Beware the fake Gorillapod

An actual real genuine Gorillapod, in Joby packaging

If you thought that Photokina was a buzz-fest of new cameras, lenses, and pick-pocketing, you can add brand-protection confrontations to the list, too. Joby, manufacturers of the bendy-legged Gorillapod, marched up to two manufacturers of fake Gorillapods and confiscated their imitation products and promotional materials.

To be in the safe side, they did do it with Photokina organisers and security staff. It's possibly not a great idea to do that sort of thing without some kind of official back up. Hoo-hahs and ruckuses aren't great for customer relations.

Now, though, Joby's UK marketing team has told customers to be on the look out for fake Gorillapods, especially in the run-up to Christmas. A real Gorillapod should carry the Joby logo, and whilst it might be more expensive than the fake, you get what you pay for. As Loraine Morgan, Joby's Senior Marketing Manager in the UK said: 'The quality of these products is poor and ultimately it is the consumer who suffers when they buy a product that does not deliver the function and reliability of a genuine Joby product.'

The fakes probably won't be made to such high standards, either in terms of quality or meeting safety standards. If you're thinking of buying a Gorillapod, you can always go direct to Joby.

Get your boots on! It's the Burrard-Lucas travel photo contest!

You might associate Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas with breathtaking wildlife photography, but they also run a super annual photo competition. The final quarter's contest is now open for submissions and the theme is travel.

You have between now and 31 December 2012 to submit your travel-themed images. Will and Matt are looking for striking and original pictures that convey the wonder of the world, from its people and their culture, to its history or the environment.

This quarter's winner will be awarded a 16×24 framed print of her or his winning shot, provided by Committed Photography. The two runners up will be eligible for unframed 16×24 prints. The winner will then go up against the previous quarters' winners from 2012, as well as the winner of the Burrard-Lucas Facebook photo contest, to bag a Canon 60D.

The contest is free to enter and you retain your copyright. There are, however, some basic requirements regarding size and eligibility, so you should be sure to check the rules.

You can also check out previous years' winners for inspiration, as you won't be able to check out the competition this time around! (2011; 2010; 2009.)

Otherwise, I reckon you should crack on and submit something!

The winner of Self-portrait September is...

Coo-ee you made it tough for us to settle on a self-portraitastic winner for September! We saw so many different elements that we liked, finding a picture that we could agree on was an exercise in endurance!

Eventually, though, we came to a decision. It was Milo Sees who walked away with the spoils for his Training in the Dark. Haje and I were both captivated by the lighting, and there was something about the juxtaposition of the sleek, smooth skin, the poise of the body, and oppressive darkness that made it my winner.

Congratulations, Milo! You've won a 12" Fracture!

Our runner up was Bubble Blastage by Kathleen Cassidy. Gareth thought that the idea was neat and he loved the high contrast look. It was the sassy attitude that blasted straight through my screen that I adored. Great stuff, Kathleen!

Thank you to everyone who entered. The theme for this month's competition is round. You can check out the details here. We're looking forward to seeing your pictures!

Is stock imagery getting too specific?

As a stock photographer, you have to make your money any way you can. I suppose there are only so many saleable photos of 'businessman on mobile phone', but when you look at stock sites, you'll often find photos that are just a little bit ludicrously specific. The funny-guys over at CollegeHumour spotted that as well, and created this rather fabulous video about it:

So, the question - dear readers - is stock photography getting way too specific, or is this the only way that stock photographers can still carve themselves out a niche?

Going round: October's photo competition

For no reason other than I think it's a good idea, this month's competition theme is round. So anything that is circular, spherical, or your take on that shape, is fair game.

There's a 12" Fracture up for grabs if your entry is the one that catches our eye.

You have from today (Friday 5 October) until Friday 26 October 2012 to submit your entry. Yes, entry in the singular because it's one submission per person, please.

Here are The Rules, for your elucidation. Otherwise, good luck and we're looking forward to judging!

The Rules

• If you decide to enter, you agree to The Rules.
• You can’t be related to either me or Haje to enter.
• One entry per person – so choose your best!
• Entries need to be submitted to the right place, which is the Small Aperture Flickr group.
• There’s a closing date for entries, so make sure you’ve submitted before then.
• You have to own the copyright to your entry and be at liberty to submit it to a competition. Using other people’s photos is most uncool.
• It probably goes without saying, but entries do need to be photographs. It’d be a bit of strange photo competition otherwise.
• Don’t do anything icky – you know, be obscene or defame someone or sell your granny to get the photo.
• We (that being me and Haje) get to choose the winner and we’ll do our best to do so within a week of the competition closing.
• You get to keep all the rights to your images. We just want to be able to show off the winners (and maybe some honourable mentions) here on Pixiq.
• Entry is at your own risk. I can’t see us eating you or anything, but we can’t be responsible for anything that happens to you because you submit a photo to our competition.
• We are allowed to change The Rules, or even suspend or end the competition, if we want or need to. Obviously we’ll try not to, but just so that you know.

If you've any questions, please just ask!

Photokina 2012: a round-up

Photokina is by turns exciting and exhausting. So much is going on you barely know where to look first or next. I've done my very best to keep you abreast of the major announcements here on Pixiq, but just in case you missed something, and to cover those announcements that I couldn't squash onto the front page, here's the Photokina 2012 round-up.

Canon

Canon's big news for Photokina was the full-framed sensor but diminutive-of-body 6D. Sticking with the 'small-is-beautiful' theme, they also updated their high-end compact camera range, with the G15 and the S110.

The G15 is coming in approximately 17% smaller than the G12 (yes, Canon skipped G13 and G14) but with the brightest lens in the series yet. It ranges from ƒ/1.8 at its widest (28mm in 35mm equivalent) to ƒ/2.8 at 140mm (also 35mm equivalent). It has a 12 megapixel sensor with a DIGIC 5 processor, sensitivity that reaches ISO 12,800, a burst rate of 10 frames per second, and everything that you'd expect from the G-series: Raw capability, full manual control, HDR mode, and image stabilisation. This one will be about £550.

I'm still languishing with a two-iterations-ago S95, which my little brother has currently seconded. If he decides to keep it, I'll be quite happy with the upgrade to the S110. This one has an ƒ/2.0 lens with 5× optical zoom, a 12 megapixel sensor and DIGIC 5 processor, just like its predecessor, the S100. However, its sensitivity now reaches ISO 12,800 and it comes with wi-fi and a touch-screen. All for about £430.

If you're looking for something with more zoom, there's also the SX50 HS, which has a 50× optical zoom (and plenty of accompanying image stabilisation), 12 megapixel CMOS sensor and DIGIC 5 processor, Raw capability, and manual control. It'll cost about £450.

Fujifilm

Fujifilm didn't get carried away at Photokina. But then they didn't really need to as the XF1 was named as star of the show. I admit it, I'm a tiny bit in love with it.

Hasselblad

Hasselblad seemed to turn more heads with its intention to start producing the EVIL Lunar camera than it did with its pre-Photokina H5D announcement. But then when one of the most famous names in medium format photography unveils a 24 megapixel, mirror-less, interchangeable lens camera that is going to sell for around €5,000, it might be a bit of an attention grabber. Not forgetting that the designs include the use of carbon fibre, wood, titanium, leather, and precious metals.

As for the H5D, it will come with 40, 50, and 60 megapixel options, as well as 50 and 200 multi-shot versions. It features improved weather-sealing, new, larger buttons and a brighter display, Raw + JPEG mode, and is bundled with Adobe Lightroom 4.

Leica

As well as five new cameras and the marketing decision to drop iteration numbers from the S and M series cameras, Leica also popped up with three lenses, some adaptors, and a clutch of binolculars. Lens-wise, you're looking at a 24mm ƒ/3.5 prime for its S series (that's a 19mm equivalent in 35mm format); a 30-90mm ƒ/3.5-5.6; and the first fully adjustable tilt-shift for its S series, a 120mm ƒ/5.6.

Lensbaby

Lensbaby went for a fun, cheap, and allegedly youthful addition to its range, the Spark. I reckon anyone can use it, though.

Nikon

Nikon's big announcement came in advance of Photokina, when it also dipped its toes into the smaller-sized but bigger-sensored waters with the D600. There was also a new lens for 1 Series of cameras: an 18.5mm ƒ/1.8, which should retail around £180.

Olympus

As for Olympus, they announced four new lenses, three new cameras, two turtle doves, and one re-branding.

Panasonic

Panasonic has added the GH3 to its Lumix range. You're looking at a 16 megapixel, wi-fi-enabled, weather-proofed camera here, but one that is definitely aimed at video, with its 1080 50p AVCHD output and promotional video by Philip Bloom. Not forgetting the headphone jack for external sound recording. It'll probably cost around £1,000 and be available from November 2012.

Pentax

Pentax unveiled their newest cameras in advance of Photokina. There's an upgrade to the K-5, in the form of the K-5 II; a specialist K-5 II S, which is the K-5 II with the anti-aliasing filter removed; and the Q10, which revamps the tiny Q EVIL camera.

Samsung

Two new lenses for Samsung: a 12-24mm ƒ/4.0-5.6 and a 45mm ƒ/1.8, both for their NX cameras.

Samyang

Samyang brought its 10mm ƒ/2.8 lens to the Photokina party. With an equivalent focal length of 15 or 16mm in 35mm format, it has been aimed at architectural and landscape photographers. It'll probably be ready in early 2013.

Sigma

Sigma announced that it is dividing its lenses into three categories for marketing purposes from now on: Contemporary, Art, and Sport.Contemporary is about the latest in technology and optical development; Art focuses on expression and optical power; Sport is probably self-explanatory, telephoto and super-telephoto lenses aimed at capturing things in motion!

Accordingly, it has released one lens in each of these categories. There's a 17-70mm ƒ/2.8-4.0 macro; a 35mm ƒ/1.4 prime; and a very tasty sounding 120-300mm ƒ/2.8, which is dust and moisture resistant.

Sony

Sony did the pre-Photokina announcement thing, unveiling its A99 full-frame, translucent mirror flagship, its pocket-sized full-framed RX1 compact, and the NEX-6 last week.

If you're thinking of splashing out on a new EVIL camera, the NEX-6 comes with a 16 megapixel CMOS sensor with a maximum sensitivity of ISO 25,600. There's a hybrid auto-focus system and 10 frames-per-second burst mode. And built-in wi-fi, which is the new must-have.

Tamron

Tamron added two lenses to line-up, both of which have piqued my interest. First there's a 90mm ƒ/2.8 macro, followed by a 70-200mm ƒ/2.8 telephoto. Both feature vibration compensation and ultra-silent drives, and will available for Canon, Nikon, and Sony mounts. No dates or prices yet, but I'll be keeping an eye open for them.

That's a wrap?

Well, it's certainly the headline offerings. It doesn't look at gadgets and gizmos, camera bags, printers, editing software, or just about anything else that Photokina has to offer.

But what is there to take away from Photokina 2012?

Definitely that wi-fi is the new must-have for any camera, and that sensor technology is bringing us to a point where full-frame is becoming a financial possibility for cheaper and lighter cameras. I don't think it will be too long before anyone who isn't completely dedicated to having the smallest camera possible will be shooting with a full-frame digital sensor as standard.

Lensbaby lets Spark fly

Lensbaby lenses are a whole heap of fun, and whilst they don't exactly break the bank, I can understand someone forgoing one in favour of putting the money towards a serious wide-angle or a shoulder-crunching telephoto. The latest addition to the Lensbaby lineup, however, might change that. It's the Spark. It's a 50mm selective focus lens with a fixed aperture of ƒ/5.6 and a retail price of $80, available for Canon and Nikon mounts.

It's dead simple to operate: you squeeze to focus and then tilt the lens to place your sweet spot and get the blur where you want it. Spontaneity and selective focus are go!

Lensbaby might feel that the Spark is 'designed to help young creative photographers express themselves,' (the words 'young' or 'youthful' are used three times in a three paragraph press release) but at $80 I reckon that it's ideal for anyone who'd like to play around with a tilt-shift lens. If you're on a budget, you're not going to find many lenses cheaper, let alone a tilt-shift; if you're toying with the idea of investing in a fully-fledged tilt-shift but aren't sure how much use you'd get out of it, what's to lose with a Spark?

Sure, you might regard the fixed aperture of ƒ/5.6 as a limitation, but really and truly, when you head out with a Lensbaby, you make the choice of which aperture you'll shoot with that day and be done with. It's no fun fiddling around with magnetic aperture rings in the street.

If you fancy one you can head over to the store on the Lensbaby website and purchase directly, Spark went on sale today. If you're not convinced that a Spark is for you, take a look at the gallery of images. They're pretty, regardless.

Fujifilm's division of the Film Empire

There's still money to be made in film; it's knowing where

Watching the decline and fall of film has a certain something of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire about it. It's a peculiar analogy, I know, and one that isn't perfect–but then how many analogies are–so indulge me, would you?

For those of you who didn't get a kick out of Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices when they were at university, I'll give you a super-brief explanation and hope that Edward Gibbon doesn't come back to haunt me. By 285 the Roman Empire was monstrously large and without the benefit of telegraph cables or the intergoogles, far too unwieldy to control from one seat of government. There had long been a system of provincial rule with Rome at its heart, but in his wisdom Diocletian decided that the solution was to split the empire into two: a western half and an eastern half, to be ruled from two centres of power with two (or sometimes more) emperors. 

There were periods when the two halves were reunited under one ruler, but it was really the beginning of the end for the feted glory of Rome. The Western Empire was ruled from Milan or Ravenna, and sustained attack after attack from external enemies such as the Goths and Visigoths, eventually crumbling and making way for the Dark Ages or early mediaeval period in the 400s. The Eastern Empire's capital came to settle in Byzantium (which then became Constantinople and is now Istanbul), and continued in some form or another for centuries, becoming increasingly unrecognisable from the Rome from which it had sprung.

Now that I've subjected you to a grossly incomplete history of the fall of Rome, you're wondering just how it relates to film. Okay: the Western Empire is like the traditional use of film; it can't withstand the assault from digital technology and is disintegrating before our eyes. It is holding out in pockets, but the end is inevitable. The Eastern Empire, on the other hand, is like the novelty use of film; it's drifting further and further away from the principles that brought it to be, but it's holding on in some kind of adulterated form, becoming gradually smaller in influence.

And now of course you're wondering just what on earth spurred me to equate film to the Roman Empire.

Well, this week Fujifilm announced that it is ceasing production of films used for motion picture shooting. The shift towards digital production has made it unsustainable, so the company will now focus on supporting that, with lens production, colour management systems, and archiving services. This of course follows the announcement earlier in the year that it is ceasing production of some of its stills films, as well as the development of in-camera film-like image reproduction.

Meanwhile, Fujifilm has also introduced the Instax mini 8: a camera that can create credit-card sized instant prints. The camera comes in white, black, pale pink, baby blue, and pastel yellow. It's an upgrade on the Instax mini 7S, being smaller and lighter, with an improved view-finder and the addition of a high-key mode. It's being aimed very squarely at women in the late teens and 20s who want something fun and frivolous.

There's clearly still a market for certain types of film out there, and Fujifilm knows this. It's just a case of recognising which ones need to be cut loose, so those areas where digital is more effective, more economical, and more universally employed, and which it should continue to support–fun, frolicsome, and not altogether serious.

It's film, Marcus, but not as Augustus knew it.

From iPhone to Instant print, in one far-fetched leap

When I logged into my Kickstarter account today, I was met by the Impossible Instant Lab, and I was intrigued. The IIL is a way of making real photographic Polaroid prints from photos taken with your iPhone. When I first saw the video, I was wondering; Could this possibly be a joke?

Allow me to explan: The IIL appears to take a square crop from the middle of your iPhone, and turn that into a Polaroid print.

So far so good, but in the mind of a photographer, the science just doesn't stack up: On an iPhone 4 screen (which has a 1136-by-640 pixel resolution), you are essentially getting a 640x640 pixel crop. That's 0.4 megapixels.

Now, Polaroid prints have never been known for their astonishing quality, but even the least ambitious of Polaroid cameras has significantly higher resolving power than 0.4 megapixels. In fact, if you have a look at a high-resolution scan of one of Impossible Project's own films on Wikipedia, you can see that there's a lot of data to work with.

Don't get me wrong, there's definitely a place in photography for the 'lo-fi' or 'toy camera' styles of photography. In fact, I heartily encourage people to buy a crappy little film-based camera ($30 from eBay), and borrow the darkroom equipment at your local photography club (usually less than $30 including paper and chemicals, for about an hour), to learn more about photography, and to gain a deeper understanding of photography and how it works.

However... If you are using a $400 printing device to 'print' photos to pieces of film costing $3.75 per sheet, by using a twentieth of the resolution available from a $600 photography device, you're probably doing something wrong...

Check out the Impossible Instant Lab on Kickstarter to make up your own mind.

Flixel brings your iPhone photos to life

Flixel is an iPhone application that lets people easily create 'living photos'. Where traditional photos are completely still, a living photo contains a portion of seamless and infinitely looping motion. Whether it's hair blowing in the wind, or a flickering fire in the background of an otherwise still image, the effect can be mesmerizing.

Flixel is a platform for discovering, creating, and sharing these beautiful (and occasionally quirky) living photos. The creation process is simple: record a short scene, 'paint' the portion of the image that will animate, then share on a variety of social networks including Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Flixel's own.

After seeing rapid growth upon its initial launch in April, the company assessed feedback from its community and proceeded with a complete refresh of its platform. Flixel 2.0 makes it faster and easier than ever to create, view and share this incredible new form of art.

Flixel's transformation has included the ability to create living photos at double the original frame rate and in full color, while dramatically speeding up the viewing experience. Flixel provides fast and simple creation for the average person, while still providing artists the fine-grained creative control they need.

Inspired by Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck's 'Cinemagraphs', LeBlanc stumbled upon these beautiful moving images in late August 2011, and was immediately intrigued by the possibility of an iPhone experience.

"We were so enthralled by Cinemagraphs but burdened by the complexity and time required to create them." said LeBlanc. "With Flixel, we feel we've now achieved a creative experience that blends speed, simplicity, and art - pushing the boundaries of photography."

To showcase the beauty of this new art form, Flixel has produced a music video composed entirely of living photos created with its application:

For more info about Flixel, check out Flixel.com

Triggertrap, meet Android

Triggertrap's Android menu

When the team behind the universal camera trigger, Triggertrap, announced a mobile version of their time-lapse-tastic device at the end of April this year, it offered iPhone users 12 different means of triggering their cameras from their phones. As well as being able to react to light and vibration, it included distance-lapsing and eased time-lapsing (allowing you to control the intervals between shots) options, for added fun. Android users, however, felt a bit left out. But not anymore!

From today, Triggertrap will be available for download to Android platforms running version 2.3 Gingerbread or higher.

When paired with a cable and a dongle, Triggertrap for Andoid can control the shutter release on SLR cameras in eight different ways, including five different time-lapse modes, long-exposure HDR, and star-trail modes.You can download it for all of £2.99 or $4.99.

In order to make the most of Triggertrap Mobile, you will need a dongle, and the Triggertrap team has announced dongle version 2. This one is faster than version 1, is compatible with both iOS and Android devices, and with a total of nine different camera connectors, can service 280 camera models. That'll be shipping from the end of September and will cost £19, or £29.99, including a camera connection cable.

Just by-the-by, at the end of September, Triggertrap for iOS will update to version 1.4 and be available in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and Norwegian. Russian, Chinese, and Japanese are on the horizon, too.

For anyone who took up my suggestion of bribing the team with single malt Scotch, boutique gin, or vintage wines, to get an Android version, it looks like your endeavours paid off!

Self-portrait September

For my sins, that's a portrait of me, by me

For the past month, and for the next couple of months, Haje will be immersed in self portraits as he writes his latest book. No, no, don't get the wrong idea! He doesn't boost his ego by surrounding himself with inspirational pictures of his mush when he's writing. He's writing about self-portraiture. We thought, then, that you might like to share your favourite self portraits for September's competition.

Dress up or dress down, drag out your tripod, and set your self-timer. We want pictures of you!

A 12" Fracture is up for grabs for the entry that captures our imagination.

Entries can be submitted to the Small Aperture Flickr pool from today (Friday 7 September) until Friday 26 Septembr 2012. The next bit I want to put in big letters, but that looks ugly, so I shall restrict myself to bold: it's one entry per person. Thank you.

In case you missed what I said last month about the attributes that we look for in photos, I'll reproduce it here:

Both Haje and I have written on the subject of winning photography competitions, so you might want to look at those articles. It's probably also worth knowing that for both us, the story in your image is key. Haje's a stickler for good lighting, I'm hot on composition, and if Gareth joins the party he'll always comment on sharpness.

The Rules are here for your reference. Otherwise, good luck!

The Rules

• If you decide to enter, you agree to The Rules.
• You can’t be related to either me or Haje to enter.
• One entry per person – so choose your best!
• Entries need to be submitted to the right place, which is the Small Aperture Flickr group.
• There’s a closing date for entries, so make sure you’ve submitted before then.
• You have to own the copyright to your entry and be at liberty to submit it to a competition. Using other people’s photos is most uncool.
• It probably goes without saying, but entries do need to be photographs. It’d be a bit of strange photo competition otherwise.
• Don’t do anything icky – you know, be obscene or defame someone or sell your granny to get the photo.
• We (that being me and Haje) get to choose the winner and we’ll do our best to do so within a week of the competition closing.
• You get to keep all the rights to your images. We just want to be able to show off the winners (and maybe some honourable mentions) here on Pixiq.
• Entry is at your own risk. I can’t see us eating you or anything, but we can’t be responsible for anything that happens to you because you submit a photo to our competition.
• We are allowed to change The Rules, or even suspend or end the competition, if we want or need to. Obviously we’ll try not to, but just so that you know.

If you've any questions, please just ask!

August's metallic medallist

EMP/SFM by Wntrmute

In a somewhat tenuous celebration of the Olympics, we asked for metallic images in our August photo competition. Judging was a slightly stressful experience, with a flurry of emails bouncing back and forth to decide who'd bag the 12 " Fracture prize. Thanks be to the gods of competition that none of us was expected to provide scores on diving, dressage, or gymnastics in a split second!

Finally, we settled on Wntrmute's enigmatically titled EMP/SFM as our gold medallist. There was something about the sense of texture it conveyed, and the warmth emanating from the structure that did it for us.

As for our runners up, Fred Dunn snatched silver with Stay out, stay in, which we adored for its composition and the ability to make razor wire inviting; bronze went to praire_girl76 for her macro of a wire whisk, which was entry 191 in her 365 project.

Congratulations all of you, and thank you to everyone who entered. We'll be posting details of our September competition later today!

Looking back; thinking forward: the Fujifilm X-E1

Unless they're identical twins, siblings are never exactly alike. So Fujifilm's newest mirror-less camera, the X-E1, was never going to be a faithfully scaled-down version of the X-Pro1. Sure, it has a 16 megapixel APS-C X-Trans CMOS sensor, the same as the X-Pro1, but it doesn't have the hybrid viewfinder; instead it has a high definition 2.36 million dot OLED eletronic viewfinder. Fujifilm believes that this electronic viewfinder can provide 'an experience similar to an optical viewfinder,' though. And of course, it takes X-mount lenses.

Its sensitivity ranges from ISO 200 to 6,400, extendable to 100, 12,800, and 25,600. If you want to employ the ISO auto facility, it takes in 400 to 6,400, which is actually a smidge of an improvement on the X-Pro1, which only went up to 3,200.

You can make full HD video (1920×1080) at 24 frames per second, and there's an external microphone jack to help get the sound right.

Whilst that might seem a neat package of a camera, it isn't all.

Looking back; thinking forward

Digital might offer flexibility that dips its toes into the rivers bounding our wildest dreams, but it doesn't get everything right. Frequently, people bemoan the loss of texture and colour in digital images, and from Fuji's perspective, they needed to go back to film to get that right.

The X-Trans CMOS sensor (already seen in the X-Pro1) comprises random arrangements of 6×6 pixel sets, reminiscent of the randomly scattered grains of fine silver halide on film, instead of perfectly organised sets. This colour filter array should minimise moiré and false colours without the need for an optical low pass filter. Bring on the bright, clear renditions of images!

Perfect order and regimentation might be necessary in our photo libraries, but not on our sensors, it would seem.

A film for the future?

Earlier this year Fujifilm announced that it's ceasing production of some of film formats, notably in the Velvia range. For lots of people who shoot on film, this is hugely disappointing. Whilst it's debatable if digital can ever faithfully recreate film effects, Fuji isn't dismissing the possibility and seems to be taking it as a challenge. The X-E1 comes with a series of film simulation modes that aim to recreate the effects of shooting on particular Fujichrome films.

Velvia, Astia, and Provia are all covered, there are two colour negative film settings, two indoor shooting options, and three filters covering monochrome and sepia. There's also a bracketing function that allows you to apply three film simulation to the same exposure.

If these simulations are effective, and don't look too much like digital-made-to-look-like-film, then it's an awesome option for people who miss the texture of film but love the flexibility of digital. But neither should the business ramefications for Fujifilm be overlooked.

I certainly don't think that Fujifilm will be shutting down its film production facilities overnight; I don't even think that they'll do it soon. Too many people are still using it and it is trendy. However, if this technology does prove successful, there will be less and less reason to persist in its manufacture. It's as if Fujifilm is testing viability and reaction here, and setting in place its contingency plans for a film-free future.

Availability

The Fujifilm X-E1 is available in black or silver. Body-only, you're looking at $1000, come November. You might want to add one of the new X-mount lenses to your shopping list. There's a new 18-55mm ƒ/2.8 - 4 or a 14mm ƒ/2.8 on offer at $900 and $700 respectively.

What happened with camera sales in July?

I'm sure that there must be more thrilling ways to spend a Monday afternoon than analysing the shipment and sales data of Japanese camera manufacturers–I don't know, rearranging all the books on my shelves according to some idiosyncratic and completely inexplicable system?–but that is just how I've spent mine. (Please don't believe that I'm too bats, American readers; it isn't a Bank Holiday here in England today, that was last week.) Whilst carefully tabulated figures arranged according to camera type, region, and date might've made my eyes go slightly gooey at one point, there are some interesting points that their contemplation has thrown up.

Overall, the volume of sales of still cameras has fallen by roughly 22% this July compared with July a year ago. However, revenue from these sales has not dropped comparably; it's down by 8.4%. So we're buying fewer cameras, but paying more for them.

Most alarming for manufacturers will be the 28% drop in the number of compact cameras sold, and as a consequence the 32.3% drop in revenue from them.

For consumers, it's worth noting that we're buying marginally more interchangeable lens cameras; their shipment rates are up by 4.3%, but that manufacturers are generating more revenue from them. The value of this July's shipments increased 20.3% on last July's shipments. Furthermore, in the Americas and Japan, volume of sales has dropped, but value of sales has still increased. (In Europe, both volume and value of sales of interchangeable lens cameras has increased by roughly 21%.)

There isn't a breakdown of the sales of SLR cameras and EVIL cameras, however, and that I would be interested to see.

Still, what do these random figures actually tell us about the market? First, and not very hard to read: we're buying far fewer compact cameras. I'd hazard that it isn't just people don't feel the need to own a compact camera if they're happy with the camera in their smartphone, but that if they're feeling a bit cash-strapped, a new compact camera isn't necessarily high on the list of priorities.

Second, Europe might be keeping the numbers of interchangeable lens sales afloat, but for the manufacturers, their margins are in the Americas.

Third, if you compare the figures for July 2011 against 2010, compact camera shipments were falling then, but not as significantly as between 2011 and 2012. Furthermore, the volume of interchangeable lens camera shipments appears to be slowing down; they're up on last year, but not by as much as 2011's were on 2010's. The last 12 months has been generally bumpy for camera sales, not forgetting that the floods in Thailand had an impact on production and sales.

The world economy isn't in great shape, so no, people won't be buying as many exciting electronic gadgets and gizmos. People for whom cameras are a luxury, not a necessity, will make do (although not perhaps mend); maybe those of us for whom a camera is a necessity are being more discerning in our purchases? And maybe, perhaps, the camera market is reaching saturation point?

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Data source: CIPA
Note: This article refers specifically to Japanese camera manufacturers. Full list here.

Subscription fees set to soar at SmugMug

SmugMug's new pricing scheme

There's a bit of a ruckus going on over at the blog of online portfolio and printing service, SmugMug, right now. It's all very polite and restrained, but there are a lot of angry and confused photographers trying to make themselves heard, and I don't really blame them.

Last night, an email dropped into the inboxes of some of SmugMug's members, informing them of changes to their subscription plans. 'That's not so bad,' you say, 'businesses need to earn a profit and they need to evolve,' and you'd be right. Except that some SmugMug users might be paying 66% more on their current fee for the same service, whilst others might be paying the same fee for a reduction in features. A bit steep, no?

Until now, SmugMug had three levels of subscription: Basic, Power, and Pro. They cost $40, $60, and $150 a year respectively. All of the accounts offered unlimited photo storage; the Power account offered a customised domain and site along with unlimited HD video storage; finally the Pro account added the ability to sell your images with your own markup and offer promotional coupons if you wanted, too. There were other bits and pieces, as well, but those were the key features.

Come 15 October, Pro users' accounts will be split into two categories: Portfolio and Business. Portfolio will cost $150 a year and offer (amongst other things) domain and site customisation, watermarking, and professional print options. The Business plan will be $250 per year for existing subscribers, whilst new users will be expected to fork out $300 each year for the privilege of all that's available to Portfolio users, with the addition of the ability to sell their prints at prices they set, the provision of discount coupons, and customised packaging, along with some other bits and pieces.

Consequently, existing SmugMug Pro users who wish to continue to sell prints through the site will have to pay an extra $100 a year for the convenience. SmugMug has made a rough guess at which of its subscribers will want to renew with Portfolio subscriptions and which with the Business plan and sorted them accordingly, but they can alter their preferences come renewal time if they wish, and that's just as well. There are a lot of SmugMug subscribers expressing their dismay, disappointment, and disgust on the SmugMug blog. It isn't just that a $100 increase in fees is a significant sum in one go (hell, if my car insurance renewal were to increase $100 in one go, I'd be looking for an alternative) but that SmugMug isn't offering any tangible benefits alongside it. In fact, users claim that they've been asking for feature improvements for some time, but nothing has been forthcoming. They're not too happy about the idea of paying for something that might or might not happen.

The platitude that SmugMug hasn't increased its prices in seven years isn't having the desired effect on riled subscribers. If anything, it's a claim that smacks of bad business practice, not only because SmugMug's directors haven't reacted appropriately to the market over the last few years, but SmugMug is likely to force its low band-width users–those who can no longer justify the cost of a Portfolio account, but put the least strain on the servers and therefore provided the business with its highest margins–into self-imposed exile. They might down-grade their accounts to Power level (which doesn't offer printing options), or look elsewhere. Either way, SmugMug would lose a valuable revenue stream; one user has gone so far as to suggest its a decision that could lead to the company's demise by summer 2013.

That's possibly a little over-reactionary, because there are a great many SmugMug users who love the operation, and in particular its customer service, and appreciate the up-front manner that Chris MacAskill, SmugMug's president, set out the changes. But it doesn't change the fact that it's a lot of money to ask for without any appreciable improvements.

There's been quite a lot of talk of users switching portfolio and print providers. So what, then, are the alternatives? If you're only looking for portfolio providers then there's the cutely named (and themed) Carbonmade and the far more grown-up looking Viewbook. If you want the SmugMug Pro experience (portfolio and printing) but without the pricing, then Zenfolio is the most commonly named alternative, but I've heard very good things about Photoshelter and I've enjoyed good experiences with Photoswarm.

Any other suggestions out there?

The ultimate pancake lens?

A team of applied physicists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have recently created an ultra-thin lens that's capable of focusing light almost on the limits of the laws of diffraction. 

At 60 nanometres thick, the lens is roughly 1000 times thinner than a human hair and essentially two-dimensional. It's made by plating a super-thin wafer of silicon with a nanometre-wide layer of gold. The gold is then stripped away to leave a pattern of v-shaped arrows on the silicon's surface.

Shine a laser onto the silicon-gold surface and the gold v-shaped arrows act as nanoantennae that capture the light, hold on to it briefly, and then release it again. By calibrating the length of the delay between capturing and releasing the light waves, the direction of the light can be changed: you have, then, a super-thin lens. A super-thin lens that doesn't suffer from optical aberrations, like the fish-eye effect. Whatever the signal it's detecting, the resulting image should be perfect and won't need to be corrected. Sure, sometimes we like the distortion that we get off of our wide angle lenses, but not all the time.

By changing the specific size, angle, and spacing of the nanoantennae, they can be tuned to particular wavelengths of light, too.

At the moment, these lenses are operating at wavelengths that we use for fibre-optic communication. But there's potential to use them to create flat microscope objectives.

As far as the lead author of the research paper, Francesco Aieta, is concerned, these flat lenses could entirely change the manufacture of optical products: 'In the future we can potentially replace all the bulk components in the majority of optical systems with just flat surfaces.'

And from then, perhaps the ultimate pancake lens?

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With thanks to the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and my friend Colin.

EISA awards 2012-2013: a bit like the Oscars

Nikon's D800: best over all camera 2012-2013

Righty-ho, the European Imaging and Sound Association (also known by the slightly more speaker-friendly term 'EISA') awards announcements took place this week, but so far the winners seem to have dribbled forth somewhat unsatifactorily, rather than presented themselves in a victorious flourish. So I thought that I'd rectify that as far as the photo awards were concerned. (There are other categories, too, like in-car electronics and green and whilst they might be interesting, this is a photography website.)

Actually, before I get on to the awards, in case you're wondering just who or what EISA is, and by what sort of authority they decide that this camera is better than that one, it's a group of 50 special interest magazines from 20 different countries. It's the likes of Amateur Photographer from the UK and Focus from the Netherlands who discuss winners and losers.

Okay, enough whitter, more winners.

The overall best camera for 2012-2013 was judged to be the Nikon D800. The judges thought that its resolution rocked, that its dynamic range and noise levels at high ISO were uncompromised, its 51-point autofocusing mechanism (the same as in the D4) was superb, and for the price it represented super value. Canon has held the top overall spot for the past two years, so Nikon might be smiling to itself about now.

However, Canon was by no means empty-handed. Its 5D MkIII waltzed off with the Advanced SLR prize and the Powershot G1X was named best overall compact camera, with the judges stating that its image quality can compete with many dSLRs. The gushing praise for the G1X was in strange contrast to the 5D MkIII; its blurb reads as if the judges knew it needed to win, but couldn't quite determine why.

The D800 wasn't Nikon's only success, either. The D4 was named as the professional SLR of choice, for its outstanding image quality, even in difficult shooting conditions, low noise, super-fast autofocusing capability, and a rugged design.

Meanwhile, over all favourite SLR went to the Sony SLT-A57. For the price it offers an impressive spec, great image quality, and is the perfect base for Sony to build on, and importantly, for photographers to progress.

Sony made the grade in two other categories: best travel compact went to the Cyber-shot HX20V and best advanced compact was the hot new RX-100. Sony has performed consistently well with its compacts at EISA, which suggests that it's getting something right there. Best tough compact went to the Olympus TG-1.

The spoils for the EVIL cameras were shared between Fujifilm, Olympus, and Samsung. (Be warned: each camera will now sound as if it belongs to a comic book super-villain clan.)  The Fujifilm X-Pro1 was named as best professional EVIL on the basis of its exceptional lens, great build, and revolutionary sensor design. The overall best EVIL was the Olympus OM-D E-M5, with the judges seeming to love its homage to cameras of yesteryear. Finally, the advanced EVIL title went to the Samsung NX20.

As for the lenses, the winners were Sigma, Tamron, and Panasonic. Sigma for its 150mm ƒ/2.8 Macro; Tamron for the 24-70mm ƒ/2.8; and Panasonic for its Lumix G Vario 12-35mm ƒ/2.8. (ƒ/2.8 is the new black, clearly.)

Last but not least, Adobe's Lightroom 4 was given the honours as best editing suite.

Now, whether or not any of these awards will influence your purchasing at all, I have no idea. I shan't be going out to buy a Nikon D800 because 50 magazine editors said it was awesome. But I suppose it's a bit like the Oscars: just because it might not make a huge deal of difference other than being able to stick an 'I am an award winner' label on the box, it's always lovely to get a seal of approval.

Getty Images sold to the Carlyle Group for $3.3 billion

Print media might be in decline, but that hasn't meant a decline for the stock house, not necessarily. If they were bright enough to diversify and offer digital media such as music and video footage in addition to images, they'd build for themselves a relatively sound business model as digital media has taken off. Today's $3.3 billion acquisition of Getty Images by the Carlyle Group goes some way to supporting that.

Getty Images was bought by Hellman Friedman for $2.4 billion in 2008; earlier this year the private equity firm began to consider its options for the world's largest supplier of stock imagery and footage. When it came down to a choice between sale and flotation, sale won. The markets have been too volatile this year to risk and floatation and other investors were given a chance to get grubby paws on Getty.

It would probably be overstating it to describe the ensuing sale process as a bidding war. The Carlyle Group and CVC Capital Partners both made moves towards acquisition, but Carlyle's winning bid of $3.3 billion was less than Hellman Friedman had expected. The initial expectation had been for $4 billion and this was subsequently lowered to $3.6 billion. Still, publicly, Hellman Friedman is insisting its content with the price.

Carlyle does have the controlling stake in Getty, but Getty's founders, Mark Getty and Jonathan Klein, together with the Getty family, have rolled substantially all of their ownership interests into the purchase.

What then does this mean for the thousands of photographers with millions of images licensed through Getty? No mention was made of the building blocks of the business in the press release. Eliot Merril, Carlyle's Managing Director, did state that: 'We look forward to partnering with Mark Getty, Jonathan Klein and the talented Getty Images management team. We will harness Carlyle's financial resources and global network to help take Getty Images to the next stage of product innovation and global growth.' Carlyle's a private equity firm, its primary interest is towards its investors, it says so in big letters on its website. I doubt that it has very much interest in photography, photographers, or photographers' rights beyond the profit that it is able to lever from them.

Carlyle only has to maintain Getty's current balancing act of paying out miserable percentages to its contributing photographers on licences, but simultaneously retaining its reputation as the world's leading stock house to stay successful. Buyers go there because they get the range that they want; sellers stick with it because of potential sales, no matter if they only get a 20% cut on a royalty-free licence. As a photographer, if you don't have the guts or the means or the alternative to walk away from Getty, it leaves you in a very difficult position.

Getty Images might be selling media on behalf of its creators, but its allegiance isn't to them. It's to its investors. The sale of a stock house from one group of investors to another has done nothing other than to weaken the position of the photographer and strengthen that of the investor. It has demonstrated that stock houses can be regarded as a successful investment where the producers are of little concern to the investors, provided that they make a return on their outlay. Even if nothing changes for the photographer to her or his detriment, the move does not signify an improvement in their circumstances. No, it's all about the investor.

Photography: a great business if you're not a photographer.

Nikon 1 J2: a lot of fluff and not very much substance

Nikon released its 1 series cameras, the J1 and V1, to a great deal of fanfare last year, insisting that they were game-changers in the world of mirror-less camera technology. The press release managed a sentence as gushingly hyperbolic as: 'These cameras don’t just manipulate light – they redefine photography by manipulating time…' But whilst the PR gurus wanted us to imagine that we were living in some kind of Sci-Fi fantasy with these cameras, the reality was slightly less fantastic. The general consensus was that they didn't offer enough control for people who wanted it, they were fiddly to use, the sensor was far too small, and they were expensive. Anyone wanting a mirror-less camera was better off looking elsewhere.

Eleven months on, and Nikon has announced the J1's cunningly named successor, the J2. Is this the camera that could make Nikon a serious force in the mirror-less camera market?

Ehm, no. Sorry to be so blunt this early in the morning. After wading through the general guff of the PR, you're looking at the same basic camera with the addition of some new toys and a cosmetic upgrade. It has the same 10 megapixel CMOS sensor; same EXPEED 3 processor; same sensitivity of ISO 100 to 3,200 (extendable to 6,400); same–admittedly very impressive–73 point phase-detection autofocusing; it even has the same Smart Photo Selector tool that automagically selects the five best shots from a run of 20 and presents them to you for your delectation.

So what is new? Presuming that there is actually something new and Nikon hasn't managed to send out the same press release 11 months later?

Well, they've added a Creative Mode to the dial, so that you can stitch panoramas or miniaturise or soft focus or selectively colour or take night landscapes or night portraits or backlight your images more easily.

The chassis is now made of metal, and comes in six (black, white, silver, red, pink, or orange) colours.

And the resolution of the LCD screen has been increased.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is about that. I've read the press release several times looking for something glaring that I've missed, but seriously, that's it. I'm beginning to think that J might stand for 'Joke'.

Oh, actually, I did miss something. The price has been dropped. With a 10-30mm kit lens, you're looking at $550. Yes, that's right, $550 for a camera that is essentially a glorified point-and-shoot. (Nikon UK was a bit slow off the mark with its PR, but UK pricing has just come through at £500; €605 in the Eurozone.)

Nikon, if you paid people to upgrade the J1 and they came up with this, then more fool you. This isn't an upgrade; this is the equivalent of a five year old sitting at her mother's dressing table and smearing lipstick over her mouth and jabbing a mascara wand into her eye. But the difference is that the five year old is cute and endearing; the J2 is an embarrassing joke.