Seems to me that the old Leica M series film rangefinders have become the "little black dress" of the fashion world while everything else is a nod to ever-changing fashion. Everything else is more Thierry Mugler and Versace and much more topical. And Leica has assumed an immediacy in the minds of so many YouTube photo enthusiasts....
6.09.2023
Last year's model. Cameras as a fashion statement.
Seems to me that the old Leica M series film rangefinders have become the "little black dress" of the fashion world while everything else is a nod to ever-changing fashion. Everything else is more Thierry Mugler and Versace and much more topical. And Leica has assumed an immediacy in the minds of so many YouTube photo enthusiasts....
6.08.2023
Another day at work. A pleasant morning photographing medical products for Abbott. A wonderful and jovial art director presiding.
I worked as a photographer today. Not a pontificator. I didn't spend time bragging about stuff I did twenty years ago, I concentrated on doing the workmanlike steps required to supply a client with a number of photographs to use in international marketing and advertising right now. There was nothing glamorous about the shoot. I didn't have a video crew document my shoot and show off my collection of silver and turquoise rings nicely contrasted by tattoos all over my hands. I didn't hold a wide angle camera in front of my face and walk around. I actually did stuff real photographers who earn their livings taking photographs have done for decades and decades.
6.07.2023
We're currently getting huge numbers of page views from Singapore. A thousand percent more than from anywhere else. We're closing access for 24 hours until we better understand what's happening.
Starting at 5pm today. Should be back up tomorrow. Thanks. KT
6.05.2023
What can you shoot in an hour with a 40mm f2.0 lens and an older camera body? Daido Moriyama sez: (paraphrasing): "blaze away and shoot anything that captures your interest. No hierarchy of subject matter. Don't think! Shoot! His first piece of advice for newbies? Get Outside!!!
A message from Daido Moriyama: "Get Outside!"
6.04.2023
Post processing versus "tweaking" a file. Big difference? Little corrections?
6.03.2023
Been reading a book about Daido Moriyama's Street Photography and have already started to fall under the influence...
Making Generative A.I. Jealous for Decades to Come...
Programmers who scraped the web, stole "source" materials that never belonged to them and created tools to leverage their theft should be so ashamed of themselves. Content Criminals; for sure.
It's been almost a year now since consumers have been able to walk into a camera store and walk out with a new Fuji X100V. What's the deal?
The Fuji X100V trended on TikTok last year and every influencer with a pulse rushed to talk up the camera and wear one as a fashion accessory. Or maybe the few columns I wrote about the camera back in 2021 fueled an explosion of demand, but whatever the reason the supply chain issues with this product should be long past by this time and the cameras should once again be widely available --- but they are not. Every major retailer is showing "backordered" on their websites. The used market is still a bit frantic with scummy extortionists asking upwards of $2,500 USD for a copy in decent shape. So now I'm becoming quite suspicious.
My first thought is that someone did some deep data mining and predictive analysis with the assistance of A.I., predicted worldwide demand and leveraged their Crypto currency holdings to lock up the entire production output of X100V cameras in early 2022. Now hundreds of thousands of these precious cameras are locked up in a warehouse in Azerbaijan waiting for the apex of consumer desire to bubble over into a buying frenzy at which time the culprits will open an online storefront and sell the coveted camera by the by the train car load for somewhere north of $2000-$2500 each.
My second thought was that Fuji saw how quickly they were able to sell through their first two year's worth of inventory and is playing pretty much the same game. They sit back and blame the "supply chain" even though the processors used throughout the product line are largely identical. This gives them the breathing room and a consumer availability disconnection to buffer their next move. They'll "discontinue" the product and then when there is a global uproar of protest and bitter consumer angst they will bend to popular demand and "relaunch" the X100V, but at an increased price of $2295 per camera. They might, even now, be stuffing their warehouses to the gills in anticipation...
I can just imagine their new advertising campaign slogan: "Nearly as good as the Leica Q3 but only a third of the price." Followed by: "Get yours now before they disappear forever." Echoed in some markets by Ricoh's new slogan for the GR111x: "Not the camera you wanted but the camera you can get right now."
Why would Fuji do this? Mostly to add about $600 of profit to each camera sold. And because they've done their historic business research which showed them that people were willing to pay premiums for Enron stock, a company with no intrinsic value, right up to the bitter end. At least a camera holds some physical, residual value...
This might backfire for Fuji. Leica could drop the price of their surplus supplies of Q2 cameras to $1995, dump em on the market and destroy any future demand for the X100v. But I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen.
Alternatively, maybe the group within Fuji that knew how to make the X100v were all lured away by that camera powerhouse, Ricoh, to work on the next generation of the Pentax APS-C DSLR. Yeah, that's probably it.
Don't get me wrong, the X100v is a very decent camera and, in some hands can be quite a fun picture taking machine. But... a worldwide shortage based on inflamed demand? Driven by TikTok influencers? Perhaps this camera is just the "Chia Pet" or "Pet Rock" of our time, in the camera world.... but unlike those other products is one that requires actual manufacturing instead of just the procurement of.....rocks.
It would be nice if we could buy the X100Vs now. But having owned several I'd peg their real retail value at something closer to $1295. But I guess the cost of rare earth materials like "unobtainium" drives the pricing structure. You can't discount against demand.
The real danger for Fuji is that some company like Sony will wise up and get into the "rangefinder replica" game, come out with an equally "retro" product and snatch the market away from Fuji while Fuji has their eyes on other prizes.... like their "faux" medium format cameras. But that's a whole other story.
Can't wait to see if someone in some large, unnamed country famous for counterfeit products sees the pent up demand and starts flooding the world market with really good knock offs.
Now waiting on Panasonic to bring out their faux rangefinder version. It'll probably be full frame. Won't that be a market disrupter? Especially if it feature lens interchangeability.
Final thought. What if Fuji waits too long and the entire fickle market of trendy camera buyers moves on to Generative A.I. instead? I mean, if your computer can do the heavy lifting for you and then you get to claim credit for a "mix tape" of other people's work why even bother with the drudgery of camera ownership? Or even worse; having to learn how to make good photographs on your own?
Thoughts?