Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 just released a sneak peek at its incredible shortlisted winning entries — and it proves that DSLR cameras still rule this photography genre

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition has released a preview of select winning images for its 62nd year Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London The full set of 100 winning images will be exhibited at the Museum following the full

<![CDATA[ <article> <ul><li><strong>The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition has released a preview of select winning images for its 62nd year</strong></li><li><strong>Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London</strong></li><li><strong>The full set of 100 winning images will be exhibited at the Museum following the full winners’ announcement on October 16</strong></li></ul><p>The winners announcement of the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is one of my favorite dates in the photographic calendar. It seems like every year the winning and commended photographers outdo themselves in capturing vivid, fascinating stories from the natural world. </p><p>One thing I also love doing is poring over which cameras the winning photographers are using to capture their spectacular shots. As such, when the Museum released this set of preview images to whet our appetites ahead of the full announcement, I headed straight to the caption information — and discovered to my great interest that the two most-used cameras on the list so far are both Nikon DSLRs!</p><p>The full list of cameras used to capture the sixteen shots on the full list is a real mixed bag. As well as a selection of pro and prosumer mirrorless and DSLR cameras, there’s also a DJI Mavic drone and a <a href="https://www.techradar.com/cameras/compact-cameras/leica-q3-43-review-a-stunning-premium-compact-with-a-unique-focal-length">Leica Q3 43</a> compact. However, the two cameras that featured most prominently — with two images apiece, representing a quarter of the full list — were the ten-year-old <a href="https://www.techradar.com/reviews/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras/digital-slrs-hybrids/nikon-d500-1312621/review">Nikon D500</a> and the <a href="https://www.techradar.com/reviews/nikon-d850-review">Nikon D850</a>!</p><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:2560px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:63.52%;"><img id="AcAyfB8tNkFM6Sa3fzZ9Pk" name="© Dewald Tromp" alt="Photograph of a chameleon in a sandstorm" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/AcAyfB8tNkFM6Sa3fzZ9Pk.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="2560" height="1626" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: © Dewald Tromp / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)</span></figcaption></figure><p>The highly commended image ‘Eye of the Storm’ by Dewald Tromp from South Africa, depicting a chameleon battling its way through a sandstorm in Nigeria (above), was captured using the Nikon D850, as was American Ralph Pace’s image of a sea hare gliding through eelgrass in Monterey Bay (below).</p><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:2560px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:66.68%;"><img id="7ZdEgj2VeaFUn9hmZuuFFT" name="© Ralph Pace" alt="Photograph of a sea hare moving through eelgrass underwater" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7ZdEgj2VeaFUn9hmZuuFFT.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="2560" height="1707" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: © Ralph Pace / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)</span></figcaption></figure><p>Jack Crawford in the UK has been highly commended in the 15-17 Years bracket for his perfectly timed moment of a swift flying underneath the looming bulk of a 747 — shot on a Nikon D500 (below). </p><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:2560px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:59.77%;"><img id="tU2y9cy7hCpY5nYJWnJLSb" name="© Jack Crockford" alt="Photograph of a swift flying underneath a 747" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tU2y9cy7hCpY5nYJWnJLSb.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="2560" height="1530" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: © Jack Crockford / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)</span></figcaption></figure><p>And Canadian Shane Gross strapped his Nikon D500 into an Aquatica AD500 underwater housing to capture his highly commended, half-in half-out image of a school of bigeye trevally off the coast of the Seychelles (below). </p><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:2560px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:66.68%;"><img id="7EQpMxeCCvTFxjCJb7S8sQ" name="© Shane Gross" alt="Underwater image of a school of fish with a stormy sky visible above" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7EQpMxeCCvTFxjCJb7S8sQ.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="2560" height="1707" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: © Shane Gross / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)</span></figcaption></figure><p>One thing’s for sure — <a href="https://www.techradar.com/news/best-dslr">the DSLR</a> isn’t dead just yet! </p><p>If you want to be able to see these images for yourself when the exhibition begins in October, you can <a href="https://bit.ly/WPY62PreviewAnnouncement" target="_blank">grab tickets here</a>.</p><div data-widget-type="multimodelreview" data-widget-title="Today's best deals on these winning DSLRs" data-model-name="Nikon D850,Nikon D500" class="hawk-root"></div><div style="min-height: 250px;"> <div class="kwizly-quiz kwizly-ev19lX"></div> </div> <script src="https://kwizly.com/embed/ev19lX.js" async></script><h2 id="the-d850-and-d500">The D850 and D500</h2><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:650px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.15%;"><img id="uPBd2buV7WwzL46jA44kpV" name="Cnv8JrSefk5q8VywgDzEaL-650-80.jpg" alt="Nikon D850" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/uPBd2buV7WwzL46jA44kpV.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="650" height="365" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="caption-text">The Nikon D850 is a hugely popular full-frame DSLR. </span><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: Future)</span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.techradar.com/reviews/nikon-d850-review">Nikon D850</a>, released in 2017, is a wildlife photography legend. A full-frame DSLR with a generous 45.7MP resolution, its 153-point AF system may not be as sophisticated as the flagship mirrorless cameras that have succeeded it, but it’s still incredibly tenacious and accurate for moving subjects. </p><p>With its pitch-perfect handling and large optical viewfinder, the D850 is a joy to shoot with and has captured many spectacular wildlife images since. There’s a reason that when Nikon came to release its mirrorless wildlife specialist <a href="https://www.techradar.com/reviews/nikon-z8-review">the Z8</a>, the manufacturer branded it as a new D850.</p><figure class="van-image-figure inline-layout" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style="max-width:6949px;"><p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.24%;"><img id="bGi7Bf9NaeBNJ2Mfnt7ySL" name="Nikon D500.jpg" alt="A hand holding the Nikon D500 camera" src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/bGi7Bf9NaeBNJ2Mfnt7ySL.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="6949" height="3908" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"></p></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class=" inline-layout"><span class="caption-text">The smaller, more affordable Nikon D500. </span><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder">(Image credit: Future)</span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.techradar.com/reviews/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras/digital-slrs-hybrids/nikon-d500-1312621/review">D500</a>, meanwhile, was released a year earlier — meaning it has just marked its ten-year anniversary! Even so, this capable APS-C shooter made a reputation for being a speedster, thanks to its 10fps burst rate that could go up to 200 RAW files, as well as its simply superb autofocus system. As such, it has been embraced over the years by many wildlife photographers without the budget for the D850 — and as this year’s WPOTY results go to show, this stunning camera still has its share of devotees. </p> </article> ]]>