In response to struggling film sales, Fujifilm has repeatedly discontinued unprofitable lines and raised prices over the past several years. The company has now announced its latest round of price increases and film discontinuations for its Japanese market in an attempt to make sure that its popular and profitable films can live on.
Two recent camera releases have me scratching my head. The first is the M-A, the latest model from Leica. The primary selling point seems to be that this is a completely mechanical camera. No battery, no meter, no LCD, no autofocus, no frills. What the camera lacks in modern features it makes up for in mechanic precision and simplicity. Instead of busy screens you "read the shutter speed and aperture directly from the camera and lens and so fully concentrate on the subject."
Fujifilm is making a name for itself as a company that truly supports the cameras it puts on the market. By delivering major firmware updates for existing models (even ones that have been discontinued and replaced) they make it less likely that people will upgrade, but simultaneously build fierce customer loyalty.
Today, Fuji continues down this road with firmware 2.0 for the X-E2: a major update that brings the X-T1's nearly no-lag EVF performance and more to the older shooter.
There's a good chance you're sick of reading about Fujifilm this week. But with the fever-pitch buzz surrounding the release of the X-T1, it's not often that we consider the business behind these popular cameras.
Let's take a moment to reflect on the unique history of the Fujifilm X-Series, and the ways in which it reinvigorated both the company that created it and the camera industry as a whole.
The hearts of many a film photographer sank last June when it was reported that Fujifilm would soon be killing off most of its Velvia film lines, including all off the sheet film lines, leaving only 35mm and 120 format films for Velvia 50. If you're one of the people who went out and began stockpiling the film for future use, here's some good (and perhaps bad?) news for you: reports of Velvia's death were greatly exaggerated.
Fujifilm made quite a splash in the camera industry when it announced the sleek X100 back in September 2010, but since then the camera's spotlight has been stolen by newer interchangeable-lens followups, namely the X-Pro1 and the X-E1.
When the X100 was discontinued back in July, many expected to see a followup announced at Photokina in September. It wasn't. However, it now appears that the camera will be launched in early 2013, equipped with the same X-Trans sensor technology as its interchangeable-lens siblings.
Now that July is just about over with, only one month and a few weeks separate us from the start of Photokina on September 18th. And as the wait becomes progressively shorter, speculation about who may be announcing what is gradually ramping up. The most recent batch of speculation has to do with Fuji and the fact that the X100 is now showing up as discontinued on Crutchfield, as well as $200 off at both Amazon and B&H.
Things aren't look very bright in the world of film. Citing plummeting consumer demand for silver halide films, Fujifilm has announced that they're cutting a number of films in the lineup in order to ensure that production of films -- presumably the more popular ones -- will continue. They've already stopped producing the discontinued films, so you might want to grab some rolls and freeze them before they become extinct...
Photographer Spencer Tunick has captured groups of nudes in close to 100 public spaces all over the world. His largest masterpiece was a group of 18,000 people who took off their clothes in Mexico City’s Zocalo Square, the heart of the ancient Aztec empire.
It feels like only yesterday when there was a steady stream of news about film stocks being discontinued. Lately, however, there have been new film products hitting the scene, which is incredible news for analog photography enthusiasts.
I’m not just a camera history nerd, I’m also a huge fan of weird things in general. Weird and unique technology is especially fascinating, and I’m sure many readers here share the same sentiment.
At a marketing event in Taipei earlier this month, Ricoh executives answered wide-ranging questions about Pentax's strategy, including the status of the company's DSLR cameras and its highly anticipated film camera revival.
This week on The PetaPixel Podcast, the team is joined by camera expert Jim Kasson who explains what he found in testing the new medium format Fujifilm GFX100 II and why it matters.
Merriam-Webster defines “retro” as “fashionably nostalgic or old-fashioned.” With the rise in popularity of shooting on film over the past few years and the extraordinary success of instant cameras among the general populace, I think it is fair to say that retro cameras are likewise lusted after by many.
Sometimes, having an original idea isn’t everything. Innovation can strike at the wrong moment, fizzing out before it has a chance to materialize.
I write about a lot of things here at PetaPixel -- reviews, guides, technical articles, opinion pieces -- but one of my favorite topics to write about is the history of photography. As an avid user and collector of vintage cameras and lenses, I have passionately absorbed as much knowledge about their history as possible over many years. Like studying world history, there is much value in understanding where we came from and what got to us where we are now.
The compact camera, also known colloquially as the point-and-shoot camera, has been a staple of the photography world for over a century. Perhaps the first mass-market compact camera was introduced in 1900 by Eastman Kodak, costing a mere one dollar (about $36 today).
Greg Gorman is a celebrity and portrait photographer with numerous iconic images to his credit. He does not "shoot anything that can't talk back" to him.
While attending the CP+ 2023 show in Yokohama, Japan, back in February, I had the opportunity to meet with independent lens manufacturer Tamron. It had been a very long time since my last official contact with them, and a lot has changed over the intervening years. (The last time I attended a formal Tamron event was all the way back in 2015, when they introduced their excellent f/1.8 wide-angle primes.)
Zeiss has clarified its position in the photography market and soundly denied allegations that it is leaving the photography industry. That said, don't expect a follow-up to its Android-powered ZX1 camera.
Cameras all have a pretty solid set of features and design elements that appeal to a wide range of users. But, for the most part, pretty much all of them lack a set of features that would make them all a lot more powerful and enjoyable to use.
I don’t enjoy my Zenit camera (it keeps chewing up film) but the lens that comes with it (the Helios 44/2) is legendary for its surreal swirly bokeh, so is an excellent choice to adapt. It’s often cheaper to buy the camera and steal the lens than buy a copy of the lens.
The Z30 mirrorless camera is Nikon's third APS-C (DX) system that takes advantage of the Z-mount. While clearly marketed at content creators, vloggers, and social media influencers, the compact system has everything a solo-operating content creator needs to get up and running for video and photo.
The Zeiss ZX1 promised "intuitive" photography that mixed a standalone camera with smartphone software. But now that it's marked as discontinued, is this finally the end of the Android camera?
Released in 1971, the Polaroid Big Shot was a funky, green plastic camera that was built for one thing: portraits. The plastic behemoth is simply designed, using a fixed focus 200mm, single-element plastic meniscus lens.
7Artisans has announced a new large-aperture prime lens for the Leica M Mount, the M35mm f/2 Mark II, an updated model of its previous 35mm f/2 for Leica rangefinders that has since been discontinued.
Film is back, and with its booming popularity, there are a lot of options to try. These are our top picks for the best 35mm film you can find today for a range of use cases.
Episode 372 of the PetaPixel Photography Podcast.
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Featured: Photographer, Carolyn Hutchins
The death of the DSLR has long been vaunted, and even after the appearance of the RF and Z mirrorless systems, it still sees signs of life. But dedicated lens manufacturers might finally have killed it off.
Episode 371 of the PetaPixel Photography Podcast.
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Featured: Photographer, Ivan Weiss