The ThinkTank Retrospective 30 V2 is not a new product by any means, but it’s new to me. Earlier this year, I went looking for a camera bag to replace the one I had since high school and landed on the Retrospective 30; the largest option in ThinkTank’s well-known lineup of canvas shoulder camera bags.

While anyone can make a messenger bag with a few dividers and call it a day, it feels like this bag was really designed and refined by and for photographers. All its velcro flaps can be covered or tucked away to silence them if you don’t want to draw attention to yourself while shooting on the street or at an event like a wedding. The top can be zippered closed for maximum protection or left open to let you quickly access gear, and it has what I think is just the right ratio of open space to built-in organization.

Some of the velcro patches have covers to keep you from ruining a quiet moment by ripping them open. Photo: Mitchell Clark

There are also subtle touches that I’ve found really useful: one of the front pockets has a bright red fabric loop that I clip my keys to so I always know where they are, the water bottle pocket can be cinched tight when you’re not using it and there are plenty of places to hook carabiners onto if I need to hang additional gear on the outside of the bag.

I also just like how it looks. The olive green fabric matches the antique-looking metal hardware well.

My favorite thing about this bag, though, is that it’s monstrous. It’s the station wagon – nay, Honda Odyssey – of messenger-style camera bags. I’ve used it to carry two camera bodies, a few lenses, a 14-inch MacBook Pro, an iPad, and a bunch of other bits and bobs like a notebook, an army of SD cards, a Clif bar or two, power adapters and rain jacket. Is that a sign of overpacking? Perhaps, but it’s part of the job; I’m frequently testing out one camera for a review and using another to shoot a sample gallery of some variety.

It may look like there are three lensed cameras in here – a Nikon Z8, Canon EOS R7 and Panasonic S9 – but there are actually four; a Fujifilm X-M5 is hiding out in a compartment under the Z8’s grip. Photo: Mitchell Clark

Even when my camera load isn’t as heavy, I’ve found the Retrospective 30 useful as a commuter. I live in Spokane, Washington, but travel to DPReview’s offices in Seattle relatively frequently. Because I keep my entire photographic life in it – my SD cards, various cables, white balance cards and rolling shutter tester – I can just pick it up and go without having to run around making sure everything I’ll need for the next week is packed.

I took a bit of a chance buying this bag: DPReview was sending me to Japan as a freelancer to cover what ended up being the Panasonic S9 announcement, and I knew the Lowepro bag I’d gotten with my first camera in high school was on its very last legs. I hoped to turn reviewing cameras into my full-time job, but I wasn’t 100% sure I was cut out for it.

Me, very tired, returning home from Japan. Photo: Mitchell Clark

If it turned out I wasn’t, the 30 would be way larger than I’d ever need; my personal camera consists of a Fujifilm X-T3 and two lenses, which would get absolutely swallowed by this bag. But if I did end up at DPReview, I worried that a smaller bag might not be able to carry all the gear I assumed I’d be carting around.

I was also concerned about the price at the time: at $240, it’s far from the spendiest bag out there, but I still didn’t feel great telling my wife that I wanted to spend that much on anything when I’d been largely unemployed for the last year – I’d quit my job as a news writer at The Verge in April 2023 to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. I spent some time working at a ski shop after I got back and did various odd jobs, but it’d been a long time since I’d meaningfully contributed to our household’s budget.

But I went for it anyway; the prospect of going on a press trip and juggling cameras in a backpack that’s not at all designed for them seemed like a nightmare. And obviously, it worked out: I’m working at DPReview now, and am reminded pretty much every day that it was a good idea to get something with this much capacity.

Despite its carrying capacity, the Retrospective 30 is a reasonable size to carry around on a photo walk. Photo: Mitchell Clark

Of course, I have a few nitpicks. No bag is perfect, which is why the market for them is nearly infinite. I haven’t figured out a graceful way to attach a tripod to it, even one as small as the Peak Design Travel model, the main zipper can be a bit hard to start closing if it’s all the way open, and I needed a tutorial video to figure out how to use the included rain cover. I’d rather the bag’s top flap was made out of waterproof material, though the canvas alone has been enough to protect my gear through short walks in light rain – phew!

The bag can also rub a bit uncomfortably on my hip when it’s fully loaded, but I suspect that’s more of a limitation with the messenger bag form factor as a whole. Realistically, if you’re carrying over 7kg (15+lbs) of gear, you should be doing it on your back, not slung over one shoulder.

Despite my complaints, I still love this bag, and I suspect I’ll continue using it for years to come. The same’s true for the job, by the way – and if I’m lucky enough for that to happen, I’ll have the Retrospective 30 as a reminder of where it all began.

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Northern Lights Photographer of the Year winners

Capture the Atlas has announced the winners of its 2024 Northern Lights Photographer of the Year awards in the seventh edition of its annual photo contest.

This year was an exciting year for aurora photography – both the aurora borealis and the aurora australis – as we close in on the solar maximum of the current solar cycle. Throughout 2024, increased solar activity has resulted in aurora being visible further away from the poles than in recent years, which can be seen among the winners.

This year, the competition awarded 25 photos from photographers representing 15 nationalities. We’ve picked our ten favorite images from the set to share here.

Want to be ready to photograph the aurora if it suddenly becomes visible in your area? Read our article on how to photograph the northern lights to learn how.

Carpe Diem: Adrian Cormier

Photographer: Adrian Cormier

Location: Crater Lake National Park, USA

Caption: May 10, 2024, began like any other new moon cycle for me. I was shooting at one of my favorite spots along the Sonoma coastline. Around 2:30 a.m., I was surprised to feel my phone buzz with a notification, as my location had sporadic cell coverage. The alert was one I never expected—and will never forget! A fellow Sony Alpha photographer, who was in Nepal at the time, messaged me: “Get as far north as you can by sunset, it’s going down tonight!” A historic geomagnetic storm, possibly peaking at G5, was predicted.

I immediately drove home to grab my Atlas pack full of cold weather gear. My gut told me to head to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. Shortly into the drive, I learned the CLNP Rim Road was completely closed due to 7 feet of recent snowfall. Fortunately, I was prepared for deep snow conditions and pressed on.

Confident and armed with snowshoes, I settled on a spot along the South Rim, east of the Crater Lake Lodge, which was closed due to the extreme snow levels. My image, “Carpe Diem,” reflects the magnificent display of geomagnetic energy that weekend, set against the iconic and unforgettable alpine landscape.

Copyright Adrian Cormier

Looking North: Lynsey Schroeder

Photographer: Lynsey Schroeder

Location: Arizona, USA

Caption: It’s not every day that the Northern Lights make it as far south as Southern Arizona! I’ve been captivated by the aurora ever since I first saw it in Iceland in 2018, so when I heard there was a chance to witness it here, I didn’t hesitate to grab my gear and head into the desert with a couple of friends.

My expectations were low, but the show completely exceeded them! As soon as we stepped out of the car, we could clearly see a pink glow on the horizon, occasionally pulsing with shimmering pillars as the night went on. I achieved a photography goal I never imagined I’d accomplish: capturing the aurora shining over the beautiful saguaros of the Sonoran Desert.

Copyright Lynsey Schroeder

In the Rays of the Solar Wind: Sergey Korolev

Photographer: Sergey Korolev

Location: Rybachy Peninsula, Russia

Caption: After a melt, we had a flash freeze with extremely cold temperatures and a clear blue sky. I was driving by a ditch on the side of a road that had been filled with water and had to stop and look (as we photographers do, can’t pass a ditch without investigating). This is what I found. Great textures and patterns, tones and flow, with lovely graphic lines creating a dynamic, abstract designs. I love this type of work – it’s so much fun, yet challenging to find just the right composition.

Copyright Sergey Korolev

Magic of the North: Josh Beames

Photographer: Josh Beames

Location: Iceland

Caption: I’ve dreamed of capturing this shot for years, and this year, everything aligned perfectly! During my annual Iceland workshop, our group witnessed the sheer power of nature as Iceland’s most recent active volcano erupted just days before.

After spending hours shooting and soaking in the incredible scene, we started to wrap up and head back to the car. Then, to our amazement, the Northern Lights began dancing across the sky! I quickly launched the drone, sending it on a mission to capture this wild spectacle.

Navigating through the wind, heat, and low visibility surrounding the volcano, I managed to capture a vertical panorama just as the volcanic smoke and ash shifted to the side. Moments later, the dreaded battery warning sounded, and I began the tense journey back. By this point, the wind had really picked up, and I honestly thought the drone was a goner… but with only 1% battery left, it somehow limped back to safety!

Copyright Josh Beames

Devil’s Lights: Forest Barkdoll-Weil

Photographer: Forest Barkdoll-Weil

Location: Wyoming, USA

Caption: May 10, 2024: Aurora forecasts promised an incredible display, so I drove to Devils Tower, Wyoming, to witness the event. The solar storm delivered, reaching a historic KP9, with auroras visible worldwide. As the vibrant lights danced overhead, my father was undergoing emergency surgery two thousand miles away in Maine. It was a surreal night—awed by the celestial beauty above, yet grappling with worry for my dad.

The aurora offered a strange sense of comfort amidst the turmoil, grounding me in the moment as I captured this incredible phenomenon. My father, a photographer for over 50 years and the person who introduced me to this art, thankfully survived surgery and recovered after several days in the ICU. Although he missed this display, six months later, on October 10, we shared an even stronger solar storm together as a family—a memory I’ll always treasure.

Copyright Forest Barkdoll-Weil

Coronal Mass Eruption: Matt Haynie

Photographer: Matt Haynie

Location: California, USA

Caption: After finally capturing the elusive Northern Lights in mid-latitudes on May 10th, 2024, I was hooked. I realized there was more to predicting the aurora’s appearance than just relying on the KP forecast, so I learned how to read the charts that determine when the lights can reach mid-latitudes.

This photo is from the sixth time I’ve had the opportunity to capture them since that unforgettable night. Lassen Volcanic National Park, in Northern California, was the best option, as smoke and clouds threatened to obscure views in most nearby locations. I stayed on top of a ridge until 3 a.m., enduring frigid winds that cut through my layers, but witnessing two significant substorms made all the discomfort worthwhile.

Copyright Matt Haynie

Paddling Under the Aurora: Herry Himanshu

Photographer: Herry Himanshu

Location: Banff National Park, Canada

Caption: I live in Saskatchewan, Canada, so I’ve seen and captured the aurora hundreds of times before, but that night in Banff National Park, Alberta, was unlike any other.

As luck would have it, I was in Banff for a wedding that weekend when massive CMEs were predicted to hit Earth directly. As soon as it got dark, the aurora came out swinging, with vivid hues of reds, pinks, and purples dancing across the sky.

I had three camera setups running timelapses in different directions, but even that wasn’t enough. One brave friend took a standup paddleboard out on the lake and modeled for us beneath the insane light show. She was the perfect complement to the aurora and the mountainous landscape.

We were all in pure disbelief at the colors and patterns unfolding above us. Those shared moments of joy are what I’ll remember forever. I stayed up all night, driving hundreds of kilometers through Banff to iconic spots, capturing some of my best photos and timelapses ever.

Copyright Herry Himanshu

Cosmic Explosion: Uroš Fink

Photographer: Uroš Fink

Location: Istria, Croatia

Caption: On the night of the Perseid meteor shower, I was treated to a “multi-course menu” of the night sky. I captured the Milky Way arch with Orion, the Aurora (a first for me), the Zodiacal light, and the Perseid meteors. As if that wasn’t enough, the sky gifted me with one of the most stunning greenish airglows I’ve ever seen. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the close conjunction of Jupiter and Mars, right along the path of the Zodiacal light.

In the center of the panorama is the Cap Marlera lighthouse, built in 1880 at the southeastern tip of the Istrian Peninsula. The rugged coastline, at the entrance to Kvarner, attracts fish and dolphins. This area is also home to the Mediterranean bear, though I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting one.

Meteors rained down throughout the night, and I captured 75 of them using three cameras. I used the RegiStar software to seamlessly insert the meteors to the panorama in the exactly same spots as they appeared in the sky this night.
It was an extraordinary, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime event, and I’m grateful and happy to have been part of it.

Copyright Uroš Fink

Aurora Australis: Marc Adamus

Photographer: Marc Adamus

Location: Patagonia Fjords, Chile

Caption: I’m not sure if an aurora had ever been recorded in Patagonia before, but we got incredibly lucky on the night of May 10, 2024, when a G5 storm hit. We were camped on an iceberg beach, deep in the wilderness of the Patagonia Fjords, when the incredible display unfolded.

Copyright Marc Adamus

28° Aurora: Efrén Yanes

Photographer: Efrén Yanes

Location: Tenerife, Spain

Caption: The night of May 10th was one of the most unforgettable moments since I became a photographer. I went to Teide National Park in Tenerife with the intention of capturing a circumpolar shot with the endemic tajines in bloom. After setting up my camera and finding the perfect composition, I hit the shutter. To my surprise, the camera screen showed a strange red color on the horizon. It wasn’t light pollution, but something I had never seen before.

Suddenly, I remembered hearing about a recent large-magnitude solar storm and the possibility of Northern Lights at lower latitudes. My heart raced as I scrolled through social media and saw others sharing photos of the Aurora from the Iberian Peninsula. I realized I was witnessing this extraordinary event from the Canary Islands. It was a magical experience that happened entirely by chance, and I feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of it.

Copyright Efrén Yanes

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In the twenty-five years since DPReview was founded, camera companies have tried many things to differentiate their products from the competition. This was especially true for compact cameras, where manufacturers threw everything at the wall to see what stuck.

Here are six features camera makers tried that didn’t find long-term success.

Swiveling lenses

The legendary Nikon Coolpix 950 Photo: Jeff Keller

The Nikon Coolpix 950 was one of the most iconic cameras released in the late 1990s. While its features were top-end, it was the design that turned heads. The lens could rotate 270 degrees, so you could place the camera up high, on the ground, or even use it for – gasp – selfies. (The 950 wasn’t actually Nikon’s first swivel camera; that honor belongs to the Coolpix 900.)

Nikon wasn’t the only company in the swivel lens game. As we’ll see a bit later, Casio produced many cameras with them, including the QV-10A, the first consumer digital camera. Sony used the ‘inner swivel’ design on several cameras, such as the DSC-F88. (Sony’s DSC-F505 and successors had more of a ‘swivel body’ than a ‘swivel lens.’)

In my opinion, the coolest swivel lens camera was the Minolta DiMAGE V (not to be mistaken for the DiMAGE 5). While the photo above makes it look wireless, the camera and lens were attached by a ‘lens extension cable’. This was 1997, after all.

The swivel lens faded into obscurity as fully articulating LCDs became more common. It’s possible that weather sealing and durability also played a role in the swivel lens’ demise. It was while it lasted, though.

Jump Shot

Photo: iStock/Carles Iturbe Ferre

About 10-15 years ago, ‘jump shots’ like the one shown above were popular, especially with teens and young adults. Taking a jump photo wasn’t easy, though. You’d need to leave out someone in your group, use a tripod, or find a stranger with a good trigger finger.

The engineers at Panasonic developed a feature for its smartphone Image App known as Jump Snap that solves two of those problems. The app lets you adjust the ‘sensitivity’, and then it’s jumping time (with the phone in hand, of course). When the app notices the upward motion from the phone’s gyroscope, it snaps the picture right at the peak of the jump.

There was just one problem that Jump Snap didn’t solve: you still needed a tripod.

Casio’s bells and whistles

The Casio QV-7000SX had the company’s ‘famous’ rotating lens and IR blaster for sharing photos with a select number of cameras and printers. Photo: Digital Camera Museum/Boris Jakubaschk

I have a real soft spot for Casio. In fact, I wrote an article about the company. While it was a big seller in Japan, the brand never took off in the US. What made Casio cameras great was their selection of unique modes that you wouldn’t find elsewhere at the time.

“What made Casio cameras great was their selection of unique modes that you wouldn’t find elsewhere at the time.”

Take 1998’s Exilim QV-7000SX, for example. It had an infrared transmitter, the ability to create HTML photo albums, in-camera panorama stitching and dozens of scene modes. The QV-7000SX’s support for the IrDA infrared protocol allowed it to slowly send pictures to a very small collection of compatible devices, such as the Fujifilm Z20fd or Canon SELPHY photo printers.

The photo gallery created by some Casio cameras wasn’t pretty, but it was the first of its kind. And if I may, the car pictured in photo 08290008.JPG is the most beautiful of all time. Image: Jeff Keller/DCResource

The photo album feature was very handy since few people knew how to make an interactive gallery in the late 90s. (These galleries were made for viewing from your CF card, not online.) You could view slideshows, see larger versions of pictures, and examine Exif data.

The Coupling Shot feature lets you combine two separate photos into one. Images: Casio	It takes two photos and assists you in lining up the background, like in a panorama.

Moving on, one more Casio feature worth mentioning is its Best Shot (scene) modes. The cameras had at least thirty Best Shot modes, with some cameras having seventy more on an included CD-ROM – and you could create your own! Some of the notable Best Shot modes were autumn leaves, food, eBay, and business cards. There were also several multiple exposure modes, which allowed you to add people to photos, kind of like smartphones that came 20 years later.

The MP3 player

The Fujifilm Finepix 40i with its wired remote and earbuds. Photo: DPReview

Portable music players, along with music ‘sharing’ services like Napster, gained popularity around the turn of the century. While the first iPod wouldn’t ship until 2001, camera manufacturers were already at it, like Fujifilm. The FinePix 40i shown above had a slick design and compact body but was limited by a fixed 36mm lens, a so-so SuperCCD sensor, and a hefty price tag. Music was loaded onto the camera’s SmartMedia card via proprietary software.

The Kodak mc3 is a very mediocre camera and mp3 player in one. Original image source unknown

To the best of my knowledge, there was only one camera I never reviewed due to its quality, and it was the Kodak mc3. While it was a fairly capable music player, the camera side was so bad that I couldn’t bring myself to invest the time raking Kodak over the coals.

The mc3 was a plastic camera with a fixed 37mm-equivalent F2.8 lens and a reflective LCD that could only be seen in bright outdoor light (Kodak wasn’t the only one to do this). It captured VGA-sized photos and QVGA videos with monaural sound. It lacked a remote control, so you’d have to use the hard-to-view screen to change songs. The only nice thing I can say is that it was relatively inexpensive at $299.

MP3 cameras didn’t last long, as the iPod and cheap knockoffs let cameras be cameras again.

Printer docks

One of Kodak’s many printer docks (camera usually not included). Photo: Kodak

Printer docks were accessories that I genuinely wanted to succeed. For families and older folks, they were incredibly convenient, though expensive to operate. Just pop the camera on top, pick the photo(s) you want to print using the topside controls, and let the printer do its thing for a few minutes. It could also charge the batteries in your camera.

The most famous manufacturer of printer docks was Kodak by a long shot. Kodak used dye sublimation thermal printing, and a pack of 20 sheets (the ink was ‘inside’ the paper) set you back around $15. Kodak’s printers could crank out a 4×6 print in 60-90 seconds, charge your camera’s batteries, and let you view your photos on TV.

HP’s Photosmart A447 camera on its printer dock Photo: HP

The HP pictured above could output 4×6 or 4×12-inch (panoramic) prints and used a tri-color ink cartridge (yep, no black ink). It had a button for redeye removal, which got rid of the annoyance that was common on compact cameras.

Unlike the other products in this article, the printer dock didn’t die; it just adapted to the times. Kodak, Canon, HP, and Fujifilm all make compact photo printers designed for use with smartphones. The difference is how you connect; instead of putting the camera on a dock, it’s all done wirelessly using Bluetooth.

A Fujifilm Instax Link Wide wireless photo printer. In this case, ‘wide’ means 6.1 x 9.9 cm (2.4 by 3.9 inches). Image: Fujifilm

Instant printers like Fujifilm’s Instax lineup produce card-sized, square, and wide prints, often with special effects and templates. Unlike the printer docks that use ink or dye sublimation, Instax printers work like old Polaroid instant film, so it takes a little while for your print to appear.

Android cameras

It’s 2013, and smartphone sales are taking off while consumers are starting to lose interest in compact cameras. Nikon, Samsung and even Zeiss tried giving people the best of both worlds: the ease of use and large app library of Android with photo capabilities that smartphones could not yet match.

Nikon was first out of the gate with its Coolpix 800c, which ran a version of Android (v2.3) that was already out of date. It had a 16 Megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, 10X optical zoom (25-250mm equiv.), 2GB of internal storage and a giant 3.5″ touchscreen to take advantage of Android. It had an SD card slot and a removable battery. Since battery life was dismal, having a spare on hand was a necessity.

“While a clever idea, the Coolpix 800c was not a great product.”

Aside from being unable to make calls, you could use the 800c just as you would a smartphone and nearly every Android app was at your disposal. Who knew that one day, you could e-mail your friends or browse DPReview from your camera?

While a clever idea, the Coolpix 800c was not a great product. The photo quality was lousy, it took 30 seconds to start up, it was buggy, etc. This was the last camera review I wrote for my website, DCResource. What a way to go out.

The Samsung Galaxy Camera with its 4.8″ touchscreen running Android 4. Photo: Samsung

If there was one company that should have been able to do Android cameras right, it was Samsung. It actually made two Android cameras at the opposing sides of the spectrum: the compact Galaxy Camera pictured above and the Galaxy NX, a mirrorless camera that used Samsung’s NX-mount (RIP).

The Galaxy Camera (GC) was based on Samsung’s Galaxy S III smartphone and came in two flavors: Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G/4G. Unlike the Coolpix 800c, the Galaxy Camera ran a much more modern version of Android (v4.1), and it had plenty of horsepower courtesy of a quad-core processor. It couldn’t make calls, but there was nothing to stop you from using something like Skype to chat with friends.

“If there was one company that should have been able to do Android cameras right, it was Samsung.”

Like the Nikon, the GC had a 16 Megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, but the lens was longer at 23-481mm equiv. It had a giant 4.8″ touchscreen display, making it a lot more usable than the Coolpix. As with that camera, the GC could run virtually any Android app. Samsung included three of its own for photo and video editing.

The Galaxy Camera had a slick shooting interface with virtual dials.

The Galaxy Camera was the better of the two compact Android cameras. Image quality wasn’t great, but it was more responsive, battery life was much longer, and the 3G/4G option made it usable from anywhere.

The GC apparently sold well enough for Samsung to make a sequel. The Galaxy Camera 2 had a faster processor, more RAM, NFC, and a higher-capacity battery.

Samsung exited the digital camera business in 2015, taking with it the two Galaxy Cameras and the Galaxy NX. The company sold 320 million smartphones that year.

The $6000, Android-powered Zeiss ZX1 came with Adobe Lightroom built-in. You could even use it to surf the internet. Photo: Dan Bracaglia

On the other end of the spectrum was the Zeiss ZX1. It was introduced in 2018 but didn’t actually ship until the end of 2020. As you’d expect it was extraordinarily expensive ($6000) and everything was high end. It had a 37 Megapixel full-frame sensor, 35mm F2 lens, large LCD, hybrid autofocus system, and top-notch build quality. Perhaps the most interesting feature about the ZX1 is that it had Adobe Lightroom Mobile built-in. The ZX1 was unable to download other Android apps, though the target audience probably didn’t mind.

Can you think of any features from compact, DSLR or mirrorless cameras that didn’t survive beyond a generation or two? Let us know in the comments below.

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