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Viltrox has announced its new AF 26mm F2.8 EVO lens

It's available in Sony E and Nikon Z-mount versions, and costs $299 / £279

It measures 23.8mm thick and weighs 4.6oz / 130g

Chinese lens manufacturer Viltrox is having a prolific year, and it's now followed up a recent pair of medium-telephoto primes for APS-C cameras with a completely new 26mm f/2.8 pancake lens.

The AF 26mm F2.8 EVO is part of the same mid-range series as my recently tested AF 90mm F2.2 EVO , and is available for Sony E and Nikon Z-mount cameras at launch. It costs $299 / £279.

Compact size and light weight are the aim here — the 26mm F2.8 is just 23.8mm thick and tips the scales at 4.6oz / 130g. I can see it pairing nicely with a Sony A7C / A7C II or Nikon Zf as a casual, everyday lens offering surprisingly sharp image quality.

It's not the smallest autofocus full-frame lens in Viltrox's range, mind you — that accolade goes to the AF 28mm F4.5 . However, given the bright f/2.8 aperture and the features on board, the new 26mm lens seems impossibly small.

Those features include a dust- and splash-resistant machined metal construction, dedicated aperture and focus rings, a metal rear mount with a USB-C port for firmware updates, and a STM focus motor for snappy autofocus.

Viltrox Viltrox Viltrox Viltrox Viltrox Viltrox And there's more: the AF 26mm F2.8 EVO ships with a magnetic lens cap that snaps into place, eliminating the fiddling that comes with traditional pinch-release lens caps.

It's part of a lens cap system which includes a magnetic lens hood, which also works with magnetic lens filters. Alternatively, traditional screw-on filters work too, via the 43mm thread.

I hope other lens manufacturers follow Viltrox's lead — lens caps can be a real pain to remove and re-attach, but a magnetic type simplifies the process.

Optically, we have a simple construction of eight elements in six groups, with a minimum focus distance of 0.2m which results in a 0.2x maximum magnification, for reasonable close-up photography.

The Viltrox AF 26mm F2.8 EVO is available immediately in Sony E and Nikon Z versions from Amazon US and Viltrox's official store . There's no word yet on whether L-mount or Fujifilm X-mount versions are on the way.

Yes, Fujifilm X is APS-C format, but I can see the full-frame Viltrox lens working well with these crop-sensor cameras, even for Sony and Nikon, on which it would offer an equivalent 39mm focal length.

It's yet another new Viltrox lens available for Nikon Z cameras, which suggests that the Nikon vs Viltrox lawsuit from earlier this year has quietly been resolved. I hope that's the case, because Viltrox has consistently produced excellent optics, and the AF 26mm F2.8 EVO looks like an impressive addition. Look out for my in-depth review, coming soon.

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The day I never thought I'd witness is near – EA is finally introducing an autosave feature to The Sims 4 … you know, a good 12 years after its 2014 launch.

How many Sims have I lost to random crashes? How many houses have perished before my eyes due to buggy shutdowns? Too many to count, I'd say – and sure, I could've been more vigilant about saving, but The Sims 4 has needed an autosave feature for well over a decade now.

Some of the best Sims 4 mods (I'm looking at you, MC Command Center) have tried to rectify the issue, but EA hadn't officially addressed it… until now. On July 21, the studio is finally adding an autosave ("AutoSave," as EA calls it) option to the life sim – but that's not all.

As outlined in its latest Laundry List of upcoming fixes, EA says, "This month we're introducing a new AutoSave to The Sims 4, and rolling out Memory Boost to Mac and console players to improve overall performance for more Simmers."

The team is also looking to target "the top-reported issues from players via EA Forums."

Simmers,Our latest Laundry List is available now, including details on new features like AutoSave, save reminders, the full rollout of Memory Boost and today's https://t.co/PaIxE5VLJt Dev Q&A.In game on July 21, click the link below to learn more: https://t.co/WELI1LMlRU pic.twitter.com/hymrAwmkqI July 14, 2026

The autosave feature is undeniably the most eye-catching tidbit here, though. So… how will it work, exactly? "Quietly in the background, automatically creating save points at key moments while you play," apparently.

"You can customize when AutoSave happens in Game Save Settings, with options like saving after traveling between lots, after a period of playtime, or at important gameplay milestones."

There's another option for Simmers who hate themselves (I kid, I kid). "If you'd rather stay in control, Save Reminders like the friendly (or slightly grumpy) gnome notification… can prompt you to create a manual save at the frequency you choose. Together, these features help reduce the risk of lost progress while giving you the flexibility to save the way you want."

Not bad, EA. Not bad at all. It just took, erm, 12 years.

EA goes into some of its other big tweaks, too, like the Memory Boost system that "improves how The Sims 4 manages memory while you play, helping deliver a smoother experience with reduced lag, improved frame rates and responsiveness, shorter loading times, and a lower risk of memory-related crashes."

It sounds like, all in all, The Sims 4 will crash less – and when it does crash, it'll be far less painful thanks to autosaving.

I don't know about you all, but I think this is a step in the right direction – even if it's coming a bit late to The Sims 4. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some mods to delete…

The Sims 4's microtransaction Marketplace has officially shown me the door after 24 years of Simming.