Amazing that one year after the launch of the revolutionary large sensor RX100 Sony is still in a position to sell the camera without substantial discounts. Still, now you can get several RX100 bundles for some $600 — and nice RX100 II bundles for $748 upwards. If you ask me the extra $150 are worth […]
Shuttered Italian company Ferrania makes any film aficionado’s heart beat faster. “The future of analog film starts again from Italy,” says their motto. The Italians are going to revive a professional color reversal film derived from Scotch Chrome 100. The new film is a re-engineered version of the Scotch Chrome 100 previously produced by Imation. […]
By BENGT NYMAN Film resolution and later image sensor resolution used to be the limiting factor driving the design of the equipment used in photographic image capturing. For example, we take the continuously variable zoom lens for granted. It was once necessary to accurately frame just the part that we wanted to become our image. […]
This is actually quite big and I’m a bit surprised that no major camera or lens maker has yet bought up Swiss company Optotune for their ingenious invention of a focus tunable lens — or in other words: of optics that are no longer based on solid glass or plastic lenses that move back and […]
German magazine Spiegel has an excellent interview with photographer Roger Ballen, a black-and-white film photographer for nearly 50 years who believes that he’s part of the last generation that will grow up with this media. Black and white, says Balen, is a very minimalist art form and unlike color photographs does not pretend to mimic […]
The amazing Sony RX100 II is in stock at Amazon and B&H. The RX100 II’s additional flexibility over the already very capable RX100 makes the successor a very attractive proposition for enthusiasts who want a lot of power in a small package. What’s new? 1-inch 20.2MP Exmor R sensor for extreme low light shots Bright […]
Let’s go back in time a bit, to the year 1840 exactly, the birth of the legendary Petzval lens developed by Joseph Petzval. The lens revolutionized photography thansk to its F3.6 aperture which was considerably faster than other lenses of that time. But not only its speed made this piece of glass consisting of two […]
Toronto war doc Under Fire: Journalists in Combat is a documentary about the psychological cost of journalists and photographers covering war. We all think to understand what’s going on around the world, but who really understands what war really means. It’s mainly thanks to war journalists and photographers that the outside world has at least […]
By MICHAEL ERLEWINE Just when you think there are no more new opportunities, one pops up, in this case a demographic not yet exploited by big advertising: the entire world of hotel and college dorm rooms. Hotels all over the U.S. and the world are jettisoning some of the standard cable channels and simply building […]
Text by BEATRIZ SILVA Photos by LORENZO MOSCIA The monumental transformation undergone by Barcelona with the 1992 Olympic Games has failed to make disappear the diverse working-class city full of contrasts disappear where Pablo Picasso began painting in 1896. It is not necessary to venture too deep into the narrow streets of the El Raval […]
By IMPROMPTU IMPRESSION We photographers like to talk gear and in a way we are all geeks. The late great Ansel Adams even made a name out of how to best utilize gear in the form of the fabled Zone System. But there is another side to us photographers too, very much out of geek’s […]
This is in part a continuation of B. D. Colen’s thought-inducing The Subject Is Black and White, dealing with the question that a color photograph may or may not distract from the subject. Without light — or wavelenghts for that — everything is black, right? Let’s assume every person sees black as is, as black. […]
While CaNikon — the still dominant players in the standalone camera market — keep on copying each other and incrementally improve their technologies, competitors Fujifilm and Sony are thinking outside the box. While Fujifilm is betting on the retro form factor supported by its outstanding experience in imaging technology, Sony pushes the limits — what […]
By B. D. COLEN One of the few inviolate rules I force upon my documentary photo students is that they may not use Photoshop or other processing software to manipulate images beyond making the normal adjustments that would be made in a traditional darkroom — no adding anything to, or subtracting it from the image; […]
It’s an age-old question dividing photographers again and again. What’s more important. The photographer or gear. We all know the answer. The photographer. Or is it? When the shot does well, it’s the photographer. When it sucks, it’s the camera. All things being equal, the better photographer will usually get better shots while better gear […]
Here’s a photography study by, surprise surprise, consumer giant Unilever’s personal care brand Dove. Right, they want women and men to look and feel beautiful. According to a new Dove global research, self-awareness and photography are closely related. If you don’t feel confident, you don’t want to have your picture taken. Women obviously feel less […]
Unbelievable. The Canon EOS M might not be the sexiest camera, but it’s a solid reliable performer that can serve as a decent backup. B&H slashes the EOS M prices. Check this — please note these are limited time offers: Canon EOS M (black) with EF-M 22mm F2 STM Lens for $299 (price drop of […]
By DIEGO GIUDICE After five years without visiting the USA, last month I had the opportunity to fly for a few days to San Francisco, California. I always enjoyed the U.S., among other things because I could catch up with a vast variety of newspapers and magazines of the highest quality, a fact that over […]
This has been rumored for years, that Apple will reinvent photography — which in part the company has already succeeded in. Look how the iPhone changed photography and the way we take and use pictures. Every day, more photos are taken with an iPhone than any other camera. But iPhoneography is still one big compromise. […]
Am a bit busy these days and shooting a Samsung NX300. Not a shabby camera at all! But how does it compare to others — and more importantly, could NX be a system for you? You’ll soon have it answered right here on THEME. But first: As we all know, a robust DSLR does really […]
By BRIAN SWEENEY I’ve put together another article, this time on the C-Sonnar. “Once upon a time” optical engineers wrote books aimed at photographers wanting to understand more about the instruments that they use. They actually explained things like “focus shift” and “spherical aberration.” I’ve tried to apply lessons learned from Carroll Bernard Neblette (Photographic […]
Say what you want, but that’s an aggressive price point for the latest X series Fujifilm is offering: The Fujifilm X-M1 digital camera, 16.3MP, with 3″ tilting screen and Wi-Fi, comes from Amazon in black, silver and fancy brown leatherette with silver accents, a new color more and more camera makers seem to embrace (or […]
By BENGT NYMAN I am a great fan of DxOMark test results, produced under uncompromising rigor and objectivity. I chose my last camera and lenses based on DxO Labs’ test results and I am very pleased with the results. The DxOMark test results for the Nikon D800(E) initially drew criticism from a die hard crowd […]
Lomography is all about going back to the basics, about analog photography stripped down to its bare essentials without the bells and whistles fancier gear comes with. Right, you don’t want to see MTF charts of those plastic lenses, but then again, once you use a, say Konstruktor, you might be amazed by the image […]
The New York Times’ Lens Blog just published a beautiful two-part series with journalist and filmmaker Sheila Turner-Seed interviewing Henri Cartier-Bresson in his Paris studio in 1971. The interview was only discovered in 2011. Not much to add. You have to read the whole thing for yourself. Straight-forward answers of a blessed photographer who never […]
Here’s one for the budding and seasoned photographers among you. A new online photo service has just been launched called LightRocket. The service is the brainchild of photographers Peter Charlesworth and Yvan Cohen, the co-founders of OnAsia Images, an online photo agency created over a decade ago representing a select group of professional photographers covering […]
By JAWAD RIACHI I have been lately disturbed by the recent trend of camera manufacturers. So many cameras in so many different forms are being introduced to the market, all at different prices, yet I cannot find one which I can connect with. I want a small form cameras with high image quality and preferably […]
By AROON THAEWCHATTURAT Many thanks to Daniel for publishing my Sacred Skin portraits. These photographs are part of an illustrated book titled Sacred Skin — Thailand’s Spirit Tattoos, published with a text by Tom Vater. During the course of my project, I was able to explore cultural paths through Thailand that are barely represented in […]
This one’s for Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sigma and Sony mounts: the rather revolutionary, market’s first zoom lens to achieve a maximum aperture of F1.8 throughout the entire zoom range from 18mm to 35mm — which translates to a focal range equivalence of 27-52.5mm on a 35mm camera. This outstanding Sigma lens was specifically created for […]
Specs-wise, they got a promising lineup. Look at Samsung’s mirrorless NX300: fast AF, and I mean fast, just to mention Usain Bolt who gives his name for it. Excellent noise handling with incremental ISO steps, spot-on natural colors and tones, fantastic prime pancakes, a sleek design and don’t forget the plus of instant Wi-Fi image […]
