This is from trustworthy new sources with access — you can check our track record and we’ve consistently been right. We were the first to know the name of the X Vario, and THEME’s the first site again to learn more details about Leica’s long rumored, new, more compact system camera. There have been consistent […]
Who didn’t wonder why that Leica X Vario, to be announced on June 11, 2013, has this big and slow of a lens. Maybe, but only maybe good news. The latest Leica teaser suggests a smaller, lighter and — as I would assume — faster lens. Based on my source I stick to my guns […]
The cat’s out of the bag and Leica really must put on a very special show on June 11, 2013, if they want their latest baby to succeed, the Mini M a.k.a Leica X Vario Typ 107. They better make it a low-key event. If you scroll through the various online sites and orums the […]
By KAREL VAN WOLFEREN If sharpness and general image quality are your goal, as it is with me, you avoid zooms and pick the prime lens that you think is right for your subject. But that habit, as we all know, means much fumbling in the camera bag and with switching rear caps while worrying […]
Here’s a variety of 4K video recording Panasonic GH4 bundle specials with nice instant rebates. Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 Mirrorless Digital Camera Body, Black — Bundle With LUMIX Vario 14-140mm F4.0-5.8 ASPH Lens, Panasonic LUMIX DMW-YAGH Interface Unit, 32GB Class 10 SDHC Card, Camera Shoulder Case: $2,699 after $1,500 instant rebate (reg. $4,199, includes free expedited […]
Who doesn’t want to own a Leica. Their optics are unmatched, yet the technology, well, you can’t shoot ISO 25,800 with a Leica, can you. They just don’t have the sensors for that. Now here’s an anecdote I got from a reliable source; an anecdote that makes complete sense without knowing whether it’s true or […]
The Leica X Vario doesn’t sell very well, so Leica puts its hopes into the “Leica T” (codenamed “Taifun”) with interchangeable lenses, to be announced on April 24. Will the T be a serious challenger to mirrorless system cameras? Here is what sources confirm, ahead of the April 24 announcement: APS-C sensor size (1.5x crop […]
Our regular readers know that we have a pretty good track record as to future Leica products. Now Leica Forum posted Leica’s official invitation for the unveiling of the German boutique camera maker’s latest addition: the long expected mirrorless system camera with interchangeable lenses. This wouldn’t be THEME without giving you a bit more meat […]
Gathered own sources, industry chatter and added common sense. Leica isn’t in an enviable position. The competition gathers pace. Leica’s grand strength continues to be its brand recognition and, above all, the optics. The famed Leica advantage however diminishes as the quality of cameras becomes more similar. For instance, I know from personal talks with […]
Leica CEO Alfred Schopf tells THEME in an interview he’s not giving away anything. So don’t expect any breaking news or secret product insights. Nevertheless, we’re assured that Leica’s strategic expansion with the soon-to-be-opened Wetzlar manufacture “will certainly make it easier for us to translate innovations into products.” Next key event Leica is “particularly looking […]
Negativity has become the new favorite pastime of many photographers. Instead of going out and enjoying our cameras, we’re glued to the computer screen and comment on stuff that has nothing to do with our lives. We neither contribute anything positive to society nor are we able to look at ourselves in the mirror and […]
Remember, you read it here first, a week before it was on all the other sites: the ominous X Vario’s name confirmed. But this post is not about unabashed self-promotion. Many photographers obviously want a “Mini M” that Leica marketing suggested. Leica could sell tons of slimmed down M with interchangeable lenses, EVF, image stabilization, […]
A Leica Mini M full-frame EVIL that is. As we know now, thanks to the Leica cock up teaser suggesting that a miniaturized Leica M will see the light of the day on June 11, 2013, Leica calls all its cameras an “M.” The M is a Leica M, the X2 is a Micro M, […]
By JAAP VLEESKRUIJER A smaller camera is less luggage, but will it take lesser photographs? On the road with the Leica CL and Panasonic GX8. Originally I intended this article to be a somewhat technical one, with specifications, IQ comparisons, etc., but when I started processing and printing my images I started to realize that […]
First you think, wow someone hijacking a good old name of the camera industry! Yashica. Some of you younger readers never heard of the name. Yashica was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, founded in 1949. In December 1965, Yashica introduced the world’s first commercially successful electronically controlled 35mm camera, the Electro 35, a popular rangefinder […]
From now through March 4, 2017, Sony is having a “trade-in event” where you can save up to $480 when trading in any lens, mirrorless camera or DSLR. In addition to the trade-in bonus, the customer will also receive the value of their traded-in product as valued by Adorama’s used department. That’s right, you’ll receive […]
By NIGEL FOGG Optics have been mystifying all of us since the 15th century. In an illuminating book called Secret Knowledge (there’s also a BBC series), David Hockney investigates a hunch that, down the centuries, the abilities of hundreds of artists in the small matter of draftsmanship has something very strange about it. With a […]
Meet Teco Barbero, Brazilian, blind, and photographer. In fact, Teco Barbero works as a professional photographer. With a vision of 5%. Unbelievable, but true. He is blind, and has a feel for great images. He sees in the dark. With his hearing, touch, taste and smell. Antônio Valter (Teco) Barbero was born visually impaired, but […]
Now here is a remarkable Kickstarter project: world’s first truly universal camera by Mercury Camera. They call it “a modular, open camera system capable of shooting any format (medium and large format film, digital, Instax…) and using any lens.” The claim is bold. They promise to produce the first universally modular camera. Snake oil? Too […]
By KAREL VAN WOLFEREN Pixel peepers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your mind! Quite literally. All those infected by the bokeh bug ought to know that the verb form of this Japanese term, bokeh suru, means that you are losing it. The bokeh mania will be with us for some […]
In the gold rush, neither the gold diggers nor buyers of the gold made the most money. It was the grocers and hardware stores who made the money, those who sold food, shovels, buckets, hammers, nails and tents. Similar dynamics can be found in today’s photography industry. It’s neither the photographers who make the big […]
Photographic exposures that are insensitive to time — a kind of the opposite of what a digital camera does: keeping track of a history with photographic exposures that completely obliterate time, integrating over weeks, months even… Sounds like dreams of the future? It’s reality, actually, at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Geneva, the mega […]
This is a great looking infographic which has been completed by Mediaworks in conjunction with Clifton Cameras, U.K. Using sources from the BBC and National Geographic, it compares and contrasts the camera lens vs. the eye. It’s a fairly technical piece which takes into account aperture, single-element convex lens tech, angle of incidence and then […]
By KAREL VAN WOLFEREN Ever since Sony offered us a way to get traditional medium format quality photographs with the small and lightweight α7R, sharpness aficionados like me have been been made aware that most of our film era lenses are not quite a match for those wonderful small tools. What was still good and […]
What would we do without the Web. It teaches us many helpful things, such as how to not clean your camera. Now, this being planet earth with various forms of life that have no say in how the human species treat them, it is about time to set a fundamental universal law straight: don’t you […]
It’s a plot for a Hollywood movie. You remember the recent ferry accident in South Korea. Almost 300 people died, many of them schoolchildren. But you didn’t know that a pastor-turned-photographer is the chief suspect in the Sewol tragedy. His name is Yoo Byung-eun — and he’s hard to pin down. Posters flashed across television […]
While I’m not a friend of miniaturization for the sake of miniaturization — you still have to be able to comfortably hold a camera! — Sony engineers once again cheat physics and make possible what seemed to be science fiction not too long ago. The third edition of the successful RX100 lineup with a new […]
Finally able to hit the preorder button: The new 12.2MP low light king Sony A7S with ISO sensitivity of up to 409,600 (!) and 4K video capability is available from Amazon, B&H Photo, Adorama and Sony Store for $2,498. Arriving in July. The new 1-inch sensor, compact king Sony RX100 Mark III with built-in EVF […]
Welcome to Izitru, a new photo hosting service that applies image forensic technology to analyze whether an image originates in-camera or is changed substantially by editing means. To get the service’s highest seal of approval an image must pass six forensic tests. You’ll say every digital image today is in some way post-processed. Some, however, […]
For some those MTF charts are the holy grail when buying a lens. If as a photographer sharpness is important to you, then you must understand this stuff. Right, sharpness means different things to different people. MTF however is like a universal language. It’s the terminology used by lens designers. In the end it’s all […]
