Canon

March 2026 Links

Will it Finally Happen? A New Macro Lens Longer Than 100mm With Variable Magnification — A little refresher on Canon Macro lenses, with the legendary MP-E 65mm f2.8 5:1 magnification and the more recent EF 180 f3.5L USM. The MP-E 65mm was really a unique lens and has been discontinued for a while.

Fujfilm

Fujifilm X-E5 Review: Their Best Camera So Far — A review of the Fujifilm X-E5 by Alik Griffin. Still writing mine.

Panasonic

Panasonic sees the compact camera renaissance as an opportunity for Lumix — An interview by DPReview of Panasonic executives in wish they say that the compact camera market is growing again, that they are still committed to m4/3, and of course the full frame Lumix L. This is before they announced the ZS300/TZ300.

Instax

TTArtisan Wants You to Pay $400 to Beta Test Its Folding Instant Camera — I mentioned the TTArtisan Instax camera last year. There were conflicting report that it might have been cancelled, blocked by Fujfilm. No. It’s just taking time to develop and this update show it might be happening. Albeit this announcement show an unusual (to say the least) practice of selling a “beta” version for US$400. How much will the final product be?

Film

The Darkroom of Death: 10 Forgotten Hazards of Early Photography — Film processing is full of chemicals, some more toxic than other. It’s one of the reasons contributing to some films being discontinued in the 21st century: Kodachrome, Velvia, or process upgraded. Most of these processes have been replaced by less toxic ones.

Photographers

Doriyan Coleman Sees Poetry on the Streets of Cleveland, and He Has the Exhibition to Prove It — An interview with Doriyan Coleman.

The 10 Incredible Women Photographers to Follow Today (NSFW) — Always good to discover new artists.

DIY

Camera Geekery: Kodak Aerochrome cameras — On Japan Camera Hunter, a story of building a medium format camera.

This gorgeous DIY camera looks straight out of Severance — DPReview tested that DIY Saturnix digital camera.

February 2026 links

Film

Keeping up with the Kodak(ians) — What has been happening with Kodak, a tl;dr.

Film recipes

Realaty Film Simulation Recipe — Another film recipe based on Reala Ace.

Canon

Everything You’ll Ever Need to Know About Canon Lens Mounts and Compatibility — Notable omission in the article is the older FL mount.

DIY

BeerPAN 35mm SLR Makes Panoramic Film Photography Accessible — A prototype of a Panoramic film SLR camera. Interesting beast.

This 3D-Printed Camera Can Make You Fall in Love With Panoramic Analog Photography — Another 3D printable panoramic film camera.

This 6×17 Camera Could Revolutionize Panoramic Film Photography — Same camera as above.

Stata Center, MIT (11 October 2008)

I building with a reflective silver-ish siding. The windows are not aligned but rather in an curve, so is the buillding. Behind a more traditional modern brick building. To the side an even more shiny part of the building. That style is characteristic to Frank Gehry's style of architecture. — Stata center, MIT, Cambridge, MA
Building designed by Canadian American architect Frank Gehry.
11 October 2008
Canon 20D, Sigma 15mm f/2.8 EX Fisheye.

Frank Gehry passed away this week. This is to my knowledge the only building he designed I have taken pictures of. It was last time I went to Cambridge, MA. It has been a while.

The Stata Center or Building 32 is part of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It was opened in March 2004. Source: Wikipedia

The picture was taken with the Sigma 15mm f/2.8 EX Fisheye on a Canon 20D. The APS-C crop lead to less pronounced fisheye distortion. It was at the time my widest lens, which is an equivalent of a 24mm FoV on full frame.

August 2025 links

Insider: Fujifilm X-T5 Disassembly and Teardown — Don’t try this at home. IRRecams do modify cameras for IR photography, and this is them looking at the X-T5. But useful if you need a guide to repair.

Kolari Canon EOS R50V Teardown and Disassembly — Another teardown by IR conversion specialists. This time the EOS R 50V.

DPReview Fujifilm X-E5 in-depth review.

Kosmofoto reports that 10Art.CC announces reimagined version of the Polaroid SX-70 — Another interesting take on reviving vintage camera with specific format.

Canon V-Series

“V-Series”: I just made up that name. On March 26, for their video-first cameras line, Canon announced the global availability of the PowerShot V1, hoping that they sorted their manufacturing capacity. They also announced the Canon EOS R50V, a reworked version of the entry level APS-C sensor EOS R50, stripped of the viewfinder, and with improvements to the video mode. It comes (optionally) with a kit lens 14-30mm f/4-6.3 PZ. Body only, its cost is barely less than the R50, and with the kit lens it is still cheaper than the PowerShot V1:

The Canadian prices are:

PowerShot V1 CA$1,349.00
EOS R50V w/ 14-30mm CA$1,279.00

This is supposed to compete with Sony ZV line of cameras. The Sony ZV-1 II is CA$1,199.00, while the ZV-E10 II without lens a 16-50 is CA$1,499 and would compete with the V1 and R50V respectively.

This is more than the PowerShot G7X MarkIII (CA$1,069.00), or even the Fujifilm X-M5 (CA$1,199.00 with the 15-45mm).

News: Hard to get Canon PowerShot V1

To the surprise of no one, DPReview tells us Hard to get: Canon delays orders of new V1 compact amid high demand:

Canon Announced its PowerShot V1 compact just a few weeks ago, with pre-orders only recently opening for those in Asia. Despite that, DCWatch reported that Canon has already warned that demand is high and delivery may be delayed as a result, potentially delaying its availability to the rest of the world.

Also

The PowerShot G7 X III, despite being six years old, has such high demand that Canon is suspending orders indefinitely to catch up.

And rumors are that Fujifilm is suspending order for the X-M5 as well as they can’t keep up with the demand.

I might have to get a Sony to replace my non-longer-working G7 X II I use for video.

News: Canon PowerShot V1

Well…

The PowerShot G7X Mk3 has been unobtainium for a while (over a year) as my G7X MkII has been malfunctioning/breaking down, and I couldn’t replace it unless I got a Sony.

There was rumors, and they are true. Canon unveiled the PowerShot V1. This video-first camera is their answer to the Sony ZV-1, the “vlogging” camera. One big caveat: you can only get it in major Asian markets, in April 2025.

A few bits: the sensor is roughly the size of a m4/3 sensor, but in 3:2 aspect ratio, which is larger than on the G7X, it has IS, audio jack for input and output, articulated screen, 4K, and a 16-50mm equivalent.

From the picture it looks more bulky, with a bigger grip than the G7X.

To be determined is the price, and the availability in Canada (and the rest of the world).

For reference the G7X MkIII has a MSRP of CA$1,069.00, and the MarkII was about CA$100 less, the Fujfilm X-M5 with the kit lens is CA$1,199.00, and the Sony Z-V1 II is CA$999.00

To be continued.

Update: The price would be ¥148,500 which is about CA$1,400 (incl. 10% VAT)

Stairs

Link: Manufacturers Were Unprepared for the Point And Shoot Camera Revival

Petapixel, back in August: Manufacturers Were Unprepared for the Point And Shoot Camera Revival

As a result, 2019 saw the last major point-and-shoot releases from Canon, Nikon, and Panasonic. While Sony’s latest photography-first point-and-shoot, the RX100 VII, also released in 2019, newer pocket-sized models like the ZV-1 II and ZV-1F have shifted towards focusing on vlogging and content creation.

I have been complaining about the lack of availability of both the Fujifilm X100VI that is literally unobtainium and something to replace my defective G7X MkII (Canon is out of stock everywhere and whoever answers the Canon forums gaslight readers by telling them to check their retailers, while they can’t even replace camera they refuse to repair).

I really don’t enjoy smart phone as camera. In the beginning it was the quality, then at one point it ended being good enough, and I enjoyed it for a bit. But I’m over this. Don’t get me wrong the best camera is the one I have with me, and likely I have a phone, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy using it or that it inspires me. Also now with “computational photography” they add plenty of software to make them look better, sometime just turning the photo to goop like I have seen on some cheap Android smartphones.

We’ll see what the future brings.

RIP my Canon G7X Mark II

It was already a bit finicky last summer. But this time it really is: my Canon G7X Mark II is dead.

This is a camera I bought mostly for video vlogging and others. It was my work horse for the few videos I uploaded on YouTube, but I didn’t use it much for photography, even though it’s very capable as I always preferred my Fuji X or the phone as convenience.

The symptoms. I have a freshly charged battery.

– Press the power on button
– The lens extends as the Canon logo appear on the screen. So there is power and the screen works.
– At that point after the green activity led blinks, the screen shuts off, while the lens stay extended.
– The zoom control do nothing, nor do the shutter. The mode dial don’t seem to change anything.
– The power switch doesn’t do anything either so I can’t turn off and retract the lens.
– The only button that does anything is the playback button. Pressing it, retracts the lens and enables playback, showing the pictures on the card. I even got the clock setup as the battery was drained for long enough. Another confirmation the screen works. Including touch, as was as the control wheel.
– Pressing the video record button or the shutter triggers the lens extension. But then the screen turns black, like if nothing came from the camera sensor, and switches off.
– The only way to switch the camera off is to press playback and then the power button act normally to retract the lens.

Has anyone any idea?

Some samples I took with it (pardon Penny’s cuteness):

KVB Piusstraße U-Bahn station, Cologne, Germany

Passenger reading a magazine, on a flight somewhere between Montréal and London.

And one of the first pictures I took with it:

I might as well just replace it. Shall I get the G7X MkIII ? I’d like to avoid Sony.

I’m not excluding taking a crack at fixing it as it could be a benign problem. I don’t think it’s worth getting it serviced otherwise given the cost.