Features

PetaPixel's Features are in-depth, heavily researched stories designed to answer the most important questions on a topic. Where we flex our journalistic muscle, expect to find the best storytelling and original reporting the photo industry offers.
A woman with star-spangled Minnie Mouse ears sits on a bus looking at her phone. Next to her, two children in a stroller wear matching red Mickey Mouse family shirts, alongside adults wearing similar themed shirts.

The Happiest Place: Memories and Reality at an American Amusement Park

My good friend, the oldfangled film photographer Elizabeth Nahum-Albright, was recently tasked with a common problem: the disposition of her newly dead father. His most urgent demands were clear: he was to be cremated and placed, like all of his cats, into a cookie jar.

A three-panel image: left, a man praying in church; center, the body of a flamingo without its head, standing on sand; right, a man with a mustache and curly hair smoking in a diner, wearing a denim vest.

AI Images in 2024: Photography Strikes Back

At the end of 2023 it was beginning to look like AI images -- a new and novel way of producing pictures -- were an existential threat to photography. By the end of 2024, that threat had been extinguished somewhat.

A collection of Nikon cameras and lenses against a starry background. Two cameras and three lenses are displayed, highlighting camera models and lens details.

Nikon in 2024: Z6 III and RED Acquisition Bolster Slower Year

After a torrid pace in 2023, during which time Nikon launched a pair of cameras and nine all-new lenses, the company slowed a bit this year, releasing just two new cameras and three lenses. Nonetheless, it was a strong year for the Japanese company and one that helped Nikon continue to claw back market share in the mirrorless era. Plus, Nikon bought RED, so there's that.

Two Lumix cameras and a Lumix lens on a vibrant red galaxy background with stars.

Panasonic in 2024: A Little Bit of Everything

Two companies are actively developing products for two distinct camera systems: Fujifilm and Panasonic. In Fujifilm's case, it's the APS-C X Series and the medium-format GFX System. For Panasonic, it's the Micro Four Thirds platform and the L-Mount system, which includes full-frame mirrorless cameras and lenses. We'll look at Fujifilm next week, but for now, the attention is on Panasonic and its rather interesting (and diverse) year of product launches.

A vintage Pentax camera is centered between a roll of Adox Color Mission film and a black XH-2 device. The background features a colorful gradient within a filmstrip frame.

Analog Photography in 2024: Film’s Best Year in Decades

Film has long been considered a dying art since the rise of digital photography, with what seemed like nothing but bad news for many years. 2024, though, saw a welcomed resurgence of this analog medium. It has been a busy and fantastic year for analog photography.