Way back in 2016, we featured a nifty Kickstarter for a kit that converted a regular bicycle into a front-loader cargo hauler in double quick time. Now the company has announced an updated version called the Argo Fy.
Tags: Conversion, Bikes, ebikes, cargo bike
While we've known for some time that obesity affects the brain, scientists have found that, more importantly, it's where you carry it that matters. And it's the deep visceral fat around organs that has the biggest impact on aging your brain, affecting areas of reasoning, memory and processing speed.
Category: Obesity, Illnesses and conditions, Body and Mind
Tags: Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Obesity, Brain, Cognitive functioning, Brown fat, Diet, Aging
The theme for our September Editors' photo challenge was "Pixels in your pocket."
We asked you to share images captured with the camera that's always with you: your smartphone, and the photographers who submitted photos clearly didn't "phone it in." Capturing everything from misty seasides to towering cliffs, in vibrant color and stark black and white, and from far corners of the globe, you proved that small sensors can tell big stories.
As usual, we were overwhelmed with great pictures – many more than we can present here. Our favorites, showcasing a diverse range of vision and talent, are presented in random order.
Thanks to everyone who participated in this photo challenge. If you want to participate in other photo challenges, visit our Challenges page to see currently open or upcoming challenges, or to vote in a recently closed challenge.
Picos cloudsPhotographer: Jswell
Photographer's statement: This photo was taken while guiding a climb on Picos Urriellu in Picos de Europa National Park, Spain, on a post-storm morning – a combination of circumstance and position.
Equipment: Apple iPhone 16 Pro
Painting with lightPhotographer: DerGatekeeper
Photographer's statement: At the “Zeche Zollverein” in Essen, Germany, there is a closed coal mine. The mining buildings are converted into a kind of industrial museum. The stairs have been illuminated with special lights, giving the scene an impression of being not of this world.
Equipment: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
The way upPhotographer: jaggedhorizon
Photographer's statement: I love skiing and skitouring just as much as I love photography. And the best thing is, being far away from the beaten path in the mountains, I can combine both, whether I carry a camera or a phone. I loved the simplicity of this image showing “skin tracks” and in the background, the Aiguille Rouge, near Arolla in Switzerland.
Equipment: Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
Balloons over MyanmarPhotographer: light_reaction
Photographer's statement: This photo was taken while soaring above Bagan, Myanmar. This moment was guided by a UK army veteran piloting our balloon – a tradition in Bagan where British and international pilots work alongside local crews. Ballooning here is more than a visitor’s thrill: it’s a source of pride and support for the local community, with companies employing hundreds of locals and funding projects in education, health, and heritage conservation, ensuring that the ancient temples continue to inspire and sustain those who call Bagan home.
Equipment: Apple iPhone 8
Spiral spiralPhotographer: fatplanediaries
Photographer's statement: I spent a summer with family in Europe. At the time, I only brought a prime for my camera, so I ended up using my Samsung for all other focal lengths. My camera ended up becoming my B cam, as I enjoyed smartphone photography quite a bit that vacation.
Equipment: Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus
Blue is the colorPhotographer: Briminkie
Photographer's statement: Breakfast in a Broadstairs hotel on a lovely September day. The man in the cap blended nicely into the frame, and all of a sudden, there was a David Hockney vibe.
Equipment: Google Pixel Fold
Vorderer Gosausee (Front Gosau Lake)Photographer: supernaut
Photographer's statement: One stop to rest on a long mountain bike ride. This place is really a spot of beauty and helped to regenerate strength for the upcoming challenge.
Equipment: Google Pixel 9 Pro
Nakasendo phone boothPhotographer: slowscan
Photographer's statement: A solitary phone booth lights up a small section of the old Nakasendo, a historical road of 500 km between Tokyo and Kyoto, which passes through the mountains of Japan's interior. I took this photo while walking between Kiso-Fukushima and Agematsu, two towns that operated inns for travelers of this road in the Edo period.
Equipment: Apple iPhone 15 Pro
Picking up the moonPhotographer: Alisher Kabulov
Photographer's statement: This photo of a lone stork was taken in a half-abandoned village in Belarus. Admiring the sunset, the stork had no idea it had become a character in a tale of the stolen moon.
Equipment: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
TiltPhotographer: WarthFire GTX
Photographer's statement: There's a hill that I always climb during my lunch break, and I observed this condo and a tree on the hill. I just tilted the phone sideways so the tree appeared straight, and the condo tilted, to get this shot.
Equipment: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Værøy, NorwayPhotographer: Markku H
Photographer's statement: This place is the Håen viewpoint on the island of Værøy in Norway. It is 438m above sea level. It had just snowed when we hiked to the viewpoint, which also made the place slippery and a bit scary.
Equipment: Samsung S25 Ultra
Breaking wavesPhotographer: GeffBourke
Photographer's statement: This photo was taken in the early morning along the shoreline at Pacific Grove, CA. A storm was coming in, and the waves were magnificent, crashing onto the rocks.
Equipment: Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Frozen notes, SalidaPhotographer: jaberg
Photographer's statement: "Frozen notes Salida" was made as my friend Lucy and I walked the town (Salida, CO) on a day that suddenly turned cold. Our newly purchased Melenzana jackets were conveniently stowed in the trunk of the car, and we were somewhat underdressed. Lucy, Minnesota born and bred, and an artist in her own right, shivered patiently as I worked the scene and ultimately composed this shot, bolstered by the promise of a warming stop in a local microbrewery as our next stop. There, with an eye to the incoming weather, we decided to stay the night in Salida.
Equipment: Apple iPhone XS
Milky Way over Monument Valley, ArizonaPhotographer: philzucker
Photographer's statement: I stumbled out of my RV at around half past four in the morning at a campground in Monument Valley, Arizona, in May of 2024. We were scheduled to go for a sunrise tour. Looking up at the dark sky, I was suddenly wide awake; I saw the Milky Way for the first time in my life with my naked eye! I ran back inside my RV, grabbed my phone tripod, and made a couple of 4-minute astro mode exposures with my Google Pixel 7 Pro. This one came out the best, and only looking at the picture later, I realized that the rising sun showed its first dim rays exactly where the Milky Way rose. I have a large print of it hanging in my office.
Equipment: Google Pixel 7 Pro
Milwaukee Art MuseumPhotographer: Mike Zweyer
Photographer's statement: I took this picture with a Motorola G4 in 2017. I didn't have a camera at the time, but I was always interested in photography. It all seemed so complex and complicated then, so I used my phone. I got a Fujifilm X10 camera not long after.
Equipment: Motorola G4
Chasing soap bubblesPhotographer: GiorgioDC
Photographer's statement: It was January 6, 2020, Epiphany, a beloved children's holiday in Italy, especially in Rome. I was in Piazza del Popolo with my three-year-old niece, who stopped, fascinated by the soap bubbles, trying to catch them. I was careful to hide the sun behind the obelisk and took the backlit photo.
Equipment: Apple iPhone 11
Alcedo atthiPhotographer: GinoSVK
Photographer's statement: “Rybárik” (a diminutive of fisherman), as we call it here in Slovakia, is returning to our natural landscapes nowadays. Fortunately, Rivers are cleaner, and awareness about preserving untouched riverbanks is growing. This particular photo was captured on the river Váh, which is the longest river in Slovakia and also the one that flows entirely within our national borders. Not long ago, I spotted another specimen deeper in the woods, beside a very small stream, likely thanks to the beaver colony there.
Equipment: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
DinerPhotographer: Larry_T
Photographer's statement: I visit this diner often and had this photo in mind, sitting at the end of the counter. I used my iPhone 15 and took about 10 shots looking down the counter. The woman looking back at her friend breaks up the leading line of customers facing forward. I was fortunate to capture her eyes and expression.
Equipment: Apple iPhone 15
Pastel sunsetPhotographer: Doc Hathaway
Photographer's statement: My wife and I were camping at Southwick on Lake Ontario and took a walk to the beach to enjoy the evening. Clouds were pretty thick on the horizon, so I didn't expect a great sunset, but they started to thin a bit as the sun was crossing the horizon.
Equipment: Samsung S23 Ultra
Carefree butterfliesPhotographer: Frenchfx
Photographer's statement: I went fishing at this Bernheim Forest, Kentucky lake. I wasn't having any luck, then I saw these two butterflies hanging around this bush. I pulled out my Samsung S24 phone and had great luck. They didn't pay any attention to me at all. I walked right up to them, and they remained there flying all around the bush. The phone did a great job of freezing the action, too.
Equipment: Samsung S24
You can forget the “no screens, no exercise, no snacks” bedtime rules that are designed to provide teens with good sleep. New research shows that almost all teens break them – and they still sleep just fine.
Category: Wellness and Healthy Living, Body and Mind
Tags: Sleep, Teenagers, Screen, Exercise, Food, University of Otago
The Jeep Wrangler has always been the SUV equivalent of a pair of hiking boots: loud, clunky, and uncomfortable on the sidewalk, but the benchmark for off-road once off the pavement. The 2025 Wrangler Rubicon 4xe adds an electric motor to the mix, which has some surprising benefits.
Category: Automotive, Transport
Tags: Jeep, Plug-in Hybrid, Reviews
Out of the Big 3 US automakers, "Chrysler" is definitely the name that doesn't belong in a conversation about RVs and overland campers. Its siblings Jeep and Ram, sure, and competitors Ford and GM both offer RV-ready trucks and vans, but the actual Chrysler badge? No. That said, Chrysler was the one to introduce a new concept camper van at this year's Overland Expo Mountain West. The Grizzly Peak is a vision for a ruggedized everyday MPV that's as ready to camp on a remote canyon rim as it is to shuffle the kids off to baseball practice and dance lessons.
Category: Campervans, Adventure Vehicles, Outdoors
Tags: Campervan, mini-campervan, RV, Overland Expo, Chrysler, Off-road, Outdoors and Camping, Camping
Scientists have shown that far-UVC lights, which are already commercially available, can rapidly break down common airborne allergens, offering a safe and fast new way to ease asthma and allergy triggers indoors.
Category: Wellness and Healthy Living, Body and Mind
Tags: Allergies, Airborne, UV light, antibodies, University of Colorado
An existing transplant drug has shown promise in slowing the progression of type 1 diabetes in newly diagnosed young people, potentially paving the way for the first therapy that modifies the disease after diagnosis.
Category: Illnesses and conditions, Body and Mind
Tags: Type 1 diabetes, Diabetes, clinical trials, The Immune System, UZ Leuven
In a demonstration not so much of marksmanship but more of the advantages of microwaves, an Epirus Leonidas directed energy, high-power microwave (HPM) anti-drone weapon has knocked 49 Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAV) out of the air with one shot.
Category: Military, Technology
Tags: drones, microwave, Directed Energy Weapon
Soccer heading has long been suspected of impacting brain health, but exactly where and how it leaves a mark has been a blind spot. Now, for the first time, scientists have a clear picture of the damage and why the zone of impact contributes to issues with learning and problem-solving over time.
Category: Brain Health, Body and Mind
Tags: Columbia University, Sport, Traumatic Brain Injury, Brain, MRI, scanning, Cognitive functioning, Memory, Athlete
Ricoh GR IV | F2.8 | 1/60 sec | ISO 800 | Out-of-camera JPEG, Std. color mode
Photo: Mitchell Clark
Earlier this week, we published our review of the Ricoh GR IV, a photographer's compact camera with an APS-C sensor. Alongside it, we uploaded a brand new sample gallery full of the images we'd taken during the review process.
That gallery is in addition to the one we posted shortly after we received the camera, which you can also view below. With this one, we made sure to include a few more examples taken using the camera's various color modes. There's also a wider variety of lighting situations and locations, as we took the camera to a few urban environments where it was more at home.
Buy now:
Buy at Amazon.comBuy at AdoramaBuy at B&H Photo Review samplesPlease do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter/magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing; we do so in good faith, so please don't abuse it.
Sample galleryThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Click here to open it in a new browser window / tab. Initial samples Sample galleryThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Click here to open it in a new browser window / tab.When TTartisan announced its AF 40mm F2 lens last month, the company teased that it would be available for L mount "soon." It seems like the wait is over, as the lens has now popped up on the company's site.
It's a particularly exciting option for L mount, as it's relatively light and compact for a fast, full-frame normal prime. It weighs around 167g (5.9oz) and is 44mm (1.7") long. That could make it a good fit for, say, the Panasonic S9, which could definitely benefit from a compact lens, especially one with an aperture control ring.
This is the company's second autofocus lens for L mount, following the 75mm F2 it released earlier this year. While it appears to be broadly compatible with cameras from Panasonic, Sigma and Leica, the company's site notes that it "does not currently support Leica SL3-S and SL3," though it doesn't explain why. While we don't suspect that many people are sticking a $170 lens on their $7500 camera, it does seem like an odd limitation.
The TTartisan AF 40mm F2 for L mount is available on the company's site and on Amazon. It's also available for Nikon Z mount and Sony E mount.
TTartisan AF 40mm F2 specificationsDriving 1,000 miles (1,609 km) of public road to set five official production car lap records in five consecutive days is no small feat – especially not for a car built with 3D-printed and machine-designed components. The Czinger 21C has just set a new benchmark for hypercar performance and endurance.
Category: Automotive, Transport
Tags: Czinger, Hypercar, 3D Printing, World Records, Racing, Endurance Racing, Record
What will the Royal Navy's amphibious strike force of the future look like? Design consultancy BMT Group has its own answer as it unveils Ellida Strike concept multi-role strike vessel designed to put combat troops ashore without port facilities.
Category: Military, Technology
Tags: Royal Navy, Ships
Western Wyoming is beautiful in the fall. With trees beginning to change, sunsets getting more spectacular, and animals beginning to migrate, there’s a lot going on. And I got to glide through it all silently on the back of an electric ATV.
Category: Outdoors
Tags: Can-Am, ATV, Electric Vehicles, Reviews
Precision milling has always been locked behind a "members only" sign – giant machines that take up massive warehouse space, cost more than your first car, and hum like an old air compressor 24 hours a day. For the average guy with big ideas, it's a sort of cruel joke: sure, you can design a million-dollar idea, but actually being able to make it? Now you have to hire a product development firm.
Category: Around The Home, Lifestyle
Tags: CNC, Kickstarter, Tools, Machine
Composting toilets are a great idea, but no one likes to think of the waste just sitting there and slowly … fermenting. A new eco-friendly toilet gets around that problem by using mushrooms to facilitate the composting process, plus it requires no water or electricity to do the job.
Category: Environment, Science
Tags: University of British Columbia, Toilet, Compost, Mushrooms, Waste
For the past eight years, Canadian electric powersports brand Taiga has been slowly building out a lineup of all-electric personal watercraft (PWC) and snowmobiles. Now it's getting a little more ambitious with a larger, more versatile on-water adventure machine that can seat up to three people.
Category: Boats and Watersports, Toys, Outdoors
Tags: Jetski, PWC, Electric Boats, Electric Vehicles
When a tough case just won't cut the mustard, rugged phones step up as the everyday companion for rough-and ready adventurers. Unihertz sub-brand 8849 has just unveiled what it's calling the "world's first rugged phone with 200-m dual flashlights."
Category: Outdoors
Tags: smartphones, Rugged, Flashlights
Panasonic Lumix 100-500mm F5-7.1 OIS @ 500mm | ISO 1600 | 1/640 | F7.1
Processed with Capture One
Photo: Richard Butler
The Panasonic Lumix S 100-500mm F5-7.1 OIS is a relatively affordable new tele-zoom for L-mount cameras. We've borrowed a sample and had an opportunity to shoot a handful of samples with it at the local nature reserve.
Sadly there weren't many interesting birds around and the time we were able to visit, so we've ended up mainly with pictures of our favorite fallback waterfowl: ducks. There was a Belted Kingfisher, surveying the scene, but he seemed determined to only perch too far away to be photographed, even with the 1000mm reach of the new lens and a 2.0x teleconverter.
At 1285g, excluding the tripod foot, we found the 100-500mm to be pretty easy to hand-hold, and we probably would have been better off leaving the tripod foot at home. Panasonic gives a figure of 7.0EV of stabilization for the lens when combined with a Dual IS 2-compatible body, and we found it could be very stable. At the longer focal lengths, it's definitely worth setting the stabilization to 'Always' on, rather than 'On half-press' as you'll really need the stabilization to be working while you frame your shot.
We found it pretty easy to handhold, and we probably would have been better off leaving the tripod foot at homeThe zoom ring is large and positioned so that the balancing point of the lens remains approximately within its limits, even when at 500mm, so you won't find yourself having to shift your hand further forward to full reach. It has a more than 90 degree throw, meaning you get quite subtle control over focal length, but you'll probably need to plan your starting hand position carefully if you want be able to extend all the way through the zoom range in a single pull.
There's a tension adjuster for the zoom ring, letting you determine how readily the zoom ring moves, but on our pre-production unit, the difference was pretty subtle.
Buy now:
$2099 at Amazon.comBuy at AdoramaBuy at B&H Photo 2.0x teleconverterWe also shot it with the 2.0x teleconverter and have included a few examples. Before you attach a teleconverter, it's worth pushing the "Zoom Limit" switch into the On position. That way, once you extend the lens beyond its 150mm focal length, it won't then retract back any further than that point: preventing you from smashing the rear element of the lens into the TC.
It's worth noting that, while you can engage the Zoom Limit at any focal length, it doesn't like to disengage when the lens is set to 150mm, so you'll need to zoom in a little, to get the catch to release.
A 2.0x teleconverter takes the maximum aperture at full zoom down to F14, which can be a bit of a challenge, even in bright light, and in our samples it does rather unpleasant things to the bokeh. We found our S1R II remained at F14 (rather than its 'wide-open' setting), if you take the teleconverter off, so it's worth paying attention to this, if you're swapping it on and off a lot.
Still, even though 1000mm still wasn't enough to get a good shot of the elusive Kingfisher, we did appreciate that this is one of the more affordable ways to get so much reach on such a large sensor.
Panasonic Lumix S 100-500mm F5-7.1 sample galleryPlease do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter/magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing (in conjunction with this review); we do so in good faith, so please don't abuse it.
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