The decelerating photography market. On all sides now.

It was interesting to skate around the web and look at not just what pundits and experts are saying but also how they are saying it. The general tone, and even the defensiveness of some commentators. I was over on YouTube and clicked onto one of my favorite camera review/camera tutorial sites; that of ever cheerful, Maarten Heilbron. His latest video wasn't a review or a camera tutorial but a six minute segment suggesting buyers take a breath and consider before lungeing into yet another camera purchase. Yes, he was actually counseling visitors to his site to sit back for a moment and really try to understand what they want to use their cameras for and how they are using what they've already got. It was almost an anti-buying episode. His suggestions were spot on and when I left his channel I clicked over to Amazon and emptied my "wish list."

There is a pervasive mantra on the web that we've hit a hard and long plateau which means "all current cameras are more than good enough." 

DP Review made a splash, not with another "amazing pre-pre-preview of the latest Sony MILC" but with news of Nikon's recently released financials; which don't look good where their photography products are concerned. Another 18% drop in their imaging business revenue since just last year (which was NOT stellar). Sony had a drop in operating profit of 73% last quarter; according to (well informed) Thom Hogan. Makes one wonder if Samsung just did their homework a lot quicker (and better) than the rest of the companies in the camera market and got out first. Stopped digging deeper into the hole. Stopped the bleeding early...

The perspective I hear from nearly every working photographer I encounter in day-to-day life is this: "The cameras got so good a few years ago that there's really nothing I need in the new cameras that I can't get out of the stuff I bought two years (or three, or four) ago." Followed by, "I'm pretty happy with what I have now I think I'll skip this generation and wait for the next set of introductions."  Online reviewers are still touting the latest products but they are still making their YouTube reviews mostly with  Panasonic GH5 cameras; a three year old product with a smaller sensor, etc. (Examples are: Tony and Chelsea Northrup, and Jordan Drake and Chris Nichols over at DPReview).

If the guys who are charged with marketing the latest stuff to consumers are still using older gear with great results then one has to pause for a moment and wonder why. The on-screen guys surely have access to the latest stuff but....... is it possible that three years after its introduction the only real competitor to the GH5, in the hard specs (60p 4K, 10 bit, 4:2:2 with high data rates of 400 M/bs), is the Fuji X-T3? And even it falls short since there is no audio adapter for professional microphones, no waveform indicators, etc.

Sales of Nikon's new mirrorless products are being bedeviled and curtailed by the sheer strength of the two year old D850. Based mostly on an eight year old D800. Nikon would probably sell more of their mirrorless stuff if it was demonstrably better than the D850 but it's not. And they can't risk killing the main cannibal in their line-up or they'd lose too many sales since their mirrorless offerings have fewer unique selling points versus the MILC competition. Sad times for Nikon. And even sadder is that those new cameras are so good, if considered on their own...

So, what's driving the market down? It's probably the same thing that's making commercial photography jobs harder to come by: Fear of the next recession looming in the near future. That, and declining real incomes in mature markets. And maybe new product launch fatigue.

Recent surveys by business magazines and websites show a pessimistic trend among CFOs where the economy is concerned, and indicate that they are already taking steps to trim unnecessary costs. That's starting to be felt by freelancers and might soon hit contract workers as well, in spite of the historically low unemployment numbers. Someone has to be the "canary in the coal mine."

I finally also believe that phones with great cameras, and even better internal imaging software, are more and more responsible for a growing proportion of the photographic images (and video) we're seeing in social media and web advertising. There are still plenty of situations in which traditional cameras are needed for professional (or even acceptable) results. It would be tough-to-impossible (now) to get great live theater shots with long focal lengths and lots of movement in low light. Architects still need raw resolution and (for now) optical perspective correction. The list goes on but it's shrinking. And the styles of advertising imaging have changed. Now, more often than not, all but in the top, top end of advertising the imaging being used is most often a result of "PhotoShopping" together disparate elements (mostly free stock shots) to create a final image. Cheaper, faster and more than adequate for banner ads and ads that will appear (with a 65% likelihood ) on a person's phone screen.

Survey photo bloggers and you'll hear tales of woe and despair. Affiliate clicks are following the general downshifting of the overall camera market and income from in-blog ads for photo products are falling month by month. Some bloggers are turning to crowd-funding via resources like Patreon on which interested readers can make direct financial contributions. I can only surmise though that the decline in camera sales also reflects, to a certain degree, a declining interest in the blog content in general since most of the stuff written is (inevitably now) a rehash of the same old tropes and topics.

Samples being: Which lens is best? Comparisons between two current, popular cameras. Which camera is best? Which cameras are the top five ever produced? Why the making of prints will never die? Why printmaking is dead? Mirrorless versus Traditional. Canon versus everyone else. How I use one light to photograph hot models. Are Camera Makers Lying to Us? How we did (everything) this in the good old days. Why I hate video? Are Sony Cameras the Best in the Universe? Do Fuji cameras have worms?

I've written over 4,000 blogs. I'm now waiting for the next big thing in photography. Except....there may not be a "next big thing" in Photography. We'll see.

I'm getting more calls for video these days than for traditional photography. I hate to say it but client taste in videos is pretty basic. Occasionally we get clients who just watched "Avengers: Endgame" and they'd like their $3,000 video to look "just like that." But most are looking for basic "talking heads" and the clients have done a good job pushing their cost of videos down (rushing to be first to the bottom) which means fees are also falling. I'm just a few steps away from selling off all the cameras, buying two iPhones and offering nothing but available light iPhone video with iMovie editing.... But that's just my cynicism talking.

The odd thing is that after all the changes in the markets, the tools, the audiences and the publishing venues, I still love photography more than anything (except swimming) that I do in the realm of work and play. There's still a magic to it and I'm sure that no matter what happens to the business end of photography I'll still enjoy lacing up some hiking shoes, grabbing a camera, and heading out the door to see what the world looks like through a lens. It's addictive. I like it. I can quit any time I want...(ha. ha.).
I hope you do this for fun. It's a bright future for artists and the truly smitten. I'd just hate to be a camera sales person right about now.... And I'd never, ever suggest to my son that he take up photography for a living.

A Gallery Moment. Ep. 1. "Everybody gets a trophy."

From the Zach Theatre production of "Matilda." Jimmy Moore as Ms. Trunchbull. 

Fuji X-H1
Fuji 50-140mm f2.8 (at 129.5mm)
ISO 2000
Handheld. 

Latest Amazing Product Review. Light up my life. And one thing that really sucks!!! Cue the music....

Last Sunday was Cinco de Mayo. A Mexican holiday celebrating the exit of France 

from Mexico. I just happened to be at a rocking good party at the memory care

residence with my dad. Sadly, no margaritas were on offer.....

But the mariachis were surprisingly good. Some of the best I've heard. 

Before we leap into the review of the incredible new product I thought I'd talk about all the weather excitement here in Austin. We're having some record rainfall this Spring and all the lakes, streams, creeks and shallow spots are full of water. These are no gentle Spring showers... we're getting pounded in some instances by up to 4 inches per hour. This depends on where in the area you live but on Tuesday we got our share of super heavy rainfall at VSL H.Q. Ground Zero. 

I was working at my desk in the office at around 8:30pm when the wind picked up and the tree branches started thrashing around. It's been raining off and on for weeks now and the ground is saturated all the way to the center core of the planet. There's no where else for the water to go. Fortunately, we're up in the hills so flood waters would have to crest over 400 feet to totally cover our property. Still, temporary water with no place to run is... interesting. 

As I sat typing and watching the 1200+ lightning flashes (as reported by the Weather Channel) I noticed a growing pool of water seeping from the east wall, adjacent to my desk. On the other side of the wall is a low spot and I've had trouble with it before. We have a French drain there but it's been in service since 1998 so I think it's permanently clogged up. As the pool of water grew on the inside of the office I grabbed the (priceless) Shop Vac out of the closet and fired it up. In seconds we were sucking up floor water with all the power of the turbo charged vacuum. In minutes the five gallon container was full and I emptied it out on the side of the studio that doesn't flood (smart, huh?). I repeated this exercise for a while until it dawned on me that I hadn't check on the French drain in front of the house. If the intake gets clogged up with leaves it forfeits all responsibility and if the flood waters go over the side walk and into the garden under the kitchen window then we have RED ALERT and water seeps onto the hardwood floors in the living room. 

I rushed outside, battered by the wind, and rain that felt like spiteful bullets, only to find the drain well stopped up and in full dereliction of its purpose. I cleared the drain cover and then pulled it off entirely and watched for a second as the water rushed in fast enough to make a whirlpool. But I was too late. The water had breached the last lines of defense and was just starting to spread in the living room. I called out to Ben and he cast his headphones and game controller aside and grabbed a mop and bucket. We shouted out to Belinda and she started pulling Turkish carpets off the living room floor and finding old swim towels with which to aid in the water soaking-up operation. With the big Shop Vac we made short work of it and, with the drain re-opened and fully operational, the leak/intrusion stopped. 

I rushed to empty the Shop Vac and head back out to the studio. The water had spread a third of the way across the floor and showed no signs of retreat. Again and again the mighty Shop Vac sucked until it was full and then, emptied, it sucked again. Some time after 10 pm the rain slowed down and the water stopped its attack on my studio floor. 

No major harm done. The studio has concrete floors and is covered with 3/8ths inch foam tiles (the kind used in exercise areas...). We'll mop up and replace the tiles as some of them are nearing 18 years of service. But it sure showcases the wonders of home ownership and studio ownership for me. Oh Boy!

Oh Shop Vac, you are my hero!!!

We had more rain yesterday and it was also a doozy but I spent some time in a dry spell working on the drains. We've got more work to do with the ones for the studio but they held the line during yesterday's squall, and today we have some actual sunshine. And the attendant super-high humidity. Lovely, all just lovely. 

Coffee on the way to swim practice. Feeling down? Feeling overwhelmed?

Nothing a good, fast 3500 yards with friends can't fix. 

Goggles? Check. Suit? Check. No lightning? Check. 

Ready, set, swim. Yay!!!!!

Moral/take-away from my tale of water woes? Buy yourself a Shop Vac and keep those drains clean and operational. 

Now, on to our review of the latest "Amazing Product" to appear in the studio, courtesy the hardworking delivery drivers from Amazon. 

The product we're writing about today is a simple LED light. It's sold by Godox. 

I've been using Aputure LED panels for several years now and I like the sturdiness and color integrity of their more professional series of Lightstorm fixtures. But I have had my eye on their COB (chip on board) lights, the 120D and the 300D, for quite a while. These are set up with one monolithic LED chip (about 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches) so they make a harder light source and work more like a  traditional electronic flash than a panel light. You are able to use them with speed rings and that allows you to use them with modifiers like soft boxes and octaboxes effectively. I hesitated to buy the Aputure products because they seemed expensive and I didn't really have a pressing need for them. I was doing just fine pushing panel LED light through a diffusion screen for most of my work. But in the back of my mind I knew it would be nice, if they worked well, to use different lights, along with speed ring friendly modifiers because it would mean the whole assemblage could be put onto one light stand, effectively cutting in half the number of C-Stands or light stands I would have to bring on location. 

A few recent video assignments brought that idea back into my brain and I re-started my investigation into the Aputure models. But interestingly, each time I looked at a review of the Aputure 120 (around $650) I would also read about another choice; the Godox SL-60W. The color specs and basic mechanics are pretty much the same but the Godox sells for (right now, today) about $159, delivered. I continued reading. 

Both are fan cooled. Early Godox units had a reputation for being loud. More recent reviews point out that when both units are warmed up and have been in operation for about 15 minutes the fan noise is the same. Obviously, the Aputure model uses a thermostatically controlled fan which ramps up the final RPM as the heat increases toward its equilibrium while, apparently, the Godox just runs the fan at speed whenever it's turned on. The Aputure is rated at 120 watts while the Godox is 60. The difference, theoretically, should be about one stop. 

While the Aputure is more robustly constructed and has more "air" holes for ventilation there are some things I like much better about the Godox unit. The biggest is that the Aputure ( like the Lightstorm LS units I already own) separate the control box from the light unit itself. The control box is connected via an almost proprietary LEMO cable to the light and dangles underneath it. The control box has its own dangling accessory in the form of a power brick to convert the A/C from the wall to D/C. You'll need to remember, every time you pack to leave your studio and go on location, to pack: the light unit, the LEMO cable, the control unit, the power brick and the removable power cord for the power brick. That's a lot of stuff to remember. That's a lot of stuff to pack. 

The Godox SL-60W is set up like a last century appliance; there is one power cord that goes from your wall socket into the back of the unit. The cord is removable and replaceable (standard computer cable) but it's just one, standard electrical cord. Done. 

All of the Aputures can be configured to run on batteries. The Lightstorms I have can be purchased configured to work with either Sony "V" mount batteries or Anton Bauer cinema batteries. If you want to use the $159 Godox in a battery powered configuration you really ....... can't. I'm sure you could get an external battery, with an inverter, and make that work but you're back to hauling around more stuff. Godox does make a battery powered version of the SL-60W, with an internal lithium battery but that unit can't be used with a wall plug so you've got two units from Godox that are both somewhat less flexible than the Aputure 120D or 300D. Except that you'll already be hauling all those cables and brick with the Aputure units...

I bought my Godox SL-60W knowing full well that I'd be using it as a "plug-in-the-wall" only unit and I'm fine with that. 

Most of the time I intend to use the light for video work, in the studio and on location. If I want to work free from the wall plugs I've got a number of battery powered options to use in my inventory. But this is the only LED light I have that can be used in conjunction with speed rings and their associated modifiers.  Something I would mostly use for interviews. 

So, how does the SL-60W actually work? Pretty well. I opened the box, glanced at a tiny owner's manual, plugged the light in and turned it on. The light output matches the output I get (color, hue, and color temperature) from the Aputure LS units fairly closely. More than close enough to use both brands in tandem to light a shot. The interface on the back is incredibly simple; more so if you choose to ignore the small remote that comes with the light. 

I'm currently testing the light with a 42 inch octobox that has two layers of diffusion. I'm happy to say that at ISO 400 I can do portraits with the light in my usual configuration at 1/125th and f4.0. That's a perfect spot for portraits taken with the Fuji cameras. (I use my boxes in a bit closer than some...). 

I left the light on at 75% power, with the octobox mounted, for two days. The temperature (there is a readout of operating temperature on the rear panel. Put the setting dial for two seconds to toggle back and forth between centigrade and Fahrenheit) never exceeded 90 degrees F. I like to burn stuff in. I've been told that most electronics will either fail at the beginning or the very end of their useful life. This one seems to have survived. 

The light is adjustable in tiny steps. The analogy is a lens with a very long focusing ring throw. 

The only control, in addition to the temperature readout and a power knob, is a button that will allow you to "program" the unit to work on various channels or groups with the supplied remote control. While remotes always sound like a great idea I have about six of them for various Aputure lights and all the remotes are in a drawer together. I never use them. I can't understand the allure. Or the need to put up with more operational complexity. 

I'm sure someone will trot out the argument about the light being all the way up near the ceiling and how they desperately and immediately need to make a "critical" change in the light's output level but I don't use lights in the same way and am almost never in such a rush that I can't take time to lower a light and make an adjustment. 

For me, the light has two controls. One is the power switch. The other is the power control knob. That's about as simple as you can make things. 

So, to sum up: Great light for the money. Good color and output. Wickedly cheap. Lots of plastic in the construction (although the body seems to be made of metal). Did I mention the price? 

Here's the logic: One light in a soft box (or equivalent). One light on the background with a grid over the reflector. Done. Less than $400.   Nice. I think I'll buy two more. Still cheaper than the Aputure 120D. 

Buy one here. 

Large and bright rear panel with simple and obvious controls.

Some additional color around town. Make mine saturated. Thanks!

Having fun posting different stuff over on Instagram: Look here! 

When I was on the north side of the lake everything seemed drab. When I walked over the the south side of the lake there was color.

It was an interesting weekend during which I got not a damn thing done. Sure, I went to swim practice on Saturday (that's a given) and I drove down to San Antonio to spend the afternoon with my father, but the rest of the time I just spent spinning my wheels and contemplating why we are born just to suffer and die?  (literary reference: you have time, you look it up). 

So when I woke up this morning I decided not to while away the time doing more random office work or checking in on investments: instead I made a very superior cup of coffee, drank it and then headed out the door for a long walk through Austin's usually vibrant but apparently "late to wake up" downtown. I've been dallying with a small Fuji camera that's called an X-E3. Today, for no good reason whatsoever, I paired it up with the 60mm macro lens that Fuji sells. It's a nice package because if you are brave enough to discard the lens hood then the whole assemblage is small and light. And you have the psychological assurance that, because the sensor is contemporary, you aren't missing out on any potential quality in your resulting images. 

As usual, I walked across the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge and into town via the Seaholm Power Plant multi-use development and headed east toward the Convention Center. I walked down second street and it felt unusually bland and colorless. The sky was overcast and seemed to suck all the saturation out of the tall buildings and nondescript office fronts. 

Usually, when I reach the Convention Center I turn left, head North and then, a few blocks later I turn West and head back to my point of embarkation via Sixth Street. Today, on a lark, I turned left instead. Within seconds I was rewarded with the sight of about twenty five policemen from Houston riding a bunch of horses up the street towards me. I turned South onto the Congress Ave. bridge and ran right into the pre-production of a big gaggle of police with bicycles, motorcycles, on foot, and some even wearing bagpipes. They were assembling to do a memorial parade up Congress Ave. to the Capitol grounds. I took a bunch of images and then moved on, heading South. 

Then I turned onto Barton Springs Road and followed the sidewalk to the West. Nearly every building (except the boring state and city office buildings) was painted a rich and saturated color, or sported a giant mural or two. After the almost colorless section of downtown, North of the river, the colors were surprising and most welcome. I photographed each color graphic or magnificent paint wash that caught my attention, and I did so from multiple angles. 

One benefit of the tiny, poorly implemented EVF finder in this camera is that it's progressively forcing me to come to grips with using the rear screen. It's a different way to look/photograph and one I denied in the years before I finally got my prescription changed in my glasses and started using bifocals. I think I actually take more time with the rear screen to work out composition. Must be a result of having spent all those early years looking at the rear screen of a view camera. I've stopped fighting it...

By the time I got back to my car I'd seen a tasty bit of color, but only on the more laid back, South side of the river. I also discovered a brand new hotel just a few blocks from Zach Theatre that I had previously never known about. It has a great little coffee bar and the main restaurant looks promising. The reason it remained undiscovered by me for so long is that the main building looks like a parking garage and the parts of the hotel that interest me (the coffee shop, the lounge, and the restaurant) are housed in a restored carpenter's union hall. A building I've seen on and off for about 40 years. You had to get close enough to read the small "A" frame sign just outside the front door to know the hotel existed. The sign said: "Yes. There is a hotel in there." 

I don't know if it was the walk, the surprising amount of South side color, or my discovery of the inviting little hotel that changed my mood. Probably the whole mix. But at any rate I came back to the house feeling a small taste of renewal and a bit of optimism for the week ahead. Nice.

A mid afternoon coffee with a very, very good friend didn't hurt either! 

The trees are not obscuring the intention of the photograph. They are the intention. 

Yeah Baby, Yeah. 

(An Austin Power's movie reference. So nineties).