September 2017 – Shutterbugging dot Net

Dear Canon, again

Dear Canon, What Happened To Your Innovation? writes Jason Futrill on PetaPixel.

[…] — since the launch of the Canon 5D Mark II way back in March 2008 it has been extremely hard to be genuinely excited about any new cameras you have released. And here is why: the Canon 5D Mark II is, in my opinion, the last truly “innovative” camera you have developed and released.

I had one specific issue with the 6DMkII before the reviews came around to show it was not just the lack of 4K video. Canon is slow to disrupt itself, which mean that competitors are doing it instead. I also love L glass. Still love my 5DMkII for photography. But recently I have gotten more excited about Fujifilm that has been providing its customers new feature through software, high quality lenses, and not afraid to push the limit for video.

Polaroid is back!

I wrote a few month back about Polaroid coming full circle.

It seems that today, on the 80th anniversary of the original Polaroid company by Edwin Land, the idea is coming to fruition, as Polaroid Originals is born. Dedicated to instant film photography Polaroid Original offers a new instant film camera, the OneStep 2, and its companion film the i-Type. Along this, they offer film for the vintage 600, Spectra and SX70 Polaroid cameras.

The OneStep 2 looks like a modern version of the Polaroid OneStep with a built in rechargeable battery (via USB).

The i-Type film looks like Polaroid 600 film pack, but cheaper. Although the OneStep 2 accepts 600 film packs, but the cheaper i-Type can’t be used in vintage Polaroid 600 cameras.

At US$99, the OneStep 2 is reasonably priced. US$15.99 for an 8 exposures film pack is a bit on the expensive side compared to Instax, but cheaper than Impossible Project film. Also, it seems that the price for the vintage formats has been lowered too. Let’s hope that this be successful to allow the R&D to reduce the cost as they scale up the business.

Impossible Project is no more. Vive Polaroid Originals.

Fujifilm news: X-E3, new lenses, 4K firmware update

Fujifilm announced the X-E3. An upgrade to the X-E2S. The control get the same update like touch screen, AF joystick, AF touchpad, 24MP. It will also have 4K video (hello Canon!) like the rest of the X-series. Price will be ~US$900, ~US$1,300 with the 18-55 OIS.

The lens roadmap was updated, with a 80mm f2.8 OIS WR Macro with 1:1 magnification for November 2017, and later a 8-16mm f2.8 WR ultra-wide zoom and a 200mm f2 OIS WR, the later being compatible with the teleconverters.

Fujifilm also announced firmware updates for the other models (X-Pro2, X-T2 X100F, X-T20) to be released in November / December 2017. The X-Pro2 is getting 4K video with this firmware upgrade.

I think I’m no longer hung on my upgrade path, taking video into consideration. It will be Fuji X.