Timothy Coleman

The Viltrox AF 26mm F2.8 EVO is a compact, well-built full-frame pancake lens for Sony E- and Nikon Z-mount cameras, offering a bright f/2.8 aperture, aperture and focus rings, weather sealing and an innovative magnetic cap and hood. It is praised for its size, price and everyday versatility, especially from f/4 through f/11, while wide-open performance suffers from prominent flare, vignetting and reduced contrast. Autofocus can also hunt, and the narrow manual-focus ring is fiddly. Despite these compromises, the review concludes that it is one of the best-value pancake lenses available for Sony and Nikon cameras.

Timothy Coleman reflects on watching the 2026 solar eclipse in the UK with his family rather than preparing professional camera equipment. Although he missed the chance to create a spectacular eclipse photograph, he valued the shared experience, community atmosphere and improvised viewing methods such as colanders and pinhole cameras more than a technically perfect image. He captured the scene with a Google Pixel and continues to appreciate photographs taken by other professionals.

A total solar eclipse will occur on August 12, 2026, with totality visible across parts of Spain, Portugal, Greenland and Iceland, while partial views will extend across Europe and into northern North America. The piece provides viewing times for several locations and photography guidance, recommending an open vantage point, a telephoto lens for close-ups, a wider lens for contextual scenes, manual exposure controls, a screen and tripod, and a solar filter whenever the Sun is visible except during totality. It also explains the eclipse phases and highlights opportunities to capture Baily’s beads, the diamond ring effect, the corona and changing atmospheric conditions.