psa

PSA: This Old Photography Scam is Making the Rounds Yet Again

A well-known photography scam is making the rounds again, attempting to prey on desperate photographers who have been out of work during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you receive a suspicious request from a potential "client," followed by "overpayment" of your fee, don't fall for it!

Amazon Let a Fraudster Keep My Sony a7R IV and Refunded Him $2,900

I am an amateur photographer, and I’ve sold cameras non-professionally on Amazon for over eight years as I’ve upgraded. That trend comes to an end with my most recent transaction. In December, I sold a mint-in-box Sony a7R 4, and the buyer used a combination of social engineering and ambiguity to not only end up with the camera, but also the money he paid me.

Fujifilm Warns Film and Instax Users About New Scanners at US Airports

Fujifilm is following Kodak's lead and warning photographers about the new CT scanners being used at many US Airports starting this year. In a notice posted to the Fujifilm website, the company says the new scanners "may provide more damaging to unprocessed film and Instax film than previous generations."

Wacom Tablets Quietly Track Every App You Open

Wacom tablets are popular among photographers who prefer using a pen to a mouse when retouching photos, and Wacom even bundles Photoshop and Lightroom with some of its models to sweeten the package. But if you use a Wacom tablet for your editing work, there's something you should know: your tablet may be quietly tracking all the apps you open on your computer without you knowing it.

Don’t Get Burned by Fake Camera Gear, This Video Warns

A couple of years ago, Canon USA and the National Crime Prevention Council launched a contest called "Stop Fakes" to raise public awareness about the dangers of using counterfeit power accessories. This 26-second video by Anthony Pegg was selected as the winner.

Photographers, Beware THIS Type of Instagram Photo Rights Grab

Photographers, beware: if you're ever contacted by a big brand on Instagram or any other social network with a request to "share your photo," make sure you read the fine print of any terms you're shown. If you don't, you could easily be agreeing to give away unlimited usage of your work.

Defocus Smoothing on Canon’s 85mm Costs You 1.5 Stops of Light at f/1.2

Does that photo of the new Canon 85mm f/1.2L DS IS lens look a bit dark to you? Well, that's because the new Defocus Smoothing coating Canon applied to its latest prime lens isn't without its tradeoffs. Though the Defocus Smoothing that helps improve the look of bokeh in photos, it's going to cost you a stop and a half of light wide open.

Beware: New 3D Airport Scanners Will Wipe Unprocessed Camera Film

Airports around the United States are getting futuristic new CT scanners that give the TSA an instant 3D view of carry-on luggage contents, but the new scanners are a development film photographers should be wary of -- they can reportedly wipe out your unprocessed film with a single scan.

My Facebook Photography Page was Hacked and Used to Scam Hundreds of People

Two months ago, popular photographer and digital artist John Wilhelm's Facebook was hacked. Below, he shares the step-by-step story of how the hack happened, and how the hacker used his very popular Facebook page to scam hundreds of his followers out of their hard-earned money.

Don’t Update to macOS Catalina Yet if You Use Photoshop or Lightroom

If you're a Mac user who regularly uses Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom Classic CC, we don't recommend updating your computer to macOS Catalina just yet. Even though the new operating system has been in beta for months, updating your Mac today will lead to a few annoying issues that you might want to wait for Adobe to iron out.

Do NOT Use this ‘Hack’ to Change Lenses on Your Nikon Z6 and Z7

A video has been making the rounds this week that shows a "hack" for locking down the shutter mechanism while changing lenses on Nikon's full-frame mirrorless Z6 and Z7 cameras. Basically, you remove the battery while the camera is on, causing an error, and change lenses after that. Do NOT do this.

This is How Advance-Fee Scams Trick Photographers

There is a persistent scam going around that is so pervasive that you might think everyone has heard about it and is immune to it. Yet, I often enough see this come up as a question in a Facebook group when a photographer is unsure if an inquiry is a scam. Most often they are. This is how these advance-fee scams work and how photographers are scammed.

The Lie of ‘Medium Format-Level Image Quality’

I, like many of you, watched the Sony a7R IV announcement live stream on Tuesday. I saw them put up the video of the camera and its specs, which I thought looked good as an evolution of their R platform. However, when the lights came back on in the room, the kind man that is the VP of their alpha division debuted the camera to the world with the line: “medium format level image quality”

Apple’s MacBook Pro Battery Recall is No Joke, Here’s What Could Happen

A couple of weeks ago, Apple announced a recall of "a limited number" of Mid-2015 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros because "the battery may overheat and pose a fire safety risk." But if you thought that yours is probably fine and haven't taken the time to check your serial yet, think again. As designer Steven Gagne recently discovered, the "fire safety risk" is very real.

My Nightmare with USPS Insurance in Shipping a Camera Lens

Photography is amazing, but it does require gear. I recently moved from Canon to Sony, so I had to offload a camera body, lenses, flashes, and triggers. I purchased out-of-pocket insurance on all of my gear packages just to have some peace-of-mind.

Adobe Warns That Using Older CC Apps Could Get You Sued

Adobe announced last week that older versions before the latest two major releases of its subscription apps would no longer be available for download through Creative Cloud. But that's not all: Adobe is also warning customers that using older "unauthorized" versions could get you sued.

Photographers, We Need to Put Nature First

What is the most important thing for a photographer? The simple and easy answer is the camera, or something closely related to it (like tripods or lights). And for many photographers that might be true… but not for a nature or landscape photographer. What we prize most, what we need most is uncompromising vistas of land, views unobstructed by the hand of man.

Apple Aperture Won’t Work Anymore After macOS Mojave

Apple killed off Aperture back in 2014, but there are still photographers out there who have opted to continue using the beloved photo editing and management app. If that's you, there's some bad news: Aperture will no longer run on Mac after macOS Mojave.

Photographers, Beware Mindset and Success Coaches

It’s an ongoing joke with my friends and I that I am really not a fan on the current marketing messaging that the “universe has my back” and that the success of my business is down to my “mindset”.

This $2,200 Sony Camera Got Fried by a Tattoo Removal Laser

You probably know that the lasers in concerts and even on self-driving cars can damage your camera's sensor in a direct hit, but did you know that light reflected off skin during laser tattoo removal can also destroy your sensor? Watch this 37-second video to see for yourself.

Kodak’s Kodakit Asks Photographers to Give Up the ‘Entire Copyright’

Kodak launched an on-demand photography service called Kodakit back in January 2017 that aims to connect photographers to brands looking for photography. But there's something all photographers need to know about this "Uber of photography," as it's been called: it demands that you sign over the "entire copyright" to the photos you shoot.

Flickr Pushes Deletion of Over-Quota Photos to March 2019

After limiting free accounts to 1,000 photo and video files, Flickr announced that it would begin deleting data from accounts over that quota starting on February 5th, 2019. Now Flickr has announced that it's giving users more time to download photos by pushing the wipe date back to March 12, 2019.

5 Signs You’re Over-Editing Landscape Photos

One of the more difficult aspects of post-processing is identifying when you’re starting to over edit a photo. It’s common knowledge what many of the characteristics of an over-edited image are, but determining when you’ve gone too far, that’s the challenging part. In this 14-minute video, I break down five tips that have helped me to understand and identify when I’m beginning to over process an image.