The Photoshop Neural Filters are ridiculous

Youtuber LGR Blerbs showed how ridiculous these new AI generated Neural Filters in the latest Photoshop version are. I have no idea what Adobe was thinking, I guess not too much (as usual). I've seen some people on Twitter defending this nonsense. Unfortunately the greedy bosses of Adobe don't care about photography anymore, they are basically mocking their users at this point.

Youtuber JCristina doesn't understand the concept of OVF and EVF

JCristina (aka Joseph Cristina) is a small and not very known Youtuber that I stumbled upon recently. I watched one of his latest videos talking about the upcoming rumored Nikon Z5. I had to chuckle when I saw how he explained the OVF and EVF. At 5:32 he says: 

Remember, the EVF is our augmented reality. In the past we had our OVF, when you look through the camera you see out of the lens and what you see is not what you get, right? You had to actually set things before you got them right after the fact when you looked at the back, when you chimped at the back of the camera, right? Now the EVF is your augmented reality, virtual reality, however you set the camera up, when you look through the EVF, that's exactly what you gonna get when you pull the trigger. [...] What you see is what you get.

Here is the video that he made:

Olympus may sell camera business, but the Olympus brand won't die

Olympus, a famous yet in recent years declining camera brand, has announced today that the camera division may be sold to Japan Industrial Partners, Inc (JIP) by the end of the year. JIP is a Japanese investment firm that is most known for buying the Sony Vaio brand in 2014. Olympus as a company is doing fine, because its core business is in other fields like medicine, but their camera division, once their main division, is making loses for several consequtive quarters. This is what Olympus posted on their website: 

Is Tony Northrup the Trump of photography Youtubers?

This is the question that popped into my head when I saw the thumbnail for his latest video titled "The Nikon Z50 is a HUGE Mistake". One thing that reminded me of Trump was his use of "HUGE" (capitalized), another thing was the fact that he's using a title which he knows will stir controversy among the photography community. And of course my title and artwork are a commentary on this very same clickbait that has become so rampant among online reviewers (and falls well within fair use).

My analysis of Nikon's October 2019 launches

After merely announcing the development of the D6 flagship DSLR and a 120-300mm f/2.8 F-mount lens a month ago, Nikon had finally released multiple products on October 10th just in time for the holiday season. I find the timing as well as the way they did it and what they said very interesting, so here's some of my opinions on each product and at the end I will summarize what it all means in the grand scheme of things.

Apple Store and Taipei 101 night photo

I usually don't post my photography on this blog, but I think this image is fitting. I visited the new Taipei Xinyi A13 Apple Store with a tripod and my trusty Nikon D810 and the Voigtlander 28mm f/2.8 Color Skopar and took this shot late in the evening. It turned out quite well, but it's the only shot. Right after this one my battery died. I have to return with the Nikkor 20mm f/1.8 and a full battery and I believe I'll be able to produce even a better photo.

I impressed a Sony troll on Twitter

Sometimes you reply to a troll in a way that he has no choice but to acknowledge defeat. This happened to me when I responded to a Sony Alpha troll on Twitter who was trying to belittle Canon after Kaiman Wong commented on some Canon 90D specifications. It felt like a total homerun for me, a virtual touch down, a buzzer beater par excellence. Here's a screen grab of the exchange:

Jessica Kobeissi responds to Jason Lanier?

A screen grab from Jessica Kobeissi's video.

Jessica Kobeissi is one of the largest Youtube photography channels out there. With currently 1.4 million subscribers, she is in the top 5. If we remove channels run by non-photographers like Chelsea Northrup or Fro Knows Photo, she is de facto the largest. She recently made a long video (54 min) about the Dark Side of Modeling what seems to be in response to Jason Lanier without ever mentioning his name. She used examples from Lanier's own videos to highlight inappropriate and unprofessional behavior. A lot of these examples are still available on his channel today.

Is a Youtuber defaming Steve McCurry and his Afghan Girl photo?

This was quite a week for one of the biggest photography Youtube channels (currently over 1.2 million subscribers), who decided to comment on the iconic photo of the Afghan Girl by world-renowned photographer Steve McCurry.

DSLR cameras outsold compact cameras for the first time, still outselling mirrorless

There is this divide among photography enthusiasts, where online warriors place themselves into 2 camps: The mentally unbalanced people who are ardently pro mirrorless (usually Sony fans), and everybody else (people who tend to see things as they are - complex). For the past 5-6 years there is a real mirrorless hype mainly driven by Sony fanboys and their artisans (who are some of the most annoying people on the internet, to be honest).

Fujifilm X100T camera longterm review

The Fuji X100T was quite a revered and hyped up camera when I bought one in August 2016, but it was close to the end of life, as its successor the X100F was already rumored (it was launched in January 2017). I paid 29,000 NTD for it, which was at that time around 920 USD (the MSRP of a new X100T at launch was 1300 USD). The reason for that is that I got a grey market version. At that time I did not know that a new model is coming out, and I also did not care much - I wanted this camera after reading so many great online reviews, because I looked for a smaller compacter camera for travel, so that I did not need to lug around my heavier Nikon kit (D7100 and lenses). The initial excitement quickly faded away and I ended up selling the camera. Let me tell you why further below, but first let’s look at the key specs.

Tony Northrup and the problematic Sony A7 III "review"

A reader forwarded me the link to Tony & Chelsea Northrup’s Youtube video titled Sony A7 III review!. It’s a 7:44 minutes long video, that talks about the newly launched full frame mirrorless camera by Sony. It struck me more as an advertisement than a review, so I decided to write this post. Most camera gear manufacturers are working with photographers and photography gear influencers. The first are actual professional photographers that are often seen in promotional videos by various brands, while the latter are photography enthusiasts with large social media following (Tony Northrup, Jared Polin etc), or websites dedicated to photography (DP Review). While traditional brands like Nikon, Canon and Fuji usually focus on photographers (so called brand ambassadors), Sony usually (in addition to that) creates carefully staged launch events for the top social media influencers and gear reviewers and pays all their expenses in exchange for exposure.

Why you shouldn't trust "photography" channels like Tony Northrup

Today I watched Tony's Northrup's What's in my camera bag? video where he showed which gear he took on his recent trip to Morocco. These kind of videos are fairly common and popular recently, so I could've chosen some other channel as well, but since he's one of the top photography influencers on Youtube in 2018, an area I am personally interested in, I decided to choose him to share some of my opinions about these kind of videos, and the state of photography influencers in general, as well as the problems I have with it.

First let us watch the video.

List of Top 100 photography Youtube channels of 2018

Another year is over, and it's time to look into the top 100 photography Youtube channels of 2018. Who made it on top this time? Who slipped? Who surprised? You will learn everything here. I have been doing this in 2016 and 2017 already, you can compare this list with the old one. For the record, I check this data one by one by going to the channel's About page, I do it within one day, so that it's a fair sample of the current situation. Things can quickly change on the internet, so if you're reading this a couple of days, weeks, or month later and realize that your channel has been moving higher, there's nothing I can do. I will make the next list in early 2019. Until then, this is what the rank will be for 2018.

List of Top 100 photography Youtube channels of 2017

As previously often stated, I'm a big fan of Youtube, and I love photography, so you know that I am subscribed to a lot of channels who's main goal is gear reviews and photography tips. In fact, I'm following several such channels since early 2015, that is over 2 years now, so I do have some knowledge about which channels are popular, and what they're all about. This post is the second edition of the list, I have published the first one in December 2016. Let us see how much has the situation changed in a little bit less than half a year. Read on, and see the list of 2017.

List of Top 100 photography Youtube channels of 2016

I'm a big fan of Youtube, and I love photography, so you won't be surprised to know that I am subscribed to a lot of channels who's main goal is gear reviews and photography tips. In fact, I'm following several such channels since early 2015, that is almost 2 years now, so I do have some knowledge about which channels are popular, and what they're all about. What inspired my post was this post post by PetaPixel named 13 Photography Channels You Should Follow from August 2016, that was expanded to 23 channels, and created a lot of buzz. Since I'm a very systematic guy, I went further, and searched Youtube for many days to come up with the Top 100 Photography Youtube channels of 2016 in English language.

List of all Nikon F-Mount lenses

I made this overview of all Nikon F-Mount lenses, because I have just recently switched to Nikon, and I'm trying to find the best Nikkor or 3rd party lenses for my new camera. I knew that Nikon has a huge native lens selection (as compared to Sony's measly one), but I never expected it to be so amazingly huge. This list will be continuously updated, for now it only consists of auto-focus lenses (FX and DX are split in 2 sheets).

The problem with Sony mirrorless cameras

A while ago I was almost buying a Sony mirrorless camera. The geek that I am, I was totally excited over the at that time new Sony A7Rii, a 42 megapixel full frame mirrorless camera, that offers features like internal 4k video, in-body AF, and 399 on-sensor Phase Detection points, but also comes with a staggering price tag 3200 USD (in Taiwan at that time 99,500 NTD, a tiny bit less). This was way above what I wanted to spend for a camera, and it did not even include a lens, but I was excited and would not let go of the idea. The hype online was huge, from international Youtube channels to Taiwanese tech reviews, this was the camera of the year for many people, who were at the same time proclaiming the death of DSLRs, as well as Nikon and Canon. If the A7Rii cost half of the price, I would probably buy it without putting much thought into it, but since Sony wanted me to pay over 100,000 NTD for a camera with lens, I just couldn't help but make a careful analysis on whether this substantial investment really makes sense for me. Here I want to share some of my reasoning, that made me decide against Sony mirrorless, and why I went back to a solid good old DSLR.

iPad Pro photographer in Taipei

I've spotted this iPad Pro photographer in Taipei a few days ago, and it's the first time that I've seen someone taking photos with the larger 12.9" device. He was photographing a mockup Batmobile, that was on display at a public square close to Taipei 101. I have totally nothing against iPad photography, but the 8 mpxl camera on this device is arguably not as good as the camera of the recently launched 9.7" version, that comes with a 12 mpxl camera. Unfortunately, that one is not yet available in Taiwan. If you want to know more about the iPad Pro versions, read my post that compares specs and prices, and highlights my own purchase considerations.