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Royal Enfield has confirmed that the first motorcycle from its all-electric Flying Flea sub-brand – the C6 – will roll out in the first quarter of 2026. Lord, grant me patience.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
Here's a world record I didn't know needed breaking. Highlining legend Julien Roux has walked on a tightrope drawn between two hot air balloons nearly 14,000 feet up in the air – surpassing the previous best by half a mile in altitude.
Tags: Extreme Sports, High Line, DJI Innovations, Balloon, World Records
"Successful EV manufacturer" ... now that’s not something you’d expect to hear all that often. A company that’s into cars might still have a chance, but you’d rarely hear about a two-wheel EV-maker producing numbers in the green. Enter Stark Future.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
Tags: Electric Vehicles, Enduro, Off-road, Dirt Bikes, Electric Motorcycles
A lot has happened since we first covered the smart, tiny HitchHiker camper pod from Tusca Outdoors. The biggest thing is that it's now a part of Redneck Outdoor Products, a Missouri company specializing in hunting blinds. It's also been renamed the Freedom Camper. Most importantly, though, it's now available in a lighter, sleeker version that fits trucks as small as the Ford Maverick and requires just two people to lift on and off the vehicle. It creates an all-terrain-ready pickup camper or camping trailer, then quickly removes when the trip is over.
Tags: RV, Camping, Outdoors and Camping, Hunting, Pickup, Trailer, trailers
Nobody likes buildings that are too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter. That's where the FlectoLine facade comes in, as it uses not just one but two bio-inspired mechanisms to automatically regulate how much solar thermal energy gets through a building's windows.
Category: Environment, Science
Tags: University of Stuttgart, University of Fribourg, Solar Powered, Heating, Cooling, Biomimicry, Building Facades
What's 3.6 cm tall (1.4 in), and could one day be performing tasks such as walking through disaster site rubble looking for trapped survivors? It's Zippy, which is reportedly the smallest self-contained bipedal robot ever made – and it uses a simple but clever walking mechanism.
Nikon has revealed that it will increase its prices in the US due to the recent tariffs. The company has thus far been silent on the matter but released a brief statement on its site announcing the change.
Nikon didn't provide specifics on what the price increase would look like, simply stating that "Due to the recent tariffs, a necessary price adjustment for products will take effect on June 23, 2025." Nikon's statement went on to say that it will be monitoring tariff developments and may further change pricing "as necessary to reflect the evolving market conditions." While the United States and China agreed to a 90-day suspension of most tariffs on May 12, the situation is still uncertain. It isn't surprising that Nikon is leaving room for more changes.
Nikon is just the latest in a long list of brands announcing similar increases due to the US tariffs. Earlier this month, Sigma said its prices would increase by an unspecified amount on June 2 for US orders. Leica also announced substantial price increases in the US earlier this month. Those prices, which include a 20% increase on the Leica D-Lux 8 and Leica Lux Grip, are already in place. Sony hasn't made any official announcements, but some of the prices of its cameras and lenses have gone up on sites like B&H, as PetaPixel reported.
On April 28, Canon released its Q1 financial results, which included a statement that it will be increasing prices on June 1. Canon assumed those pricing increases would be local to the US, but added, "if the tariff issue were to trigger a global recession, our assumptions will change." Blackmagic was one of the first to increase prices in the US because of the tariffs. Like Nikon and Sigma, it didn't specify the amount of the increase.
Some brands have announced changes in production plans or availability instead of pricing increases. Tamron said it's shifting where its lenses are made because of the tariff situation. Fujifilm announced last month that it is pausing pre-orders of its X100VI, GFX100RF and X-M5 (Black) models.
Of course, all things tariff-related are in flux. What happens after the 90-day "pause" is unclear, making it hard for companies to plan appropriately. The pricing increases from these brands could change substantially depending on what happens in the coming days and months.
Plugging in a charging cable to top up your electric car's battery is not exactly rocket science, but we're finally approaching the robot age so why not let the bots do it? That's just what Hyundai is aiming to do at an airport in South Korea.
Category: Automotive, Transport
Tags: Hyundai, Electric Vehicles, EV Charging, Robots, Automation
It certainly sounds like something from a new sci-fi series, but a power-free set of contact lenses impregnated with nanoparticles has proven successful in allowing humans to see what has previously been invisible – even when their eyes are closed.
Category: Wearables, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Contact Lenses, Vision, Eye, Infrared, University of Science and Technology of China
Panasonic is now selling three hybrid cameras housed in the exact same body with similar features: the S1II, S1RII, and S1IIE. However, they all have different sensors, making them better suited to a particular type of shooting.
We'll go over those differences and, in the process, discuss who each model is best for.
OverviewAll the cameras in the S1II series are generally aimed at hybrid shooters who take both stills and video. What sets them apart are their sensors. The S1IIE has the most familiar option of the bunch, with a standard 24MP BSI CMOS sensor that's also shown up in cameras like the Lumix S9 and S5II.
The S1II is still 24MP but steps up to a 'partially stacked' sensor with faster readout circuitry. It's aimed at people who need higher burst rates or higher framerates in video with less rolling shutter. The S1RII focuses on resolution versus speed and comes equipped with a 44MP BSI CMOS sensor, which will capture more detail in stills and allows for 8K video recording, while the other models top out around 6K.
Photo Burst RatesAll the cameras in the S1II series can shoot at up to 10fps with their mechanical shutters, which are rated for 400,000 actuations and can be configured to close when you shut down the camera to protect the sensor from dust. The differentiation happens when you start using the electronic shutter.
Maximum burst rate (Raw, C-AF) S1IIE 30fps S1II1 70fps S1RII 40fpsNone of the cameras are billed as action cameras, but it's worth noting that their different burst rates and resolutions also affect how many photos you can take before their buffers fill up. The S1II can shoot Raws at its max speed for around three seconds, taking around 200 images, while the S1IIE can go for around six, capturing around 180 images. The S1RII can shoot for around a second and a half at its max burst rate, taking around 70 frames.
Base ISOThe second-gen S1 cameras all have dual conversion gain sensors, which will produce cleaner images at high ISOs. However, each camera has different low and high settings in their standard photo style response mode.
Low gain mode High gain mode S1IIE ISO 100 ISO 640 S1II ISO 100 ISO 800 S1RII ISO 80 ISO 400The low and high ISOs will change depending on what response mode you're shooting in and, for the S1II and S1RII, whether you're using their respective Dynamic Range Boost and Expansion modes. It is worth noting that these two modes work quite differently, something we'll cover in more depth later.
Video ResolutionThe S1RII is the only camera in the S1II line that can shoot at 8K UHD, though it can't quite handle DCI 8K; instead it has an 8128 x 4288 '8.1K' mode with the same 1.89:1 aspect ratio. Those could theoretically be delivery resolutions, as there are 8K displays on the market, whereas the >4K options for the S1II and S1IIE are more likely to be used because they offer a bit of extra wiggle-room or detail in post rather than because someone's looking to deliver to a 6K display.
However, those looking for flexibility may also want to use a 3:2 open-gate resolution. Both the S1II and the S1IIE can also shoot 6K open-gate, using the full sensor to produce a 5952 x 3968 3:2 image at up to 30fps. The S1RII can currently shoot in 6.4K open-gate at up to 30p, but Panasonic has promised to add an 8.1K open-gate mode to the S1RII via a firmware update, though the company hasn't given a date for when that will be available.
Video frameratesWhile the S1II and S1IIE have the same maximum resolution and framerate, the differences become stark the moment you move away from 6K open-gate.
Resolution Framerates Crop Factor S1IIE 6K open gate 30, 25, 24, 23.98 1.0 UHD 4K 30, 25, 24, 23.98 1.0 60, 50 1.5 2.4:1 Cs4K 60, 50, 48, 30, 25, 24, 23.98 1.0 S1II 6K open gate 30, 25, 24, 23.98 1.0 5.1K open gate 60, 50, 48, 30, 25, 24, 23.98 1.0 16:9 5.9K 60, 50, 48, 30, 25, 24, 23.98 1.0 UHD 4K 60, 50, 48, 30, 25, 24, 23.98 1.0 120, 100 1.24 2.4:1 Cs4K 120, 100, 96, 60, 50, 48, 30, 25, 24, 23.98 1.0 S1IIR UHD 8K 30, 25, 24 1.0 6K open gate 30, 25, 24 1.0 16:9 5.9K 30, 25, 24 1.0 60, 50, 48 1.11 UHD 4K 30, 25, 24 1.0 60, 50 1.11 120, 100 1.17Despite its length, this table only shows a selection of each camera's video modes. However, it is broadly illustrative of their high-level capabilities. The S1IIE can only manage full-with 60p in 4K when using the quite short 'Cinescope' aspect ratio, which still only captures a roughly APS-C-sized portion of the sensor. The S1II, meanwhile, can capture full-width 4K and 5.9K up to 60p without a crop. The S1RII will need to apply a small crop to achieve 60p at those resolutions but actually manages to have a slightly smaller crop than the S1II at 4K120p.
Rolling ShutterThe faster the rolling shutter rate, the less risk there is of getting the jello-effect when panning in video or shooting fast-moving subjects when using the electronic shutter.
When it comes to readout speed, the S1II is the fastest of the bunch; it can read the data it needs for its standard UHD 4K mode in 12.5 ms, something the S5IIE takes 21.6ms to do. The S1RII, meanwhile, takes 23.9ms. While those numbers are generally indicitive of how the cameras compared to each other in rolling shutter performance, the S1II and S1RII both have modes that can drastically reduce their performance. But to talk about those, we need to talk about...
Dynamic RangePanasonic says the S5II, S1II can capture "14+ stops+ of dynamic range when shooting in V-Log, while the S1RII is capable of 13 stops. However, both the S1II and S1RII have modes that, when activated, will capture an extra stop of dynamic range, at the cost of readout speed and higher base ISOs.
UHD rolling shutter Base ISO Stops of DR Available in S1II DR Boost off 12.5 ms 640 / 5000 14+ — DR Boost on 30.4 ms 1000 / 8000 15Up to 24p for full-height modes
Up to 30p for other video modes
S1RII DR Expansion off 24.9ms 200 / 1000 13 — DR Expansion on 31.7ms 400 / 2000 14 All video modes up to 30pThe S1RII's mode achieves this by simply reading out at a higher bit-depth, but Panasonic hasn't been clear on how the Dynamic Range Boost works on the S1II. However, it is clear that neither are using the dual readout abilities found on the Panasonic GH7.
ConclusionThere's a lot going on in Panasonic's second-generation S1 line, but by and large, the cameras occupy their own space. The S1IIE is a hybrid camera with solid workflow features and ergonomics but an otherwise relatively basic spec sheet, while the S1II is made for speed, and the S1RII is made for high-resolution shooting. All three are extremely capable when it comes to shooting video, though the aforementioned benefits of the non-E models still apply.
Where things are a bit more complicated is price. The S1IIE retails for $2500, which is substantially cheaper than the S1II's MSRP of $3200 and the S1RII's $3300 price tag. The relatively small price difference between the latter two cameras means that your use, not your budget, should be the deciding factor between the two.
Dragon Tiny Homes' Fairfax model is one of the most affordable tiny houses on the market. With a length of just 16 ft (4.8 m), it definitely won't suit a large family, but it could be a good fit as a vacation home or as a guest house.
Category: Tiny Houses, Lifestyle
Tags: Micro-House, Tiny Footprint, Building and Construction, House, Home
Bajaj Auto, the world's third largest motorcycle manufacturer, has gone from a partner of KTM to taking over the Austrian brand altogether. That's thanks to a €800-million (US$905-million) shot in the arm from the Indian two-wheeler giant that will enable KTM to bring its production facilities roaring back to life.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
Satellites could have a longer life and space become a bit tidier if Starfish Space's Otter Pup 2 mission pans out. Scheduled to launch later this year, it aims demonstrate how a small craft can dock with unprepared satellites for service or disposal.
Tags: Debris, Satellite, Space Junk
A new study has found the non-invasive application of in-ear electrical stimulation to the vagus nerve to be safe and effective in reducing osteoarthritis-related knee pain. It opens the door to innovative, quality-of-life-improving treatment.
Category: Chronic Pain, Illnesses and conditions, Body & Mind
Tags: Osteoarthritis, Pain, Chronic pain, Vagus nerve stimulation, University of Texas El Paso
We've seen some tiny campers here over the years, fascinating micro contraptions that mash together mobility and living quarters in seemingly impossible ways. But we've never seen anything quite as tiny as the newest member of Volkswagen's storied camper van fleet. Shrunken down to model railroad size, this ID. Buzz is much more than a toy model; thanks to the addition of an equally vintage-inspired, color-matched teardrop trailer, it's also the smallest moving vehicle in an exhibit dedicated entirely to miniatures.
Category: Automotive, Transport
Tags: Volkswagen, mini-campervan, Scale-model, electric-camper, teardrop trailers, Campervan, Travel, Travel and Tourism, RV, Caravan, Toys, Miniature
Maryland-based startup InventWood is set to mass-produce the first batches of 'Superwood,' a new material made of modified timber that's stronger than regular barky stems, and even stronger than steel. It's set to go on sale later this year.
Tags: Steel, Wood, University of Maryland, Materials, 2025 Updates
This week already brought us a camper loaded with solid-state battery power, and now we have a luxury EV putting its own solidified energy storage to work. BMW is road-testing solid-state batteries in the i7 electric sedan. The sulfide-based batteries promise higher energy density, improved safety and more versatile, compact packaging in comparison with traditional lithium-ion batteries.
Category: Automotive, Transport
Tags: Solid-state, Battery Technology, Battery Electric Vehicles, Electric Vehicles, BMW
Surfboards can be quite awkward to transport, especially on planes and trains. What's more, buying different boards for different types of surfing is an expensive proposition. That's where the modular nine-in-one Newave surfboard is intended to come in.
Tags: Surfboard, Modular, Kickstarter
The photo above may look like a city or some sort of industrial plant, but it's not: it's actually the inside of a pipe organ, photographed by Charles Brooks. It's one of the many pictures he's taken from the inside of musical instruments, a process that's substantially more complicated than it may seem, especially since he's often working with rare, historically significant objects.
Charles Brooks spent much of his career as a principal cellist, traveling to perform with renowned orchestras from China to Chile and Brazil. But beyond his music, he also has experience with photography, going back to when he was young. It was a natural combination, then, when he stepped back from playing and picked up his camera. The project that kicked things off for him was when he started capturing the inside of instruments. Brooks was kind enough to talk with me over video chat, sharing his background, what drives him, and unique insight into his Architecture of Music series.
"The inside of a heavily restored Double Bass by Charles Theress, circa 1860, one of the finest bass makers in the history of the instrument. Photographed in Wellington, New Zealand, with the aid of it's present owner Matthew Cave."
Photo: Charles Brooks
Brooks had been living in New Zealand and photographing musicians when COVID-19 happened, which quickly brought things to a halt. During that time, though, he noticed that since musicians couldn't play, they were sending off their instruments for repair. As a result, workshops were filled with fantastic instruments, sparking an idea. Brooks said he had seen a few photographs of the inside of instruments before, including some taken for the Berlin Philharmonic, but those always looked like parts had been removed to create the images. He wanted to find a way to photograph the inside of instruments with everything intact.
Inside a 2021 Selmer Paris Saxophone.
Photo: Charles Brooks
Luckily for Brooks, Laowa had released its first probe lens not too long before. His first attempt was on a cello, an instrument he is very familiar with. "That wasn't too hard, since you can take the spike at the bottom off and getting the probe lens in is easy," he explained. He said he thought it was a nice shot, so he decided to see if he could sell a few and posted it on Reddit. It blew up there, so Brooks started scheming how to continue with other instruments, including smaller ones.
He quickly realized the Laowa probe lens was too big for most instruments. To fix this, the first thing he did was use a heat gun to melt off the waterproof casing to make it a bit smaller (though he doesn't recommend others do this). That allowed him to photograph pianos, but what he really wanted was to capture the inside of a Stradivarius violin. Violins only have a 5mm hole at the bottom, which is much too small for anything except medical cameras (called scopes), which are not made for high-resolution photography. And so began the rabbit hole that Brooks has found himself going down.
"Inside a French violin crafted by Nicolas Augustin Chappuy in 1770. This violin was brought to New Zealand by Le Violin Rouge luthiers (Auckland). They will spend the next year or two restoring it. It's a stunning old instrument that has been unplayed for quite a while and needs careful care and attention to bring it back to a playable state."
Photo: Charles Brooks
Brooks says he started by buying 20 to 30 adapters that allow you to attach medical scopes like endoscopes or arthroscopes to cameras. These introduced many problems, though. First, they are made to cover tiny sensors. You could adapt it to a full-frame camera, but most of the resulting image would be black. So he had to find a combination of adapters and magnifiers. "I sort of stacked them on top of each other to get that image circle as large as I could," he said.
"This remarkable photo captures the interior of the first violin I successfully photographed. Initially, it was presented to me as a Hopf, but I believe it is actually a 19th-century replica. This particular violin has been played but never repaired or opened since its creation, a rarity for an instrument of this age. This photograph marks the first time anyone has seen the inside of this violin."
Photo: Charles Brooks
Unfortunately, every time you add more glass, it degrades image quality. Making things more complicated, "these scopes are so small, they're right at the limits of diffraction," Brooks explained. "So even if you do blow it up, you're going to get a larger image, but it's not necessarily going to give you any more data. It's just a bigger blurry image." He spent a lot of time playing around with adapters and magnifiers and talking to the manufacturers to see what he could do.
In the end, Brooks decided to use the Micro Four Thirds Panasonic Lumix G9 II with his scope setup. "That's as large as I could get it magnified without it sort of falling to pieces," he explained. Then, he uses the high-res mode to get larger images, which especially helps because there's still some vignetting he needs to crop out.
Sample galleryThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Click here to open it in a new browser window / tab.Unfortunately, figuring out the camera and adapter combination didn't solve everything. He explained that with all the magnification, he was shooting at roughly the equivalent of F250, meaning there was essentially no light. His solution was to use a bunch of flashes at the highest power possible, but that adds a lot of heat, and old instruments don't tolerate heat well. To keep these expensive instruments safe, he has to ensure that the varnish doesn't get over 28°C. So, he constantly measures the temperature and pauses between each shot to keep everything cool.
A photograph of the inside of a Geminhardt Elkhardt Alto Flute, which is the result of combining 960 individual images.
Photo: Charles Brooks
After lots of trial and error, Brooks landed on a process involving a combination of focus stacking and panoramic stitching. He uses the probe to rotate around the inside of the instrument, almost like a clock. However, the probe only focuses on roughly 2mm at a time. He wants it all in focus so that it doesn't look like a classic macro shot, so he's taking 20 to 30 images to get it all in focus. He also takes dark frames, like astrophotographers, to prevent hot pixels. Plus, given that the probe lens isn't made for photography, the light transmission isn't even across the frame. So, he photographs a piece of paper to identify where the vignetting starts, determining where he needs to take additional photos to compensate.
"Deep inside the action (the moving parts) of one of the world's finest grand pianos. Fazioli make around 100 of these instruments a year, each handcrafted with over 8000 individual parts. Shot with a Lumix S1R and a Laowa Probe lens, 100 images at various focal distances have been stacked together for sharpness from front to back, giving a distinct architectural appearance reminiscent of a concert hall or film set."
Photo: Charles Brooks
If you're thinking that sounds like a lot of images, you're right. Brooks says that there isn't a single final image with fewer than 100 shots stacked together, and some have more than 1,000 individual frames stacked. It's an incredibly time-consuming and technical process, both while shooting and in post-production.
Every part of his process is intentional because he doesn't want the images to look like miniatures. The focus stacking helps him avoid the typical aesthetic of macro photography by reducing the amount of background blur and focal compression. Creating an image that looks like it was taken with an ultra-wide-angle lens also results in leading lines we associate with normal-sized things, like streets and buildings, which tricks your brain into thinking the subject is not small. He also uses lighting to make it look like the sun is shining down, emphasizing the feeling that you are standing inside something. Finally, when Brooks displays prints, they are massive, adding to the feeling that you are inside a grand structure. For example, one upcoming show will have prints that are five by seven meters (16 x 23').
"This is a photograph showcasing the interior of one of the world's most exceptional violas, a magnificent 1619 creation by Nicolò Amati. The instrument is on a long-term loan from The Adam Foundation to the New Zealand String Quartet. It is presently being played by Gillian Ansell, a founding member of the quartet, and one of the greatest viola players to emerge from New Zealand."
Photo: Charles Brooks
His unique way of photographing the instruments is part artistic and part documentary. He's photographing some of the finest instruments in the world. While they may look the same on the outside, with finely polished finishes and pristine surfaces, inside is a historical record. His photographs reveal the maker's marks, repairs, signatures and imperfections from use or cleaning the instruments. Because of this, he has no plans to slow down and has a list of famous instruments he'd like to photograph someday. You can see more of Brooks' photographs and read stories behind some of the instruments on his website.
Likened by its creators to an "ornate layered cake," the Tor Alva has been completed in Switzerland. Hailed as the world's tallest 3D-printed building, this remarkable structure rises to an impressive height of 30 m (98.5 ft).
Category: Architecture, Lifestyle
Tags: Building and Construction, 3D Printing, Switzerland, ETH Zurich
