Jon Sienkiewicz

Gear wraps, those flexible, soft squares of protection we use to cushion our cameras and lenses, are pretty much all the same, right? Wrong. Although they're all used for the same purpose (more or less), each brand has its own unique characteristics. Today we look at four wraps, each of which can be crowned king of its category.

The first camera bearing the OM System badge, the new OM-1 Mark II delivers category-leading 8.5EV stops of Image Stabilization performance, new LiveGND (Graduated Neutral Density filter), improved subject detection AF and other enhancements throughout. Simultaneously, OM System announced two new zoom lenses, a 9-18mm wideangle zoom and a 150-600mm f/5.0-6.3 superzoom (300-1200mm equivalent) that's ideal for wildlife, sports action and more.

There's a lot of noise about AI right now, and most of it AIn't good. That's understandable. Even so, don't let the naysayers detour you from experiencing the most powerful photo editing tools in the universe.

If you want to discover what you've been missing, or if you're just AI-curious, here's enough to get started enjoying Adobe Firefly, the future of graphics, in its various guises.

It's a new year and time to take a fresh look at accessories that make photography more fun.