Category: Links

July 2025 Links

Michael Nguyen from Japan Camera Hunter writes about the Plaubel Makina 67, an uncommon medium format 6×7 rangefinder of Japanese-German design from the late 70s, with its specially designed Nikkor lens.

From the colour-film-dept

Kosmofoto reports KONO! announces KONO Color 200 colour negative film, a made-in-Germany colour negative, rumoured to be ORWO NC200.

Also as a follow-up from a previous post, Kosmofoto tells us that China Lucky Film’s new colour film ‘launched in July at Chinese trade show’. Price will be around US$7 and a first batch of 10000 rolls will be produced initially.

Black and white slide

Kosmofoto tell Euston 400 is a black-and-white slide film from London film lab Aperture Printing. If you are in London this is a higher sensitivity film than the Adox Scala with the corresponding chemistry, and they develop it for you. It’s in limited quantity.

Sony RX1R III

Imaging resource: Sony RX1R III Review: A $5,000 Letdown in a Familiar Shell. Lack of IBIS, still the older lens, the lack of tilting screen that the previous iteration had, and the battery life. Because the camera is US$5000.

June 2025 links

Fujifilm

Some Fujifilm reviews around.

DPReview on the GFX100 RF: their comprehensive review of the camera we talked about previously.

Photographyblog got their hands on the Fujifilm X-E5 and the 23mm pancake: Fujifilm X-E5 Review, Fujifilm XF 23mm F2.8 R WR Review, and then they compare the X-E5 with the X-E4.

Misc

WIRED on How Apple Created a Custom iPhone Camera for F1. The short version is that the on board camera for F1 car are not suited for a movie, while they are great for broadcast. So Apple who produce the movie did modify iPhone cameras. They don’t broadcast but the footage they record is much more suited for editing into the rest of the film. The technical achievement at the service of the art. Not the first time, nor the last.

Kosmophoto gives a First look at China Lucky Film’s forthcoming new colour film. I’ll follow-up on this later, but it’s promising to see the development of a new colour film.

Link: Fuji X half 2

I did joke about how the X half announcement would have been better on 1st of April.

The Machine Planet tells us that Fujifilm announces Fuji X Half 2 digital camera:

SATIRICA, N.Y., MAY 22, 2029 – FUJIFILM North America Corporation, Electronic Imaging Division, today announced the launch of its FUJIFILM X Half 2™ premium compact digital camera (X Half 2).

I laughed.

Just making fun because we care, but it seems that the pre-orders are off the charts.

Link: Interview of Fujifilm’s executives about the GFX100RF

DPReview has an interview of Fujifilm executives about the GFX 100RF.

Part of the reasoning is that the GFX100RF is a much more expensive camera than the X100VI, which means it needs to feel more premium. “At the beginning, when we discussed how we should design the camera, we already knew about the price point. So this camera should be more luxurious to match the price point,” said Oishi.

There is one way to avoid the supply problems: make it unaffordable. This sounds tongue in cheek, but the X100VI is still unobtainium, so is the X-M5…, the latter being one of the least expensive models.

A major factor in its luxury design is the top plate, which is milled out of a single block of aluminum—it’s the first time Fujifilm has used this type of manufacturing process.

Later, during the Fujikina event, Yoneda told us that turning an aluminum ingot into a GFX100RF top plate takes around five hours.

For so much I love well built devices, made out of metal, this looks like overkill to make it cost CA$7,000. This doesn’t make it a bad camera, but the law of diminishing returns clearly applies here.

To me, the unique feature of this camera, that also applies with the other GFX 100, is the possibility to shoot in 65:24 (or any other) aspect ratio and still have a large amount of pixels. And the GFX 100RF offers it in a smaller package. Fujifilm could offer the crops in the viewfinder for X-series and I’m sure it would work for many people with about half of the 40 Megapixels that the X100VI do offer.

25 years of DPReview: The rise and fall of the compact camera

DPReview is 25 and and goes down the memory lane with The rise and fall of the compact camera.

Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, and, along with some help from Samsung and other manufacturers, it would change photography forever. However, iPhone sales didn’t really take off until around 2012, and, what do you know, that’s when the compact camera crash began.

The author isn’t enthusiastic on point and shoot cameras making a comeback. Charts show the very steep decline in the number of models released and the steep rise (and mostly plateau-ed) number of smartphones sold.

As I previously linked manufacturers were unprepared for the point and shoot camera revival when some demand for advanced compact camera came following some influencers, and it might be that we’ll only get these more costly compact camera. The Fujifilm X100VI is basically unobtainium and the already few years old Canon G7X MkIII is even worse. The Ricoh GR III availability is trending that way too, while Leica has the D-Lux 8, a rebadged Panasonic that cost as much as the Fujifilm. As for Sony, it seems that their focus seems to be on the ZV series that are geared towards video, this being stripped down version of the RX100 that hasn’t an update for a while. The only not too pricey segment that seems to exist is the rugged cameras, combination of tough and underwater resistance for which both Ricoh and Olympus have updated model.

Link: Fujifilm once struggled to sell cameras…

Reuters: Fujifilm once struggled to sell cameras. Now, it can’t keep up with demand

After it sold out last year, the company increased production in China to double the launch volume for the VI that debuted in March,

The X100 VI is still not available anywhere as I’m pondering a Fujifilm upgrade. They claim to have manufactured even more.

But the long waitlists and steep prices may drive customers to competitors, such as Canon’s G7X

Pardon? Can someone tell me where the G7X MkIII is available? I can’t find it anywhere from B&H to my local camera stores. And don’t mention the scalpers on Amazon.

Anyway good on Fujifilm with their success. I love my X series not everybody like Sony.

Link: why i love hong kong

Winnie Lim: why i love hong kong

I have only seen Hong Kong through the lens of others, a lot because of the Kai and Lok era of Digital Rev TV. It feels like a very photogenic place, probably because of its contrast of style and urbanism.

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