efix:photography - News. Thoughts. Pictures. » Essays

Sergej Prokudin-Gorskij | Pioneer of colour photography

efix — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:42:05 +0000

Born August 30th, 1863, Sergej Prokudin-Gorskij is undoubtedly one of the pioneers of colour photography. In the early 1910s, before the outbreak of World War I, Prokudin-Gorskij travelled across Russia, documenting the country and the life of its many, culturally diverse inhabitants — in full colour. His ventures were financed by Tsar Nikolaj II, who was impressed by his previous work and decided to grant him the funds needed for a 10-year project which Prokudin-Gorskij eventually continued beyond the October Revolution.

Sergej Prokudin-Gorskij | On the Karolitskhali River (Self-portrait)

Back in Prokudin-Gorskij’s [...]

Japancamerahunter: Which rangefinder camera?

efix — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 07:45:35 +0000

Bellamy Hunt, the Japan Camera Hunter, wrote a short essay about rangefinder cameras, going through a selection of the options you have when you’re considering to try rangefinder photography.

Bellamy arranged the cameras in three groups: entry-level fixed-lens, intermediate level and (top-level) interchangeable lens rangefinders. A very informative post.

http://www.japancamerahunter.com/2011/10/rangefinder-cameras-what-are-your-options/

Building the perfect BUDGET Micro Four Thirds kit

efix — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:05:05 +0000

Steve Huff recently published an article titled “Building the perfect Micro 4/3 Camera kit for under $2500“, in which he talks about his favourite Micro Four Thirds cameras and lenses and where to get them. While his “perfect kit”, consisting of an Olympus E-P3, Zuiko 12/2, Panasonic Lumix 20/1.7, Zuiko 45/1.8 and the VF-2 viewfinder, is certainly a killer combo, it also comes with a killer price tag – US-$ 2,697.85 if you buy from B&H Photo.

Not all of us have that much money to spend, [...]

TOP discuss the “Most Desirable Cameras on the Planet”

efix — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:33:25 +0000

The Online Photographer has a new column which discusses the “Most Desirable Cameras on the Planet”. Counting down from 11 to 1, Mike Johnston presents and discusses eleven cameras that he deems desirable for different reasons.

Part 1 (the 11th-most desirable camera on the planate) was on the new PhaseOne IQ180 80-megapixel medium format digital back, whose image quality apparently challenges high-resolution scans of 8×10″ large format film.

Part 2, published yesterday, discusses the Nikon D3x, Nikon’s top-of-the-line, state-of-the-art, ultimate professional high-end full-frame “Hunka hunka burnin’ hunk” (TOP) DSLR.

If you’d [...]

Mike Johnston on Nikon 1 and Micro Four Thirds

efix — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:25:25 +0000

Yesterday’s announcement of Nikon’s new “1″ mirrorless system caused a lot of stirr in the online photography community — mostly negative, as it seems. Mike Johnston from The Online Photographer compares the introduction of the Nikon 1 system to that of the IBM PCjr and the Kodak PictureDisk, and comes to the conlcusion that the real “Big Kahuna” is Micro Four Thirds.

A very interesting read which you can find here.

News & Articles | August 5th, 2011

efix — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 07:56:43 +0000

It seems it’s time for another round of news and articles! Over the past weeks, I’ve been collecting interesting links again, which I’d now like to share with you.

Section 1: Micro Four Thirds

The Photography Of Amos Chapple This really doesn’t need many words. Amos Chapple is an avid traveller and records his adventures using Micro Four Thirds cameras by choice. Look at his pictures and you’ll know why they say it’s the photographer that takes the shot, not the camera. Amazing stuff!

DSLR Magazine: Olympus PEN Lite (E-PL3) test The Spanish DSLR Magazine [...]

News and articles | July 18th, 2011

efix — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:44:44 +0000

Oh my! It’s been more than a month since I last posted a news-and-articles-recap … ! I’ve been (and still am) rather busy with work and newly enamoured with film, so my love for digital photography has been dampened somewhat recently. Still, I collected a bunch of interesting weblinks to share with you, and as my son is currently peacefully playing by himself, I’m using the opportunity to put together a quick roundup of what’s been published around the interwebs those past weeks!

Photoradar: Earth from space Photoradar have posted a series of images taken by [...]

New & articles | June 12th, 2011

efix — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 12:20:27 +0000

It’s been almost two weeks since I last posted a news and article roundup (– the reason being that I was first sick and the busy –), but here I am again, with some fresh stuff from around the interwebs. Enjoy!

Review: Voigtländer Color Heliar 75mm f/2.5 The Voigtländer Color Heliar 75mm f/2.5 is a very reputable short tele / portrait lens in Leica screw mount (“M39″). It has been out of production for quite some time, and has been replaced recently by the newer 75mm f/1.8 Heliar. It’s still a great little [...]

News and Articles | May 26th, 2011

efix — Thu, 26 May 2011 11:38:27 +0000

Another round of news and articles, this time a little late as I was pretty knocked out for more than a week sind last week, and have only just really recovered.

Noktor is dead! Long live Noktor! Remember Noktor, a couple of chaps, operating from a shed somewhere in the U.S., retrofitting and rebranding Japanese CCTV lenses for Micro Four Thirds? They made quite a stir last year when they announced a 50mm f/0.95 high-speed lens with native m4/3 mount, but it turned out to be low quality and overpriced. Just recently, Noktor announced their death, just [...]

News and article recap: May 8th, 2011

efix — Sun, 08 May 2011 13:59:26 +0000

It’s a warm and sunny sunday here in central Germany, and after spending the first half of the day in our beautiful garden I decided the sun’s become too hot and went inside to share with you some more interesting news and articles I found this week.

Leica Freedom Train Ernst Leitz II, son of Leica-founder Ernst Leitz, helped many people — Leitz employees as well as fellow citizens — to flee the Nazi regime before and during World War II. The Amateur Photographer recollects the story and reports on the ongoing efforts of a british Rabbi [...]