Have Camera Will Travel Update: March 16, 2025

Shooting photos with an action camera, photography news, new firmware updates, and dropping by the International Center of Photography

The Oculus in Lower Manhattan. Taken with an Insta360 Ace Pro 2 using the camera’s 50MP mode. Photograph by David Coleman.

All of the photos I’ve included today were taken in the past week, and all were taken with an Insta360 Ace Pro 2. A tiny action cam isn’t a typical choice for this type of photography, but I’ve said for a long time that I think action cams are an underappreciated fun alternative for “regular” photography (i.e., for those of us not hurtling down a mountain on a snowboard).

// Gear & Stuff

New firmware for the Nikon Z8

There's quite a lot new in C2.10. [Nikon]

New firmware for the Ricoh GR III and GR IIIx

Nothing specifically earth-shattering, but general improvements and improved stability in the way the camera works with SD cards are always welcome. [Ricoh]

DxO PureRAW 5 is coming soon

It's a major upgrade, now including local adjustments, upgraded DeepPRIME 3 algorithm, workflow upgrades, improved interface, processing presets, and better handing of Fujiffilm X-Trans RAW files.

It's available for preorder now and will be released on April 15. If you buy now, you'll get version 4 in the meantime and the automatically 5 when it's released. You can get it here. If you're a new customer, you can use this code for 15% off at checkout: PAR_457609675_25MCEO4UE6M2

If you’re shooting with a Canon EOS R Mark II, be careful with SanDisk SD cards

Some SanDisk Extreme Pro SDXC cards are incompatible with the Canon EOS R5 Mark II. Canon has warned that images might be corrupted. The cards would appear to meet the camera's spec requirements, but there is clearly some technical issue with these specific cards. If you have that combination, you can get a replacement from SanDisk under warranty. [Canon]

I’ve posted new Nikon Z 105mm ƒ/2.8 sample images

I’ve posted some sample images I’ve taken over the past year or so with the Nikon Z MC 105mm ƒ/2.8 S. Yes, it’s a 1:1 macro prime, but I really like how surprisingly versatile it is.

The Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC. Taken with an Insta360 Ace Pro 2 using the camera’s 50MP mode. Photograph by David Coleman.

// Hot Take Mini Reviews

• Nikon Z 14-24mm ƒ/2.8 S. I've recently replaced my F-mount version with the new Z-mount version.
  So far: loving it. It's slightly longer but also much lighter than the DSLR version. And loving the optical quality, which I find better than the F-mount version. No complaints so far.

• Insta360 Ace Pro 2. This action cam is a bit beefier than its GoPro and DJI competitors, and a key selling point is a Leica Super-Summarit-A lens. I’ve been shooting with it over the past couple of weeks.
  
  Likes: image quality in good lighting; 50-megapixel option.
  Not so much: Very slow in 50-megapixel mode; hit and miss in low light.

The historic Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan. It’s famous for several reasons, including: there’s been a church on this site since the late 1600s; the current version of the church was the tallest building in New York until 1890; and Alexander Hamilton is buried in its graveyard. Taken with an Insta360 Ace Pro 2 using the camera’s 50MP mode. Photograph by David Coleman.

// Other Stuff

Getty Images and Shutterstock are merging. Not shocking, especially in the face of the oncoming tsunami of on-demand AI imagery. [Getty Images]

Who did and did not take the famous Napalm Girl photo? That's the topic of the new documentary The Stringer. Spoiler alert: the film alleges that a Vietnamese stringer photographer took the photo and AP photographer Nick Út has falsely claimed credit (and a Pulitzer Prize) for the past 52 years. As you might imagine, it's causing more than a little controversy. [Daily Beast]

The story behind Ansel Adams's official presidential portrait of Jimmy Carter is fascinating. [Washington Post]

PTGUI can now work directly with RAW files and output as DNG. I’m finding this new feature really useful! [PTGui]

The US Copyright Office says that purely AI-generated art created purely from text prompts can't get copyright protection. And quite right, too. [US Copyright Office]

It's becoming harder and harder to find travel blogs you can trust. Here's a great explanation of what's happening, from Amanda at A Dangerous Business. [A Dangerous Business]

Some of the best photography magazine apps are no more. The big one is the Nat Geo App. You can still access content online at their website, but the app is no more. And N-Photo has ceased the subscription offering.

Bye Bye Skype. Microsoft is shutting down Skype. It used to be a really useful way to make cheap international calls. And I still remember how amazing it was to be able to make international video calls to the other side of the world. But that's old hat now, and there's better technology to do it. [BBC]

Why does Log video only use high ISOs? If you shoot video, I found this to be a really good explanation of why N-log ISOs don't seem to align with what you might expect. The gist: It's about digitally manipulating middle gray to allow for more detail to be captured in highlights. And it's a generally good thing. While it's using Nikon's N-log as the discussion point, it also applies to the log video when using cameras from other brands. [YouTube]

Has your Nikon Z8 stopped autofocusing? I was out shooting recently, and my Z8 suddenly switched to manual focus. In the cold, windy conditions on location, I couldn’t figure out how to get it back to autofocusing. The fix was really simple, but not before doing some online searches and finding that I wasn’t the only one it had happened to, but with a surprising dearth of solutions. So I wrote up the quick and simple solution that worked in my case. [Have Camera Will Travel]

The Oculus in Lower Manhattan. Taken with an Insta360 Ace Pro 2 using the camera’s 50MP mode. Photograph by David Coleman.

// What’s showing?

Basketball Courts in Hong Kong. Photographer Austin Bell has undertaken a fun and interesting project of aerial photographs of Hong Kong's outdoor basketball courts. The results are pretty surprising. [CNN]

// International Center of Photography

It had been many years since I’d been to the International Center of Photography. It was back when they were in their midtown location, and there was a really impressive exhibit of Helmut Newton’s work (which apparently dates my visit to around 2000 to 2001).

The new building in the Lower East Side is impressive, and if you’re in the neighborhood, it’s well worth a visit.

They currently have three main exhibits showing: American Job: 1940-2011, which is a large exhibit consisting of black-and-white photography from a range of photographers related to American labor over the past 80 years or so; New Archives in Recent Photography, which consists of new multimedia work with a general theme of memory and non-traditional archives; and Weegee: Society of the Spectacle, which brings together different elements of New York crime-scene photographer and, later, Hollywood celebrity photographer, Weegee.

I didn’t go in planning to take any photos. But I did have an Insta360 Ace Pro 2 in my pocket. So why not have some fun with it?

American Job: 1940-2011 photography exhibit at the International Center of Photography in Lower Manhattan. Taken with an Insta360 Ace Pro 2 using the camera’s 50MP mode. Photograph by David Coleman.

American Job photography exhibit at the International Center of Photography in Lower Manhattan. Taken with an Insta360 Ace Pro 2 using the camera’s 50MP mode. Photograph by David Coleman.

Weegee: Society of the Spectacle photography exhibit at the International Center of Photography in Lower Manhattan. Taken with an Insta360 Ace Pro 2 using the camera’s 50MP mode. Photograph by David Coleman.

American Job photography exhibit at the International Center of Photography in Lower Manhattan. This part focuses on the Long 1960s, and I was particularly struck by the small photos in the corner that these people are looking at. It includes several images of The March on Washington in 1963 that I hadn’t seen before, all taken by participants in the march, presented as not much more than a proof sheet. The “long” 1960s is a term that historian’s use to signify that the distinctive threads of that decade didn’t magically begin on January 1, 1960, and end of December 31, 1969, but should really be connected to the events and developments in the years before and after as well. Taken with an Insta360 Ace Pro 2 using the camera’s 50MP mode. Photograph by David Coleman.