March 31
New or Old for the Exotic Telephotos? Every time Canon or Nikon introduces a newly refined version of their exotic telephoto lenses, the question comes up: is the new one worth the money, or can I save some money by purchasing an older version? The answer is in the article on dslrbodies.com
March 28
Existential Crisis. To a large degree, what's been happening in the camera business—and which has completely spilt over into all of photography now—is an existential crisis. But you know, that doesn't matter. We'll either have a few (or maybe many) camera companies get their lives and priorities in order and produce products that propel us forward or we won't. What's disturbing, though, is I see so many people who've attached their own photographic value to the gear they're using, not on the pictures they take. Thus, if the cameras are in crisis, so is their photography. Article on dslrbodies.com
March 27
Who Listens Most? A couple of my articles recently, particularly the "What We've Never Gotten" article last week, have provoked some comments to me about who is and who isn't listening in terms of camera makers. Of course I have my own views on this ;~). Article on dslrbodies.com
Panasonic Hints at Changes in Camera Group. Panasonic began telling Japanese business press late last week about their plans to continue restructuring their businesses. A few years back I noted that Panasonic's CEO issued an ultimatum for all the sub-businesses in the sprawling conglomerate: hit a minimum 5% ROI or risk elimination. Digital cameras was one of those businesses he targeted. The Nikkei Asian Review is now reporting that Panasonic's camera business will be scaled back. Actually, they use the term "dismantled," which seems more draconian. Article on sansmirror.com
March 24
Some Final CP+ Notes. Just a quick follow-up on the CP+ show in Japan back in February, as I've not seen this information posted anywhere else. Article on dslrbodies.com
What We've Never Gotten From Camera Makers. The first useful digital cameras appeared in the 1980’s. In the 1990’s most of the camera makers had digital options of some sort, even if only at the low end. With the turn of the century, digital kicked into full gear with the DSLR era. Digital camera shipments grew dramatically for just over a decade, then peaked a few years ago. We’re now in what is a “mature market.” A declining market. Funny thing is, during all this time there have been things that photographers have asked for that have just not been put into our cameras, our files, our software, or our documentation. Article on dslrbodies.com
March 15
How Did Nikon Fix Transfer for macOS Sierra? Oh dear. Article on dslrbodies.com (Digital Photography Software News blog page)
March 14
What Goes Away Isn't Camera Companies. As we see the overall demand for cameras shrink and shrink and shrink, it isn't camera companies that go away. The fact that Pentax is still designing and selling DSLRs should tell you that camera companies don't die in Japan. They just morph while getting physically smaller and finding a bigger parent to shield them. Article on dslrbodies.com
High-End Unavailability. At least for the latest cameras, we're back to seeing a trend we saw many years ago during the digital era ramp up: back-orders on new products. Article on dslrbodies.com
March 13
A DSLR System Has Died. It's been over six years since Olympus released any new 4/3 DSLRs, the E-5 being pretty much the last of the breed. But everyone is now noticing that the latest lens catalog from four-thirds.org also states that production of 4/3 lenses has now officially stopped, as well. Article on dslrbodies.com
Ingest Software. We need to get our images off our camera and over to our computer (or phone/tablet/cloud). I'm going to first describe what I think the ultimate ingest does. Article on dslrbodies.com (Accessories/Software/Software Products)
Missing Nikkors 2017. For almost a decade I've updated my "Missing Nikkors" article using an approach that attempts to consider the historical aspect of the lens lineup. This year I thought I'd try something different. I'm going to propose two sets of lenses—base and exotic—and then look at what's missing in the Nikkor lineup. Article on dslrbodies.com (Lenses/Lens Articles/Focal Length)
March 8
Why I Think the Nikon DL Cancellation Was Wrong. Here's exactly why the DL series cancellation was a terrible decision by Nikon even if they weren't going to make as much money off it as they originally expected. From my In Box: Full article on dslrbodies.com
Also note that my Digital Photography Software page is keeping up with the latest updates, including Adobe's Lightroom announcement yesterday.
March 7
Full Series of Nikon Firmware Updates. The D3400, D5600, D7200, D500, D750, and D810 have all gotten recent firmware updates. Article on dslrbodies.com
More Thoughts on the State of Mirrorless. My views are changing a bit about mirrorless as time progresses. Back when I started using mirrorless cameras, it was as a supplement to my DSLRs. In particular, I began by using m4/3 cameras for the wide to moderate telephoto range while I was on safari, leaving my two DSLRs both with telephoto lenses (typically 70-200mm and 400mm at full frame focal lengths). So what do I think about each of the most talked about choices these days? Here's my thinking about the main contenders in a nutshell. Article on sansmirror.com
March 6
Nikon Hasn't Lost Everyone. After my article last week on what Nikon users are thinking, there was a minor blip in the In Box that countered some of what I wrote, so let's get right to that. Article on dslrbodies.com
Admitting Failure the Wrong Way. It's rare that the Japanese admit failure at something, but when they do they often make the admission in ways that simply don't resonate right with Western audiences. Article on dslrbodies.com
Nikon's Window Gets Narrower. The window of opportunity keeps closing down on Nikon. The fact that they were so late with so little to the Action camera game and then completely whiffed on the Premium Compact pitch are just two components to the problem. Another is their lack of anything in the Dedicated Video arena. Article on dslrbodies.comMarch 3
What Nikon Users are Saying. Since Nikon's cancellation of the DL line and their basic no-show with anything new at CP+, my In Box has been swelling with comments from the Nikon faithful. I thought I'd take a few of those comments and open them up for a broader discussion of what's happening in the Nikon user world. Article on dslrbodies.com
March 2
Canon EOS M5 Review. Previously, Canon seemed to be low-balling their mirrorless M models, shooting for some sort of entry user with low expectations of direct camera control and somewhat low focus and other performance expectations. The M5, on the other hand, seems like a really well designed small Rebel DSLR, and shares quite a lot of DNA with the Canon DSLRs. Review on sansmirror.com
Hasselblad XCD lenses updated, including new 120mm f/3.5.