The Colorado State Fair hit global news last month. It wasn’t because of some weird animal or corndog incident. It was down the very concept of what we call art. That’s because an Artificial intelligence (A.I.) created artwork walked away with first prize in the Digital Arts segment of the Fine Arts competition. this has led to a lot of outrage and navel gazing in the digital Arts world.
And turns out A.I can do photos now too. But should we worry too ?
To some, the LC-A 120 might just seem to be an overpriced lump of plastic designed to exploit more dollars for Hipsters. But the LC-A 120 is without doubt one if not the most important camera launched in the last decade. And I’d argue it’s one of the best new cameras despite a few flaws.
My Nons SL660 Instax Square SLR actually arrived 2 weeks ago. Literally as I was packing to go to Canada so reviewing this camera had to wait. But I’ve now shot a few film packs and I’m impressed. It is a game changing camera but with some issues.
Most of you reading this will either process your own and/or use your favourite lab. If you live in a bigger city you maybe lucky and have a choice of local labs. But for folks in smaller towns, there’s a good chance you won’t have a lab on your doorstep. That said even in small towns you can drop off films at 2 high street stalwarts – Boots and Timpson (aka Cewe & Max Spielmann respectively)
But are they any good ? Well lets just say it isn’t exactly perfect.
Credit to to Reto, they successfully brought the VUWS back with very successful launch of the Reto UWS. But turns out that wasn’t the only VUWS clone out there. In fact the Jelly lens Camera comes straight from the same factory. It’s a bit cheaper but is it any good ?
Amongst the last ever designed film SLR, the EOS 3000V is often ignored in favour of more esteemed siblings. But that might be a shame. Whilst it’s no classic, you can get an incredible amount of tech for a few quid.
Kosmo Foto launched a second B&W film via Kickstarter this year and it started to arrive for backers and those who pre ordered it after the KS campaign finished. There’s been some discussion about the origin of this film and it been touted as a good choice for low light push shooting. But turns out it’s not a bad choice for good light at Box.
Although Street view arguably merits a place on this list. Our focus today is the building shown. Sadly by Mid 2021, it is no longer in existence. But it in many ways changed the photography world just like street view has over 130 years later. And that’s down to one man John Carbutt.
This is the birthplace of consumer photographic media which started the process of moving photography from the preserve of the professional, wealthy and chemically minded to the average person.
For the Canon shooter on a budget the Yongnuo YN50mm F1.8 might make a tempting choice. Launched in 2014, it garnered general positive things in digital camera reviews. Often being compared pretty near the Canon EF 50mm 1:1.8 II (aka the Nifty 50) on which it is rumoured to based. Trouble is close clone it may be but Yongnuo left something out that means for film shooters you may wanna give this a swerve.
Panasonic’s Lumix series has become a bit of a trailblazer for a company not associated historically with camera production. But how does the LZ2, a budget orientated number from 2005, stack up today. Better than you might think.
