more expensive S25 Ultra doesn’t really provide many improvements to portrait photography and actually removes a useful piece of functionality, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is still for the time being our recommendation.

Read our Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review.

Best iPhone for portrait photography: iPhone 15 Pro

It goes without saying that Apple’s smartphones are incredibly popular. This flagship sees a 3x lens setup, with the main offering a 48 megapixel resolution. It’s available in two sizes, the standard Pro and the larger iPhone 15 Pro Max, without sacrificing on camera quality if you opt for the smaller device. This is something other manufacturers don’t offer, with smaller devices tending to come with a camera sacrifice of some sort. This may mean that the iPhone 15 Pro better suits those with smaller hands or who don’t want a cumbersome smartphone to fit in their pocket.

In terms of portraits, the iPhone 15 Pro/Max has a dedicated Portrait mode which gives you the opportunity to shoot at 1x, 2x or 3x, depending on how you want to frame your shot, while also creating a blurred background. Portrait has been improved for the iPhone 15 Pro series. Called “Next generation portrait mode”, the big news here is the ability to automatically recognise portrait subjects (humans and pets) when shooting in the main camera mode. This means you can turn it into a portrait after the fact if you want to – again, this isn’t something that has so far come to iPhone 14 Pro and older.

iPhone 15 Pro · f/2.8 · 1/381s · 9mm · ISO25

Critics of the iPhone often point to its relatively simple native camera app, with no Pro or Advanced mode available. However, you can shoot in Apple’s ProRAW format if you want some increased flexibility – though as with other smartphones, not in the Portrait mode. Again, shooting with the telephoto lens and raw switched on is a way to get around that somewhat.

We again here have a Night mode which can be combined with the Portrait mode for good portrait shots after dark, but, here again it’s the 1x setting which produces the best results in such conditions.

The more recent iPhone 16 series – including the flagship iPhone 16 Pro/Pro Max, as well as the slimmed-down iPhone 16e – haven’t seen much improvement in their portrait-shooting capabilities. The iPhone 16e is a little too compromised, so we’re sticking with the iPhone 15 Pro as our recommendation here for now, as you should be able to find it cheaper.

Read our iPhone 15 Pro Review.

Best premium phone for portraits: Xiaomi 15 Ultra

Xiaomi’s smartphones are made in collaboration with Leica; so they offer some serious chops in photographic terms. The Xiaomi 15 Ultra is the best one yet – its main camera uses a 1-inch type sensor, the same size that you’d find in premium compact cameras, and Xiaomi’s are the only phones on the market to do so. This is paired with an ultra-sharp Leica-made lens, delivering stunning image quality.

As for portraiture, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra offers a flexible range of portrait-shooting modes. It’s a little simplified compared to the previous Xiaomi 14 Ultra – whereas before you used to be able to pick actual focal lengths, now you choose between shooting at 1x, 2x, 3x or 4.3x. You also have the option to fine-tune your bokeh quality for the defocused areas of images.

The selfie camera is decent enough – it still lacks autofocus, which is a shame on a flagship phone like this, but it produces dependably decent results. Back on the main camera, you can take advantage of Pro mode to take control of key settings, or there are also some interesting pre-made shooting modes – we particularly like “Fast Photo”, which recreates the look of a rangefinder for a vintage feel.

This is a stunning phone for photography, and definitely gives the best portrait results. The only reason it’s not our top pick is because it’s not only expensive but also hard to obtain, with limited availability in many territories. If you can get one, we’d unhesitatingly recommend it.

Read our Xiaomi 15 Ultra review

Best smaller phone for portraits: Google Pixel 9 Pro

Pixel phones were early exponents of excellent portrait modes, with the company working for some time with machine learning to produce fantastic results. It’s worth mentioning that Google has made a point of building its training set with a multitude of nationalities and skin-tones for what it says is better face-recognition and tone-processing than some of its rivals for non-white subjects; something other manufacturers sometimes struggle with.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro has a triple-lens camera setup, featuring a 1x, 0.5x ultrawide and a 5x telephoto lens. For those digital zoom options, Google uses Super Resolution zoom multi-shot technology. The 1x lens sits in front of a 50MP 1/1.31-inch sensor, and has an f/1.68 aperture. It offers an equivalent of 24mm.

It’s a shame not to see a larger sensor coming to a Pixel phone yet. The ultrawide has a 48MP 1/2.55” sensor, with a slightly improved f/1.7 aperture (it was f/2.0 for the Pixel 8 Pro) and a 12mm equivalent focal length. The telephoto also has a 48MP 1/2.55” sensor, with an f/2.8 aperture, the zoom is a 5x zoom, with the equivalent focal length displaying as 110mm (which is just shy of 5x). It should be noted that despite all of these high-resolution sensors, the standard output is 12MP from each, due to pixel binning.

Other improvements compared to the Pixel 8 Pro largely concern software. That includes an updated HDR+ feature for better colours and skin tones, improved exposure, sharpness, detail, contrast and more. Great news for portraits. Google also claims there have been improvements to low-light shooting, with some new functionality including Night-sight panoramic photos.

If portraits and people is your favoured subject, it’s hard to beat the vast array of tools that the Pixel offers. Portrait mode is very good, though I’d like to see a few more options available – such as being able to shoot at a longer focal length, or have different blur or lighting modes, such as we see from most other smartphones. What is created though has fairly realistic outlines, especially if you don’t scrutinise your images too closely.

Read our Google Pixel 9 Pro Review.

Best cheap smartphone for portraits: OnePlus 12

The cheapest smartphone in our group, OnePlus prides itself on providing flagship specifications for mid-range pricing. They pride their phones on their cameras, which makes them very appealing to photographers who may be less fussy about other aspects of a smartphone that add to their cost.

The main camera has a 50MP Sony LYT-808 1/1.4” sensor, a sensor which is brand new and used here in the OnePlus 12 for the first time in the smartphone market. It’s fronted by a 23mm equivalent f/1.6 lens, which includes optical image stabilisation. This sensor is bigger than that found in the OnePlus 11 and is therefore said to be better for low-light shooting.

A further two cameras comprise of a 48MP Sony IMX581 1/2” sensor with a 14mm f/2.2 equivalent ultra wide lens, plus a 64MP Omnivision OV64B 1/2” sensor with a 70mm f/2.6 equivalent 3x zoom lens which also has the ability to 6x zoom digitally in-sensor, and 120x digitally overall. This 3x length is longer than the 2x length of the OnePlus 11,

The specific “Hasselblad Portrait Mode” is retained: designed to recreate the look of Hasselblad XCD 30mm and 65mm lenses (1x and 2x, respectively). This creates a shallow depth of field effects; designed to recreate the look from using certain Hasselblad lenses. You can shoot at 1x, 2x or 3x focal lengths, to give the effect of using 30, 65 or 90mm Hasselblad lenses. Consider this an “impression” rather than the real thing and you won’t be disappointed.

The lenses in the OnePlus 12 benefit from a special lens coating which is designed to reduce flare. You can also choose to use Portrait mode in selfie orientation if you want a shallower depth of field job.

Read our OnePlus 12 Full Review.

Tips for shooting portraits with your smartphone

Try these ideas with your smartphone next time you’re giving portraits a go

Use portrait mode for non-human subjects

Remember that portrait mode can generally be used for non-human subjects. This is great for photographing pets to really bring out their character. You can also use it to create shallow depth of field effects with other subjects, such as still life too.

But don’t just use the dedicated portrait mode

As mentioned in our round-up, try using other modes, rather than just portrait mode. This way you can achieve other things, such as shooting in raw mode for example.

Try different lighting and blur effects

Lots of Portrait modes have different effects you can experiment with, including different levels of blur, different types of blur/bokeh and different lighting effects. It’s worth getting to know all of these so you can approach your portraits creatively. Digital filters, such as black and white, also come in handy.

Give burst mode a go

When photographing fast-moving people (such as children), activating a burst mode can be a good way to get a candid portrait that occurs in a split second. Usually this involves holding down the shutter button to take several shots in quick succession. Most modern smartphones will even automatically choose the best result for you.

Include some context

Using some of your subject’s background is a good way to show more personality in your portraits rather than just a straightforward headshot. That’s especially true if you can include some kind of environment which means something to the sitter – such as a place of work or favourite location. Be sure to try switching to 1x mode and see what results you get.

Consider accessories such as reflectors and ring lights

There are a number of useful portrait accessories that can work very well with smartphones, including reflectors – to bounce light (including of different tones) back at your subject for more even coverage, and ring lights, which work particularly well for selfies.

Treat the smartphone like any other camera

We can often get hung-up on thinking of a smartphone as not a “proper camera”. Remember it’s you that makes the pictures and approach a portrait sitting just as you would with anything else, remembering composition, direction, and even other elements such as costumes, make-up and props.

How does portrait mode work on a smartphone?

Although you can take portraits with the standard shooting setting on your smartphone, many will choose to use the dedicated Portrait mode (sometimes it will be called something else).

It’s only with these modes that you’ll be able to recreate the effect of shooting with a wide-aperture lens. How this essentially works is the phone will take data from two or more of its lenses to create a depth map and use edge detection to figure out what should be in focus and what shouldn’t.

Machine learning and computational photography helps create the end result, which isn’t as reliably smooth as using real hardware, but can create pretty convincing effects – especially when you’re only viewing images at small sizes or on social media sites such as Instagram. Sometimes fussy outlines can prove to be a problem – such as if someone has fairly fine hair. Sometimes you might also see some features, such as ears, disappear when they shouldn’t.

It tends to work best with humans and animals (pets especially) that smartphones have been trained to recognise easily, while still life subjects can be a bit more hit-and-miss. That said, results have on the whole improved a huge amount since portrait modes were first introduced, with smartphones better able to understand what they’re looking at as time progresses. As technology continues to advance, we can only assume they’ll continue to get even better.

Read our latest smartphone reviews and find out how to take better smartphone photos. On a budget? Have a look at our best budget camera phones list.

Related reading:

• Best portrait tips from the pros
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• Top tips for fine art portrait photography

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The best vintage lenses to try

Mathieu Stern, the weird lens guru, has a wealth of knowledge about rare and vintage lenses. He shares his wisdom via The Weird Lens Museum at www.mathieustern.com. Here are some excellent optics from his cabinet of curiosities and AP’s favourites.

Jupiter 11 135mm f/4

It looks like a rocket ship, but the Jupiter 11 135mm f/4 is certainly not a novelty lens – it offers amazing image quality, super sharpness and lovely warm colours. It’s also a great lens for video because the aperture ring doesn’t make a clicking sound.

Helios 40 85mm f/1.5

Mathieu describes the Helios 40 85mm f/1.5 as the ‘legendary swirly bokeh king’, and it’s easy to see why. When used wide open, this lens creates a swirly effect around your subject that gives your images an attractive, dreamlike quality. It’s a great lens for portraits.

Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 SSC

The contrast and colours produced by the FD series are a big draw, but the Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 SSC deserves a special mention. You’ll get some spectacular flare when shooting towards the sun with this lens, but the results can be pleasingly cinematic.

Minolta 50mm f/1.4

The Minolta 50mm f/1.4 is a cinematic lens, which makes it easy to isolate your main subject from the background. It has been described as ‘Minolta’s sharpest prime lens’ and doesn’t disappoint on that front. Its resolution and contrast are exceptional, and the bokeh is beautiful.

Pentax Super Takumar 50mm f/1.4

You’ll find several versions of the Pentax Super Takumar 50mm f/1.4 on the market. Some are radioactive due to the thorium glass used in their construction. It’s a fast, high-quality lens with sharpness maintained well throughout the aperture range.

Here are some more vintage lenses you can try, designed or adapted for use on modern mirrorless cameras:

Minox Color Minotar 35mm F2.8

M.S. Hobbies, a Minox specialist based in London, offers Minox lenses from the old Minox 35 cameras. These lenses designed for 35mm film are now adapted for Sony E-mount and Fujifilm’s X-mount cameras. You can buy one for under £180 from mshobbies.co.uk. (JW)

Dispolens

The DispoLens is a small accessory that attaches to the front of your mirrorless camera lens. It creates an effect that resembles the nostalgic feel and vintage aesthetic of pictures taken with disposable cameras. These are fixed-focus 28mm F/10 lenses and are available for Sony E-mount and Fuji Z-mount.
Another interesting offer from DispoStudio is the triple lens: a disposable camera lens fitted with three used disposable camera lenses that create three overlapping images.

Read on to see the amazing photographs these and other vintage lenses can make…

How to use vintage lenses for beautiful photographs

Photographer Annemarie Farley

Over the years, Annemarie has won numerous awards and regularly appears as a judge and mentor for the British Institute of Professional Photography. Annemarie recently started experimenting with cyanotypes on glass (see Instagram: @cyan_on_glass). www.flowerfoto.com and @flowerfotofineart.

There is something magical about the bokeh that vintage lenses produce. Many people don’t notice the background of an image, but to me, it’s just as important as the foreground. Anamorphic vintage lenses create oval bokeh. It’s a subtle effect, but it gives a cinematic feel with a sinister undertone. The Helios 44M 58mm produces swirly bokeh, leading to fantastical, ethereal images.

Trioplan and Pentacon lenses add a soap bubble effect, which brings a playful look. Each lens has a different personality and its own ‘flaws’. When the light hits the optics to create an image, it produces blur and flare that changes the intensity of the colour and tone.

Discovering vintage lenses

I started using vintage lenses about three years ago after reading an article on creative bokeh. My first purchase was a Helios 44M 58mm from eBay. The Oxfam shop online is also a great place to buy rare and unusual lenses. I was already a fan of the Lensbaby range due to the dream-like effects they produce, but after seeing the swirly bokeh of the Helios, I just had to have one! Since then, vintage lenses have become quite an obsession, and I now have a sizeable collection.

Vintage favourites

My Helios 44M is the one I use most often, but I actually have three Helios lenses: a 44M 58mm in original condition and a 44mm and 85mm, both of which I have modified by reversing the front glass element. By doing this, I get an impressionistic swirl that generates depth and distortion – it’s a painterly effect. My anamorphic lens (a Sankor 16C) stretches the image and delivers an oval-shape bokeh that makes everything look strange and confusing. My Trioplan 50mm has soap bubble bokeh that is sharp and playful.

I also have a Pentacon 105mm that produces soap-like bokeh, but it’s a bit softer than the Trioplan. Others in my collection include a Jupiter 11 135mm, Industar-69 28mm and Dallmeyer 12 inch f/6 Popular Telephoto. My favourite camera/lens combination is a modified Helios with my Nikon D800E (although the Helios also works well on my Fujifilm X-T2.)

Buyer advice

If you’re looking to buy a vintage lens, do your research. Lots of advice is available via vintage lens groups on Facebook (I run a group called Modified Camera Lenses). In short, you want a lens with minimal (or preferably no) scratching and fungus. If you’re buying online, don’t be afraid to ask to see more pictures of the lens or details of where it might have been stored.

Adapters and getting started

Mounting a vintage lens to your camera is simple. With the help of an adapter, you can use them on countless brands and bodies. Be aware, though, that some lenses don’t work on full-frame cameras. Adapters are relatively cheap, but if you decide to mount a projection lens on your camera, you might need a focusing helicoid adapter – this is a metal lens-like device that has no glass inside and extends to two or three times its own length.

When you shoot with vintage lenses, you need to focus manually, which can be challenging. What’s more, if you modify lenses like I do, you need to throw everything you know about focusing out of the window! To get the best bokeh, you have to set the lens to a wide aperture. Throw an inverted lens into the mix and you soon learn that the only focus spot is in the centre of the lens.

To get around this, take two shots – one with the lens at f/2 and one at f/8 or f/12 – and combine them later. You could say vintage lenses would be better with autofocus and an aperture controlled via the camera, but it’s all part of their charm. If your camera offers focus peaking and focus magnification, this is a massive help, as it gives you a better idea of what to focus on.

Vintage lenses are fantastic at communicating a feeling, atmosphere or emotion. They have flaws and quirky focusing, and they create flare that most photographers would freak out about – but that’s what I like. I don’t want perfectly sharp images; I want to create something more. Vintage lenses help with this, as they tap into my imagination.

Weird Lens Guru Mathieu Stern

Mathieu Stern is a professional photographer and filmmaker. His passion for experimenting with vintage lenses has resulted in the nickname ‘weird lens guru’ on the internet. He hosts a YouTube channel and is a photography and Photoshop teacher in three Parisian design schools. www.mathieustern.com, Instagram: @mathieustern, YouTube: Mathieu Stern.

There’s something unique about most lenses made before 1900. Swirly bokeh, crazy colours and flare all add a charm to your images that modern lenses lack in their bid to produce a clinical, perfect image. The first vintage lens I owned was the one my father gave me with his 35mm camera. It was a 50mm f/2.8 from an unknown brand. Now, of course, I know it was a pretty bad lens, but it was my first step towards discovering something magical.

Vintage favourites

At the last count, I had more than 200 vintage and experimental lenses, so it’s hard to say which are my favourites. I do, however, have certain brands and lenses that I like more than others. Konica, Canon FD, Minolta and Pentax Takumar are all on this list. Most of my lenses come from eBay, yard sales or recommendations from family and friends. Now that I’ve got a large YouTube following, I also get sent lenses to review.

Buyer advice

If you’re in the market for a vintage or experimental lens, be aware that fungus can be cleaned, dirt and grease can be removed, but scratches or a bent helicoid are much bigger problems and would be a big no-no for me. On the plus side, I’ve bought many lenses showing signs of fungus for a fraction of the price and cleaned them up in less than ten minutes.

Choosing adapters

I shoot all of my experiments for YouTube on a Sony A7 III and A7 II. I have almost every adapter ever made for the Sony E-mount. As a result, I can attach almost any lens from any era to one of my cameras. If you like a brand, it’s a good idea to have a full set of lenses from the same era – that way you can maintain the same quality across all of your images.

I’ve tried many unusual bits of kit over the years. I own lenses designed for X-ray machines and medical cameras, for instance. One of the most unusual lenses I’ve tested was designed to be installed on a camera on board a space shuttle!

When it comes to buying adapters, avoid super-cheap ones – these can break quickly and even damage the sensor on your camera. A fair price for an adapter would be around the £20 mark. Before attaching a vintage lens to your camera, be aware of any potential weight issues – a very heavy or long lens can damage the mount on your digital camera, so in this instance, it’s a good idea to use a lens collar and tripod.

Getting started

Some people worry that there might be a steep learning curve when using vintage lenses, but like any lens, they are made of metal and glass – there is nothing magical or extra-difficult to understand. If you know how to focus manually, then you can use a vintage lens! Having said that, using a camera with focus peaking is very important, and image stabilisation is also good when you’re shooting videos with vintage lenses.

I like to shoot portraits, but you can shoot pretty much anything with a vintage lens – there are plenty of focal lengths to choose from. One of the greatest challenges is finding vintage and experimental lenses at a fair price: I started collecting when no one really cared about them, and I was picking them up for less than £10, but they are now becoming more expensive.

I don’t own any modern lenses, and I don’t feel like I’m missing out. Vintage lenses encourage me to be more experimental – I love the way they bend light, create crazy bokeh and produce truly unique images.

Videographer and Filmmaker Marc Sirisi

Marc Sirisi is a videographer/filmmaker for RV Films – a film production company based in Barcelona, which he set up with a colleague. Marc loves to experiment and has been using vintage lenses since the beginning of his journey with photography and now shoots commercial projects with them. Visit www.rvfilms.cat and Instagram: @marcsirisi.

It’s hard to describe what I like about vintage lenses, but when I shoot with them, I get the feeling that the pictures will be special in some way. Each lens offers something different: sometimes it’s unusual bokeh, sometimes it’s interesting colour tones, flare or contrast. Basically, it’s the joy of imperfection. As a portrait photographer, I feel that vintage lenses play a significant role in capturing the essence of a person. There is also a certain romance when you consider that you’re using a lens that is 30 years old or more and will have captured many moments and experiences over the years.

Going retro

My passion for photography only began a few years ago, but I was instantly drawn to the retro/film look – especially the bokeh. I was so used to seeing digital images that when I first saw the swirly bokeh and low contrast created by the Helios 44M 58mm it shocked me!
I knew I had to have one.

Growing a lens collection

The Helios was my first vintage lens. I now have eight more:

• Minolta MD Rokkor 45mm – lots of contrast and nervous bokeh
• Minolta MC Rokkor 55mm – very sharp, even wide open
• Minolta MC Rokkor-PG 58mm – optically very good with an almost creamy bokeh
• Minolta MC Tele Rokkor 135mm – sharp with good contrast
• Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 SSC – this was given to me by a relative, and I think it has some haze inside because the final image is too soft, so I’m saving it for a possible future project
• Canon FD 50mm – without haze! I like the contrast and colours of the FD series
• Canon FD 85mm f/1.2 L – my favourite
• Leica Macro Elmarit 60mm f/2.8 – which I bought a few days ago

The Canon FD 85mm f/1.2 L is attached to my camera most of the time – I love the IQ, sharpness, bokeh, colours, contrast and tones. My favourite combination of camera and lens is the Canon FD 85mm f/1.2 L with a Fujifilm GFX 50R.

Buyer advice

I buy most of my vintage lenses online from sites such as eBay and Wallapop. I like eBay because it’s reliable and you can find some rare lenses for sale. Wallapop is good because you can meet the owner and test the lens. Where possible, I’ll visit flea markets to get some good deals. When you’re buying a vintage lens, check that the aperture blades work properly, and look for fungus, haze and scratches, as well as checking the overall body condition.

Some old lenses are known to contain radioactive components, but I don’t have any of those. I have heard some people say the level of radioactivity is so small that it doesn’t pose a problem, and others who sound very alarmed by it. When you’re buying an adapter, read the reviews and make sure that it’s compatible with your camera. I bought a cheap adapter a while ago, and I had to keep tightening the screws – one day the lens almost fell on the floor.

Using a vintage lens

If you’re not used to shooting in manual, then using a vintage lens can be a challenge to start with. You have to accept (and embrace) imperfections. Vintage lenses encourage you to explore, and when I shoot, I’m not looking for a perfect image; my goal is to create a shot that gets the viewer’s attention and expresses an emotion.

Further reading

• Get great shots with vintage glass
• How to use classic lenses on modern cameras
• Vintage digital cameras you should actually buy
• How to focus manually

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