Photokina 2014, world’s biggest photography show, is around the corner. Taking place mid-September in Cologne, Germany, all major players use the stage to show off their latest and greatest gear. What’s in store for this year’s biennial Photokina? More DSLRs by Canon and Nikon? New curved and organic sensors? Compelling reasons to upgrade? Let’s have […]
You’ve read all the rumors, now camera and specs are confirmed. The Pentax 645Z medium format camera is officially announced, and boy does Ricoh, the new owner of Pentax, know what it’s doing. At its heart the 645Z has the same 50MP Sony sensor (another growing Sony dominance) as the digital backs of the Hasselblad […]
No. 1: Sony. No. 2: Canon. The difference is not even a percentage point, but for a relative newcomer such as Sony this is quite an achievement. For the first time Sony beats market leader Canon in sales of system cameras. And not anyplace, but in South Korea, an important consumer market with an highly […]
Interesting insights from the Washington Post: why Leica decided to leave its popular R series behind. R lenses could be used on almost any SLR camera. In the end, we learn, it was a strategic decision about capabilities, about a method of winning, about a system in markets… BTW, one of the best all-rounder lenses […]
You can turn and twist it as much as you want. In the end physics can’t be cheated and size still matters. The smaller a sensor = the more compromises you burden yourself with (except if you’re a diehard macro photographer because you’ll love the smaller sensors’ greater depth of field). These past years I’ve […]
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 […]
In the world of news everything gets cheaper. The price of information hits new bottom after bottom. Hey everything’s available on the Net, why pay professionals. Same goes for photography. In the latest irrational, self-inflicted wound that has led to the slow demise of the news business, Reuters fires Gary Hershorn, the global sports pictures […]
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 […]
Who says selfies are selfish and dead. If only Bradley Cooper’s arm were longer. Still, it’s the one spontaneous capture with the probably most ever celebs in one frame. Well Ellen DeGeneres handed her phone to Cooper to do the honors. The selfie got Jennifer Lawrence, Jared Leto, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Brad […]
By BENGT NYMAN The long disputed direction of Hasselblad into laughable rebranding exercises of marginally successful Sony camera products may finally be coming to an end. Mr. Ian Rawcliffe replaces Dr. Larry Hansen as CEO and chairman of the board of Hasselblad. Rawcliffe who? Businessweek, February 24, 2014: Mr. Ian Rawcliffe has been the Chief […]
In case you’ve been waiting for a Canon incarnation of the Nikon Df or something along the lines of Fujifilm’s X series, don’t hold your breath. World’s market leader in cameras has no intention whatsoever of jumping on the bandwagon of the retro hype. While other camera makers such as aforementioned Nikon and Fujifilm as […]
Must confess I like the look of the new Hasselblad HV, a full-frame Sony A99 converted by the Swedes into a stylish, grayish and blackish “DSLR with style, spirit and soul,” as Hasselblad praises its pepped up A99 on luxurious steroids. The camera will be available in an ultra robust, special TTX01 (?!) resin case […]
Others bring colorful orchids and fruits back from Thailand. For the American photojournalist James Nachtwey it will be a gunshot wound. Covering the political crisis in Thailand, he got in the heat of a gunfight in Laksi, north of Bangkok. Nachtwey was hit in the leg and the bullet passed right through. This being James […]
This kind of confirms our earlier report that Leica this year will shift the medium format S from CCD to CMOS sensor technology, as introduced with the Leica M Typ 240 earlier on. Now Hasselblad confirms they’re about to launch world’s first medium format CMOS sensor camera, meaning medium format will offer — in the […]
Within not even two years, Fujifilm’s X series of retro-styled cameras with a film feel and manual controls was able to build up a loyal following among photographers. Quite a few Leica users left the German’s boutique camera maker camp while newbies and established photographers looking for a compact system camera with state-of-the-art imaging technology […]
After Phil Schiller, Apple’s vice president of marketing, famously told photographers to stop learning, Apple and the iPhone will do the work for you, is Fujifilm seriously trying to follow suit?! Schiller back in September 2013 said, “It used to be the way you take better pictures is you learn to be a better photographer.” […]
Al Jazeera explores the question whether photojournalism is dying. How real is the digitally-driven crisis in photojournalism? Newsrooms across the globe are shrinking and budgets slashed. Hardest hit are photojournalists. But… imagine stories without images. One would think that good news photography serves as an entry point to a story by providing a visual reference […]
With the unveiling of the fast lovely looking XF 56mm F1.2 R portrait lens for X mount Fujifilm introduced its updated XF lens roadmap for 2014 and 2015. Altogether this brings the number of lenses for the X series to 17. Oh, and Fujifilm announced a black X100S ($1,299) and the up to 100x superzoom […]
Reuters — Panasonic and Japan’s other mid-tier camera makers have a battle on their hands to win over a smartphone “selfie” generation to mirrorless cameras that held such promise when they were launched around five years ago. Panasonic, like peers Fujifilm and Olympus, has been losing money on its cameras since mobile phones that take […]
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 […]
This is one of the lucky finds that happen about once every lifetime. You may argue that photography and humor don’t mix, not to mention satire! Right, photography’s a serious business. But only if we take ourselves way too seriously. That’s where New Camera News comes in, an ingenious photography site dedicated to “the lighter […]
You might have heard of Alex Komarov, a photographer who not only takes photos but also collects and documents Russian and Soviet era cameras, some of which in the times of the cold war were used as spy cameras. See his site fotoua.com. These cameras were long since declassified as tools for covert activities by […]
So you thought taking lots of photos will prevent you from forgetting anything? Psychologists believe the opposite is the case. People who constantly takes pictures remember significantly less than those who observe. Now here’s a scientific study: those who had taken photos of the artifacts struggled to describe the objects, while those who hadn’t, remembered […]
By NATE THAYER On July 25, 1997, I was the first outsider to meet Pol Pot since he killed 1.8 million people 20 years before. It was, for a couple of days, the biggest story in the world. I, as a freelance journalist, had the the only photographs and video and eyewitness account that existed […]
Nearly 166 years of war and broadly capturing what happens before, during and after battle — that’s what a Houston exhibit called War Photography, Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath is about. This exhibit is possible because photographers have recorded their experiences in and around armed conflicts since the 19th century. The atrocities, the […]
This is of course all speculation. The Sony A7s do take off and at one point Canon and Nikon will have to throw their hats in the game. Newcomers, gear nerds, enthusiasts and professional photographers, they’re all showing genuine interest for full-frame mirrorless. But neither Canon nor Nikon Rumors has said anything so far about […]
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 […]
Interesting article by the New York Times on Fujifilm finding its niche as digital camera sales sputter: old-style cameras that mask a high-tech core. For certain work you can’t replace a D800 or 5D Mark III. But it’s just not that much fun. Et voilà the state-of-the-art and retro-looking Fujifilm X series, designed by Masazumi […]
An official Nikon Q&A on the occasion of financial results for Q2 of the year ending March 31, 2014, reveals some interesting tidbits and strategic objectives; objectives that we actually discuss quite often here on THEME. Expect a shift to cameras with higher margins; might well be that the Nikon Df is a strategic corporate […]
Surprise surprise. Weren’t we expecting an EOS M update? This looks like the silhouette of a DSLR, to be introduced sometime this month. It’s from a Canon Korea teaser. Translation: “November 2013, Canon will start from the white world. Coming Soon.” White world. White Canon? Seems to be the new game in town to tease […]
