Sunset on the lake (October 8th 2017)
Chapelle Saint-Bernard (October 8th 2017)
Fall on the road (October 8th 2017)
From above (October 9th 2017)
Is Yashica back?
Usually a question as the headline means a “no” as an answer. This time as well.
Last month, Yashica teased us about their comeback.
Today, they announced the Kickstarter for digiFilm™, already funded in less than 24h.
In both appearance and sensation, YASHICA Y35 recaptures the joy and meaning of analogue-photography but eliminating the time and expense required for film development.
A cheap digital camera (plastic body), 14 megapixel 1/3.2″ sensor, optical viewfinder, 35mm equivalent f2.8 lens, no screen, no edit, with a system called digiFilm™ to load “presets” onto the camera. And to fool you, one has to needlessly “wind” the camera up before starting to shoot. Each of these digiFilm™ cost money (~US$18) and they provide different ISO, colour, or even aspect ratio.
Looks like a novelty gadget, not something that will make Yashica serious choice like it once was.
Underwhelming.
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.
Dear Canon
Dear Canon,
You just announced the 6D MkII to update the aging 6D. Nice. Flip screen, dual pixel AF (which mean fast auto-focus in live view mode including video), you got in with the programme. No 4K video, WHAT?
When you released the 5D MkII in 2009, you put the video mode and led the industry and it was so good that it was used to film major TV features. You improved it and spread it through the whole range of EOS DSLR including the entry level Rebels. The 80D is one of YouTube content producers favourite, with a great auto-focus, the flip screen, while still only 1080p.
I know the 6D MkII is a camera for photographers and is definitely not targeted at those that make a living out if it, no doubt about that. But not differently than the 80D. So why not offering 4K for video? I’m sure you are eager to sell one of these EOS Cinema, or more 5D MkIV or 1D that are so much more expensive, but people might actually go with the similarly priced Sony, that has adapters for EF lenses and do 4K. You should disrupt yourself, otherwise you will be disrupted. You could have a very attractive camera for video creators that can’t really or don’t really need an EOS Cinema.
Also let’s talk about the EOS-M or the G series (the G7X MkII in particular), I really hope you next iteration will have 4K. Even Nikon has a 4K compact camera in the same range of the G7X MkII, for less money. Sony has the RX100M5. Even the M4 and its problem did 4K.
And I’ll be honest, had you put 4K on the 6D MkII, you’d have my pre-order right here. Instead maybe I’ll stick to Fuji X series.
Polaroid coming full circle.
Polaroid is going full circle. Petapixel tells us that Polaroid is being Acquired by The Impossible Project’s Largest Shareholder.
To put this into context, The Impossible Project is the company that was founded to produce Polaroid compatible instant film after it was end-of-life. It was a hard task as they needed to reinvent it, and to that effect bought from Polaroid their last factory in the Netherland. On the other hand Polaroid, the company that was synonymous of instant photography, went bankrupt and ended up being just a brand selling electronics. It is only recently that the owner of the Polaroid brand started to sell Polaroid branded instant film products, dubbed Polaroid 300, based on Fujifilm Instax Mini 7.
The bigger irony is that the Fujifilm instant film technology was only allowed to exist with licensing agreement from the original Polaroid after Kodak lost big in a lawsuit.
To summarize the history:
– Polaroid invent instant film.
– Kodak develop instant film and get taken down by Polaroid.
– Fujifilm, in light of this, settled with Polaroid.
– Polaroid goes bankrupt.
– Polaroid stops instant film.
– Impossible Project starts from the ashes of Polaroid technologies and manufacturing to manufacture and sell film for Polaroid 600 and Polaroid SX70 cameras.
– Fujifilm Instax thrives.
– Polaroid is just a brand, that changed hands more than once, used to sell many things.
– Polaroid sells rebranded Fujifilm Instax Mini 7 as Polaroid 300.
– Impossible Project release their first instant camera the Impossible Project I-1.
– The Smolokowski family, who purchased a large stake of Impossible Project, is now buying the Polaroid brand.
Now, while one can’t speculate of what will happen, it seems that Polaroid has now come full circle. I do believe that leveraging the brand and distribution network for Impossible Project would make sense to expand the instant photography business.
If you are interested in the story of Polaroid, I can’t recommend enough Christopher Bonanos’ book Instant: The Story of Polaroid.