Around the Web on a Wednesday

(Cuba)

Paris-Cuba: Our friend Peter Turnley is having a major exhibit, entitled Paris-Cuba, that opened at La Fototeca de Cuba, Cuba's National Center of Photography, on September 21. The show is on view until October 20th. In case you can't get to Cuba easily, there's a video. The exhibit of 104 photographs represents more than forty years of photographing the two places.

(Paris)

Shades of Roger C.: The ladies of IFixit—Kay Kay Clapp, who has the quirky title of "Director of Things," and Sam Goldheart, Lead Teardown Engineer—have taken apart an iPhone 11 Pro Max to see what makes it tick. Just seems full of little bits to me, as maybe the important bits are even smaller bits, but then I confess I haven't watched the whole video yet. I will. I do wish I could get an 11 Pro, but then, I have a perfectly good phone that's already paid for.

Ex Seven what?: Blake Andrews has the scoop on the new X-7000, which has 20% more features than the X-6000. I happened to encounter the X-7000 FAQ right after I scanned this article at DPReview, and the juxtaposition seemed apropos. Also, I think I might start answering questions by saying "the new digital economy offers fantastic opportunities and challenges."

If you don't know Blake's interviews, you should put them on your radar. For a random sample, try his April interview with Charles Traub. I found myself almost alarmed by the idea of getting a portrait of Manual Alvarez Bravo and not even captioning it!

Beautiful book of a horrific subject: Few media reports of any kind—video, written word, multimedia—have captured the dreadful carnage in Syria and Iraq with as much thoughtfulness, compassion, and vividness as 36-year-old Irish photographer Ivor Prickett does in his remarkable new book End of the Caliphate. (The caliphates were political entities based in the Middle East in which the shared Islamic religion was stronger than national or ethnic differences. They were stewarded by caliphs, religious figures who outranked the secular leaders.) Literally the book documents a year in the campaign to retake Mosul from ISIS, but symbolically it gives visual expression to the tragedy of endless strife in the region; and the photographer seems as physically invisible in the pictures as his morality and humanity are pervasive. It strikes me that Ivor Prickett's book, intimate and immediate amid desolation and danger, might well deserve to stand among the great books of war photography from photography's history. It also deserves space on your shelf if you are building a library of outstanding color photography.

The HD Pentax DA 20–40mm ƒ/2.8–4 ED Limited DC WR

Pentax lens: My favorite Pentax lens is on sale for $300 off. Limited-range zooms have always tickled me—Pentax once prototyped a 32–39mm "adjustable 35mm," an idea I liked—and the current 2X 20–40mm APS-C zoom (30–60mm-e) is an adjustable normal lens. Don't mindlessly slam it from one end of its range to the other—think of it as a 40mm, 45mm, or 50mm normal that allows you to tweak your framing a bit. Buy one for the as-yet-unnamed new Pentax reduced-sensor flagship that will be probably be shown in Tokyo on September 21st.

New cameras are coming in October: ...According to an article on Thom's DSLRbodies, there are a surprising number of new cameras slated to arrive soon. Thom says, "It seems that we're in for a spurt of new cameras, and both DSLR and mirrorless will be in that mix. The question is whether the market can handle that much iteration. How many of those models will be 'sticky' and get some traction?" Good question. I have to admit that even I just "forget" some current cameras soon after release...they just seem irrelevant. Even though I'm supposed to pay attention to that stuff.

Venerable names that might be fading:

Cadillac: ...Says one car buddy. Caddy went all-in on German-style luxury sports/muscle car sedans a few handfuls of years ago, and built at least one great car, the ATS-V, which has sold poorly (because if you want a car as good as a BMW, why not buy a BMW?). The direction change created a little too much cognitive dissonance with Caddy's established image as a maker of soft, stately, high-status land yachts. Now, with sedan sales tanking (by one third since 2011!), Cadillac might either prematurely cancel its flagship and most Cadillac-like luxury sedan, the CT6, or—gasp—start importing it to the U.S. from China where it is also built. Cadillac has created some gorgeous concept cars in recent years, such as the Escala and the breathtaking Elmiraj (a modern take on the Eldorado), but those aren't making it to market. For much of 2018, Cadillac recorded its lowest U.S. market share in its entire history.

Pentax: With less than 5% market share and with most of its better cameras in the declining DSLR category—and all sporting aging sensors—it's an open question how long the honorable old Pentax nameplate will be around. It's likely that a new APS-C flagship DSLR will be announced next month—see the news item above—but how many fans will buy it? Relative to his own question quoted above, Thom's educated guess there that it "isn't going to be very sticky" (i.e., get much attention or gain much traction in the market). Ricoh has the means to keep Pentax alive even as a losing venture, but it bought Pentax for a presence in the DSLR business just in time for the big downturn. And businesses aren't charities. On the other hand, it's become sort of a cliché to sound Pentax's death-knell, and everyone's been wrong so far.

The New Yorker: A mere six spins around the sun from its 100th birthday, one of the last and best of the written-word real readers' magazines, The New Yorker, might not be around a lot longer. I haven't encountered any scuttlebutt to that effect. But, the surest sign of the circling vultures is right there under readers' noses. The magazine that has historically resided on the coffee tables of the most gracious upper- and upper-middle-class American homes used to be stuffed to the scuppers with snooty luxury ads, but recent issues sometimes don't even fill their prime ad positions. Page after page passes with no advertising, or just "house ads," an ad from the magazine itself or the parent company, or "comps," which are public-service or traded ads. Where all those luxury ads used to be, it's a desert. That's fine with readers, but not a good sign at all for business. Then again, consider these lines from Joseph Epstein: "The New Yorker, like New York itself, is always better in the past. In the present, it seems always to be slipping, never quite as good as it once was. Did the magazine, founded in 1925, have a true heyday? People differ about when this might be. The New Yorker’s heyday, it frequently turns out, was often their own."

New vs. Old: "Pro Wedding Photographers Compare iPhone 11 Pro to Canon 5D Mark IV" at PetaPixel. The results are surprising, except that, as I've always said, better cameras often show their strengths when pushed to extremes in various ways rather than when things are more optimal. The linked article resembles one I wrote for Black & White Photography magazine in the 2000s comparing a small-sensor digicam to DSLRs of the time. Would you hire a photographer to shoot your wedding with an iPhone 11 Pro?

Rats: No photographers among the 2019 recipients of the "genius grants," AKA the MacArthur Fellowships ($625,000 in five annual installments), which were announced this morning. This year, we are chopped liver.

...On the good side, Mary Halvorson got one.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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[Steve Higgins]

Re: Pentax

Maybe they are hoping to keep afloat selling 100th Anniversary tat? ;-)

I used to be a Pentax fan; no longer.

[John Camp]

About the Cadillac...I have my main character driving a Cadillac sedan in a book I'm writing now, because I saw one on the street, and it really is a sleek, good-looking automobile, reminiscent more of a Mercedes ubermobile than a BMW, IMHO. Mercedes are dignified, as is the Caddy; BMWs are snaky-looking, which is way different, while still good. But, sedans are dying, because they're simply not as functional as the wide variety of small, medium and large SUVs. People of a certain mind constantly carp about SUVs, but the smaller ones are probably more energy efficient than sedans, when you take into account what they're used for, and are certainly more practical for people who have pets, need to move stuff, etc. Most sedans should be shorter, lighter, and only have two seats, for what they actually do, which is wastefully move one person around. People should save their carping for (mostly empty) pickup trucks. I personally have a plug-in hybrid SUV, with which I'm quite pleased, but in driving it around town, I noticed that virtually every automaker has an SUV that looks almost exactly like mine. Convergent evolution at work.

[Mike Ferron]

Come to think of it in all my walking downtown, camera in hand have I ever seen anyone shooting with a Pentax digital. (Mr. Kirk Tuck is playing around with a Pentax camera now. He walks the same streets as I do. Maybe I'll bump into him sometime.:)

[Gordon Lewis]

RE: Venerable Marques that Might Be On Life Support

Having owned and used significant amounts of Pentax equipment over the years, I have a strong sentimental attachment to the brand. I can say the same for Kodak, Exacta, Vivitar, Konica, Minolta, Rollei, Mamiya, and Bronica, just to name a few. Unfortunately, it's neither sentiment nor nostalgia that keep brands viable, but dealers and customers, neither of which Pentax has in great supply. Until Pentax can figure out an effective way to increase sales and profits, they are more likely to shrink than grow.

[Paul]

Dear Mike
have you seen the Pentax ME-D? Sure looks fun. All we need now is some manufacturer to bring out a digital manual focus rangefinder camera. Are we always only going to have as choice a Leica? Not everyone can afford one, I sure can't.

Paul

[You mean the ME-D posted on April 1st featuring an oval dial caused by ham-handed Photoshoppery? Afraid that one's unlikely to be coming. :-) --Mike]

[Bill Pearce]

Mike,

You make me sad. You gave a shout out to short range zooms, but didn't mention my favorite, the olympus 28-48. It was my go-to street lens for at least ten years.

But then you also didn't mention my least favorite, the Nikkor 43-86. I had the first version (I was young and foolish) and it wasn't as bad as folks said, but that didn't make it good either.

But it may be the Nikkor was just as good, but I prefered and still do, the range of the oly.

Bill Pearce

[robert e]

"Would you hire a photographer to shoot your wedding with an iPhone 11 Pro?"

If I think they have The Right Stuff and they have confidence in the iPhone as a camera, I'd vote yes. Ditto if their tool of choice was an iPhone 5, Polaroid folder, Brownie, original 5D, a Hasselblad, a digicam or an 8x10. As long as they know what they're doing and why. Hypothetically, of course. And I'm only one vote ;)

[HR]

I still have my Minolta AF 35-70mm f4 that I bought years ago. Got it used in Tokyo in the early '90s for about $30 with hood and lens caps in excellent condition. Good lens. I recall the very early zoom Nikon 43-86mm f3.5 from 1963. Didn't have a great reputation, but it got the ball rolling on zooms. :-)

[Kodachromeguy]

New cameras are coming in October? OK, but who are the buyers? I can understand why the big camera companies are desperate to re-excite the type of customer (guy) who upgrades to a new camera every two or so years, but those days appear to be over - maybe forever. With my almost complete return to film, the only new digital camera that interests me is the upcoming Fuji X-Pro3. Your friend Kirk Tuck was very interested in it in a recent blog post. And he noted that the "experts" on Dpreview despise it, which almost guarantees that the X-Pro3 will be an innovative and useful photographic machine for real photographers.

[David L.]

Great news about Mary Halvorson being granted the MacArthur Foundation award.

[Andrew Lamb]

Alarming to hear your thoughts in the New Yorker. My understanding is when Conde Nast hired some bean counters a decade or so ago, they were briefed to examine all magazines with the exception of the New Yorker as Si Newhouse held it in special esteem.

With Si no longer around maybe it is no longer afforded special protection?

On a personal note, I visited the New Yorker’s offices about twenty years to meet up with, creative director, Elizabeth Biondi. I was in genuine awe. All those framed covers on the walls. There is something very beguiling about the mystique surrounding the New Yorker.

[alex-virt]

Would you hire a photographer to shoot your wedding with an iPhone 11 Pro?

I sure would if this photographer is Dmitry Markov. He shoots exclusively iPhone, and here is his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dcim.ru/

[David Evans]

"Most sedans should be shorter, lighter, and only have two seats, for what they actually do, which is wastefully move one person around."
My Nissan Note is 18% shorter than any Cadillac sedan and can seat four while using about half the fuel. At least once a week I need its ability to carry more than two people and/or a significant amount of luggage, furniture etc. Downsizing cars is certainly a good thing but I don't think two seats is the way to go.

[Daniel]

> On Wedding Photographers with I-Phones.

Considering some of what I see passing as "professional" work from mommies with cameras these days one could hardly do worse.

"Journalistic style" meaning point the lens everywhere and "spray and pray" and then give the couple over 4/5,000 photos on DVD/Thumb Drive and let them try viewing it before they divorce or die in the coming decades.

No training or sense of lighting. 32 exposures of the group with bride and groom's family, best men and flower girls - duplicated in similar numbers for every group shot. (the 32 comes from a wedding group I actually looke d at from the wedding of a friend's daughter)

Makes the old days of Hasselblads, Potato masher flash or set up lightnig, 12-15 rolls of film and a quiet proof book seem like ancient history.

[TC]

I am taking a group of students back to Cuba next month, and will certainly be stopping by to take a look at that as well as the other exhibitions in Havana.

Travelers should be aware, however, that the U.S. has been squeezing shipping to Cuba lately, resulting in oil and electricity shortages, so plan accordingly.

[Kenneth Tanaka]

Re: the new iPhone 11 Pro, it looks like it’s best to wait. IOS 13 has some badish bugs that the .1 release hasn’t completely eliminated. Unfortunately the 11s all ship with IOS 13, so they cannot avoid them. The phone is, as usual, over-booked right now anyway. So just sit back, relax, and wait for December or January when things settle down. OR, if you have an older phone, grab an XS at a good price! (I’ve loved mine.)

[John McMillin]

I'd dearly miss The New Yorker if it folded, but my subscription is paid. A while back I found an old New Yorker from the 1970s. They were covering the Watergate hearings with the thoroughness of a CSPAN. The Watergate article was 74 pages, the same length as the whole issue I'd received that week. The old one was peppered with small ads for urbane paraphernalia like gloves and wallets, too. But even the diminished New Yorker is essential for the long-form writing, and the comics. When a weekly issue arrives, the best thing is that I have no idea of what subjects will be included, just that the writing will be superior.

As for Pentax, if they never made another camera, I'd be sad, but they've already made just what I need. I'd just keep them working until I couldn't find batteries.

[Mike Potter]

"Don't mindlessly slam it from one end of its range to the other—think of it as a 40mm, 45mm, or 50mm normal that allows you to tweak your framing a bit." - I have never thought of using a limited-range zoom in that manner. I wish I had. Thanks for the thought, Mike.

[Bryan Geyer]

"Venerable names" are always and forever fading. Otherwise, they wouldn't rate as "venerable".

Bryan Geyer

[Herman Krieger]

Photo gallery in Havana-
http://members.efn.org/~hkrieger/cu1812.jpg
from the series, "Si Si Havana".

[John Wilson]

The story on Cadillac is currently have three sedans, this will be going down to one model. Everything else in Caddy will be suv related xt4 xt5 xt6 then Escalade and bigger Escalade ESV , LIKE FORD AND CHEVY KILLING off sedans it will be cross over sand trucks and SUV ruling the market. That is what I was told when I brought my old caddy in for inspection . Dealer knows I do for trade in NXT summer. Sedans heading grave yard .

[Blake Andrews]

Thanks for the link, Mike. -B