This month, my Latest and Greatest picks from Best Buy Canada goes a little heavier on creating content. Explore some serious camera quality from the likes of Sony, DJI, and Antigravity. Plus, enjoy taking valuable notes and expanding smart home control with the help of reMarkable and Philips Hue. Discover your next favourite tech and check out our featured list.
Sony Alpha 7 V
In real pro circles the Sony A7 V might be considered “mid-range.” But you likely won’t feel that way, especially if you’re graduating to it from something older. Its 33-megapixel, partially-stacked full-frame sensor works in tandem with the upgraded BIONZ XR2 processor delivering excellent dynamic range and clean low-light performance. This is the kind of mirrorless camera that can do it all, be it portraits, street photography, events, or travel.
The autofocus from this mirrorless camera moves up another level via AI-assisted subject detection and tracking. From humans and animals, birds to vehicles, it dramatically improves your chances of capturing moving subjects. With better in-body image stabilization (IBIS) to boot, you can do a lot with this handheld camera.
On the video side, you can finally shoot at 4K at 60fps in full-frame and cropped 4K 120fps. Just note that the Alpha A7 V doesn’t do internal RAW video or open-gate recording, which Sony’s competitors offer, so you’d be looking at this camera more as a hybrid rather than a video-first model.
DJI Osmo Action 6 Pro
If an action cam is more your speed or you have adventurous content creation in mind, the DJI Osmo Action 6 Pro is versatile enough to help capture it all. I should point out, however, this may not be worth the upgrade if you already have the Osmo Action 5 Pro, which is still very capable and effective. Even so, there are some new things in here to consider.
This new action camera model sports a new square (1/1.1-inch) image sensor with a variable f/2.0 to f/4.0 aperture over the previous fixed f/2.8 aperture. That means you should see better results in night and low-light conditions, particularly with highlights and shadows. Then there’s the 4K Custom Mode where you record footage in a square frame (3840 × 3840), where you can then decide to crop into 16:9, 9:16, 4:3 aspect ratios when editing afterwards. Improved stabilization and subject tracking should also keep things steady.
The forced cropping may not be ideal if you take a more purist approach to how you film. This is better suited to shooting for social media or vlogging.
reMarkable Paper Pro Move
Remarkable sheds some size with the Paper Pro Move with a classic notebook style that’s a little more pocket-friendly. It’s still fairly sizeable with a 7.3-inch E Ink display but there’s no doubt this is easier to carry around than the reMarkable’s other models. It’s also got some colour courtesy of the Canvas Color display that supports up to 20,000 colours. So, while you’re not getting tablet-style richness here, you get more variety in what your notes visually look like.
The screen offers a subtle texture when you touch it with the stylus, somewhat a throwback to days of pen and paper. You get the fundamentals, like templates for notes, to-do lists, planners, notebooks, converting handwriting to text, and cloud sync across devices.
Philips Hue Bridge Pro
This is a serious hub for serious lighting situations: Think of support for over 150 lights and accessories. The older Hue Bridge models (which still work fine, by the way) are limited to 50 lights and maybe a dozen accessories. The coolest thing about the Hue Bridge Pro is MotionAware, a new feature that can turn existing lights into motion sensors. This lets you automate scenes—like having lights turn on automatically when you come home after dark—without adding extra devices.
The Hue Bridge Pro maintains full compatibility with major smart-home platforms, including voice assistants and security systems, and now includes Wi-Fi connectivity, giving you more freedom to place it wherever it makes the most sense.
You probably don’t need this if you live in a modest home with a few lights. But if you are in a larger space chock-full of smart home lights and gizmos, this may be a nice fit.
Antigravity A1 Explorer Quadcopter Drone
Unlike most consumer drones that operate cameras on a gimbal with a fixed field of view, the Antigravity A1 Explorer quadcopter drone produces 8K 360-degree footage through two identical ultra-wide cameras. You also have the option to only record from one camera singularly. Either way, the idea is you get to capture everything around the drone all at once, giving you creative flexibility to frame clips however you please. For virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets, the full 360 degrees could be a very immersive way to portray a fascinating landscape.
Drone rules can be stringent in urban areas but out in the countryside, roaming free with something like the Antigravity A1 may feel like a great way to explore. Note that because it weighs 249 grams, you don’t need a licence to fly it but make sure to check local restrictions.
Explore more and check out all the Latest and Greatest tech available now at Best Buy.
