*The OM System PEN is a compact, Micro Four Thirds camera built around a 20MP sensor and aimed at travel and everyday use.*

Month of September 2026

September was a month of old names being handled with care and, in a couple of cases, quietly put down. OM System revived the PEN, Ricoh announced the end of its current Pentax DSLRs, and Adobe finished buying Topaz Labs. Telephoto lenses got lighter, Kodak film got cheaper in the UK, and the nature-photography prizes arrived on schedule, a few weeks ahead of the Natural History Museum's big night.

Gear, Glass & Light

Pentax puts down the DSLR

Ricoh Imaging's statement, dated 9 September on its Japanese site, says production of the current K-series digital SLRs will end. It names no models, gives no date, and says nothing about service or support. It also says Ricoh is developing a new series of digital SLRs "based on an entirely new concept", drawing on more than half a century of K-mount history, and that this will take time. DPReview reads it in much the same way. Digital Camera World calls Pentax the last DSLR-focused brand, which makes the timing awkward: the company has closed a door and described the frame in some detail without saying what is behind it.

For owners, the practical position is unchanged for now. Cameras already bought are still cameras, and the K-mount lens catalogue is not mentioned as going anywhere. What is lost, at least temporarily, is the new-body route into an optical viewfinder at a sensible price. Amateur Photographer's retrospective notes that the brand's other recent surprise was the half-frame Pentax 17 film camera in 2024.

In a somewhat cryptic statement, Ricoh has said it is ending production of all current Pentax K-series DSLRs. However, it also says it will “continue to pursue the shooting style that is unique to SLR cameras.”

Telephotos lose weight

Two makers announced long primes that would have been unreasonable a few years ago. On 15 September, Sony announced the FE 400mm F4.5 GM OSS and FE 600mm F6.3 GM OSS at around 994g and 995g without the tripod foot, for roughly £2,400 and £3,300 and due at the end of September. For scale, Sony's existing 600mm f/4 weighs 3,040g. The slower aperture on the 600mm is the price of that difference, and for birds in decent light it is a trade many people will take.

Fujifilm got there first on the APS-C side. The XF 400mm F4.5 R LM OIS WR was announced on 4 September: a 609mm-equivalent prime that DPReview lists at 1,245g and $3,200, due in mid-September, completing a trio with the existing 200mm F2 and 500mm F5.6.

Sigma, Leica and the smaller makers

Sigma announced the 85mm F1.2 DG Art for Sony E and L-mount on 8 September, with a release date of 30 September. DPReview gives the price as $1,599 and the weight as 905g, and notes it is the third F1.2 prime in the Art line after the 35mm and 50mm. Sigma also announced a 20-60mm F2.8-4 DG Contemporary at $849 and 385g. Leica, characteristically, went the other way: the Summicron-M 66 f/2 is a limited run of 660 numbered lenses available from 3 September, a homage to a rare Cold War-era lens, at a recommended €9,850.

At the modest end, Laowa released the Acris 35mm F2.8 1X AF Macro APO on 30 September for $449, which it describes as the first full-frame autofocus 35mm with 1:1 magnification, and Panasonic added a small 20mm f/2.5 to the full-frame S line. The Fujifilm X-T6 remains unannounced. Fuji Rumors reported in August that the launch had been delayed and that Fujikina Paris, held at the Palais Brongniart from 4 to 6 September, would go ahead without it. Fujifilm itself has said nothing, so this is rumour, not fact.

*British photographer* *Henley Spiers* *was able to capture the moment a gannet broke through the ocean’s surface in Shetland, Scotland, earning him the title of Bird Photographer of the Year 2026.*

The Photographic Arts

Prizes for looking closely

September is when the natural-world competitions announce their winners ahead of the Natural History Museum's own. Bird Photographer of the Year went to Henley Spiers of the UK for a northern gannet bursting through the surface of the sea, picked from more than 24,000 images, according to PetaPixel, with a £3,000 prize. A week or so earlier, Julien Anton of France won Ocean Photographer of the Year with a picture of a male seahorse alongside two newborn juveniles in the shallows off Moorea, French Polynesia, as Oceanographic reported.

Both pictures belong to a genre where technical achievement (timing, light, a long lens held steady) is the entry fee and the thing that decides the winner is what the animal happens to be doing. The Natural History Museum is next: Wildlife Photographer of the Year announces its category and Grand Title winners on Tuesday 13 October, from a record 65,403 entries, with the exhibition opening in London on 16 October and running to 11 July 2027.

Exhibitions, fairs and shelves

The Rencontres d'Arles closes today, 4 October, after running since 6 July. The World Press Photo Exhibition 2026 finished its London run at MPB Gallery on 30 September, having shown work by 42 photographers from a contest that drew 3,747 entrants from 141 countries. Brighton's Photoworks Festival, themed "Un/Stable: Lands, Anxieties, Dreams", opened on 2 October and runs to 1 November.

Further ahead, the Sony World Photography Awards named its 2027 jury on 23 September, with the exhibition set for Somerset House from 15 April to 3 May 2027 and a student deadline of 27 November. On the shelf, Aperture says it is moving into a permanent new home at 380 Columbus Avenue in New York this autumn, with a list that includes Alex Webb's Walking Blues and Tina Barney's Fashion in October and a first hardcover edition of Josef Koudelka's Invasion Prague 68 in November.

*The Starlight is one of two new Sprocket Rocket models recently announced (Courtesy: Lomography)*

Film & Analogue

Kodak gets cheaper

The most useful analogue story of the month is arithmetic. Kosmo Foto reported on 1 September that the Eastman Kodak-branded films now reaching UK shops are cheaper than the Kodak Alaris versions they replace: a five-pack of Kodak Gold 200 in 120 at 21 Studio Photolab fell from £51 to £39.99, and shop prices for most of the range are described as up to 20 per cent lower. The article attributes this to lower wholesale prices. The new films use the Tri-X, Ektar 100 and Kodak 200 names, while Portra and T-Max appear under different names because Kodak Alaris holds those brands. Dupli, the UK distributor, has added 48 Eastman Kodak films to its catalogue while continuing to supply Kodak Alaris stock.

New cameras, new editions

Fujifilm's QuickSnap Black and White and QuickSnap Active were announced as arriving from September, at €23.99 and €25.99 respectively. The black-and-white camera carries 27 exposures of ISO 400 film that Fujifilm's own specification page describes as a black-and-white negative film, processed in C-41, without naming the emulsion or its maker. I could not confirm retail availability by the time of writing. Harman Technology released a limited collector's edition of Ilford Delta 400 Professional in 35mm, from £13.08 a roll, on a clearer base with anti-halation protection and an all-black cassette; Harman says speed and processing times are unchanged.

On 29 September Polaroid introduced the Mod, an instant camera with a dial for four modes: Split Shot, Motion Freeze, Double Exposure and Light Painting. It is £149.99 on Polaroid's own site now, in selected US shops from 6 October and in retailers globally in early 2027. Lomography, meanwhile, released two new 35mm Sprocket Rocket colourways at £45 and a Lomomatic 110 in a Ladybug edition.

A small note of caution on Lucky C400, the Chinese colour-negative film that has been appearing in Western shops. Analog.Cafe's September recap describes it as much harder to scan than Lucky C200, with colour casts in places they should not appear. It remains a 35mm-only film in the UK, as far as Dodo Film Lab's listing shows.

The Digital Darkroom

Affinity

Affinity's September update is its biggest photo-editing release yet: a deeper RAW workflow, reusable presets, Mixed Light Correction, and Motion Blur Reduction, all in a free app. The AI features that sit behind Canva's premium plan are the part that costs money.

Adobe finishes buying Topaz

Adobe completed its acquisition of Topaz Labs on 23 September, three months after announcing it on 25 June. Adobe says Topaz will continue as a standalone brand with its apps and models still available, and that it plans to bring the tools into Creative Cloud workflows; Topaz technology is already used in Firefly and Photoshop. The post gives no pricing or licensing details. Anyone who owns Topaz software outright and pays Adobe monthly is entitled to wonder how long that arrangement stays comfortable, but nothing announced so far changes it.

Lightroom and Camera Raw

Camera Raw 18.7 and Lightroom Classic 15.6 arrived on 29 September, according to Computer Darkroom. The headline features better Reflection Removal for windows, glass, and water, plus a Grid view for culling, Match Exposure across a selection based on capture metadata, and a floating Histogram and Vectorscope. Adobe's Lightroom desktop notes add Prompt to Edit, which they say uses the Nano Banana model. The Adobe community forum already has user reports of Develop sliders bouncing in Classic 15.6, which are anecdotal but worth a glance before updating on a deadline.

Everyone else

DxO released PhotoLab 10 on 1 September with AI-derived Depth Masks, a single-wheel colour grading tool and a button that sends an image to Affinity, at £229.99 new or £114.99 to upgrade from version 8 or 9. Capture One 16.8.6 added automatic Assisted Review (still in beta) during tethered shooting, and second-generation wireless tethering for the Canon EOS R3 and R6 III. ON1 announced Photo RAW 2027 on 8 September for late October or early November, and shipped NoNoise AI 2027 on 1 October.

Looking Ahead

October is busy for exhibitions. Wildlife Photographer of the Year announces its winners on 13 October, and on 14 October Tate Modern opens Light & Magic, a survey of Pictorialism with around 200 vintage prints by more than 80 artists, running to 21 February 2027. Paris Photo follows on 12 to 15 November at the Grand Palais, in photography's bicentenary year. On the gear side, watch for US shipping of the OM System PEN in late October, and for whether Fujifilm says anything at all about the X-T6.

The Pen is Mightier…