Gear of the Month | July 2023

After a June that was mostly lenses, lenses, lenses, in July we’ve seen an intriguing range of new photo gear hit the market. Sony has – at long last – taken the wraps off a new entry in its A6000 series of APS-C mirrorless cameras. This one promises to combine the best of not only that series, but also the full-frame A7 line and the ZV vlogging cameras. 

Elsewhere, we’ve got a shiny new Air drone from DJI to play with, and there’s a lot for studio photographers to get excited about as Profoto releases a rack of lighting accessories, and both Phottix and Zhiyun debut new LED tube lights. 

Don’t worry – we’ve got the essential bits you need to know right here. Read on as we count off the best photo and video gear released in July.

It’s the first new camera we’ve seen in the A6X00 series in almost four years – and Sony has come back swinging. This mirrorless model resembles all previous entries in the series, pairing an APS-C sensor with a nice svelte body, however it packs in a raft of up-to-the-minute technological features, showing off just how far camera tech has come since 2019.

Probably the headline feature is the AI-powered processing unit that enables the A6700 to take advantage of the past couple of years’ hottest new feature – subject-recognition autofocus. A6X00 cameras have always been known for their snappy autofocus, but the A6700 takes it to a new level with a dedicated AI processing unit that can recognise humans, animals, birds, trains and insects. It also combines brilliantly with Sony’s famous Eye AF, and can analyse a subject’s pose to ensure pin-point focus is held on their eyes. 

Underpinning this camera is a 26MP Exmor R CMOS sensor, as well as the BionZ XR Processing Engine that delivers up to 11fps speed-shooting. The 5-axis optical image stabilisation also gives you a 5-stop exposure advantage. Video shooters aren’t forgotten about – the A6700 produces 4K video downsampled from 6K at up to 30p. There’s also Sony’s cinematic picture profiles on board, and even AI-powered auto framing!

The A6700 can be picked up body-only, or in bundles with Sony’s 16-50mm Power Zoom lens or its 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 OSS lens. Wex ambassador Ron Timehin has already taken the A6700 out for a spin on our YouTube channel – you can find out what he thought of it in the video below, and also get a glimpse of the next product on our list…

A welcome refresh of a much-loved lens, the Sony FE 70-200mm f4 G OSS II comes with improved sharpness in the corners of its images, even at wider apertures. It can also focus much closer than the previous version, with a minimum distance of 0.26-0.42m across its zoom range. It delivers 0.5x magnification throughout its zoom range, which makes it a pretty credible macro lens, and you can up this to 1.0x magnification by using Sony’s 2x teleconverter.

This fantastic new drone from DJI was probably one of the industry’s worst-kept secrets, but we’re glad to see it arrive, out and proud, in July. With a design resembling the Mavic 3 and Mavic 3 Pro, the DJI Air 3 brings a dual-camera setup, 4K 60p HDR video, 46-minute flight times and next-generation wireless video transmission with 20km range.

The camera setup should have any aerial photography or videography enthusiast salivating. Two 1/1.3-inch CMOS sensor cameras with 48MP of resolution, and 24mm and 70mm focal lengths with f1.4 and f2.8 apertures respectively. Capable of producing beautiful, crisp images, these cameras can also capture 2.7K vertical content for easy sharing to mobile platforms (well, TikTok. We can just admit it’s TikTok). 

Also available in the customary Fly More combo with additional propellers and batteries, the DJI Air 3 is a hugely exciting and welcome addition to the DJI aerial stable.

These high-quality reflector kits are designed for professionals who need the best from their lighting. Profoto’s Soft Zoom Reflector is designed to let you modify light to exactly the intensity you want it, with a Zoom Rod that allows you to make precise adjustments to the look of the scene, centimetre by centimetre. The two sizing options are 120cm and 180cm.

These diffusers are compatible with the Soft Zoom Reflectors above, designed to form part of a comprehensive lighting setup. Attach the Soft Zoom Diffuser to the light modifier and bingo – you’ve got yourself a smoother, more mellow and flattering light. The diffuser can also function like a neutral density filter, reducing the level of light that’s let in to enable longer exposures and lower apertures.

The Soft Zoom Softgrid is another way to get a direct but soft source of light for portraiture. Reducing the light beam spread by 50°, it produces a lovely soft falloff, which is also great for introducing dramatic lighting effects to your images. Velcro straps make the grid easy to attach, and it can be folded down to a small size for easy transport.

A budget-friendly tube light, the Phottix T200R RGB LED is fantastic for DIY photo and video shoots alike – it could be a useful tool to have in your back pocket (figuratively) for music videos. It offers a 2500-9500K colour temperature range, as well as 360° hue and saturation adjustment, and the long battery life means you can run it for up to 115 minutes at full power.

These portable LED tubes are a little more up-market than the Phottix, designed for content creators who want a versatile and portable lighting solution to do a bit of everything with. The MAX mode on the V60 gives off 100W of light, and it also offers a raft of presets and music modes for when you need to create a bit of atmos in a hurry. The “Combo” version is the same tube, just bundled with a tasty selection of accessories. 

This portable COB (chip-on-board) light could be just the thing you need on your location shoots. Like the Zhiyun tubes, it comes loaded with lots of presets and music modes. Also, with the standard reflector accessory, you can get up to an impressive brightness of 85800 Lux. This time, MAX mode goes up to 300W, and there are built-in colour adjustment presets to help simplify your workflow.