A question I constantly get, and I constantly see being asked online, is ‘how big a print can I get from this camera or that camera?’ Any printing expert can work this out with a pocket calculator and I’ll show you how. The trouble is, it’s wrong. Not because the figures don’t add up, but because we’re looking at this the wrong way.
Opinion
This is where I offer thoughts on developments in photography and video, some of the context behind news stories and industry events, and how these might impact photographers.
It took the Fujifilm X-H2 to make me realize how good the X-H1 was
I reviewed the Fujifilm X-H1 for Digital Camera World back in 2018. I loved it but I was cautious about the specs because it seemed a modest gain over the X-T2 at the time. Now, in 2023, I realise just how good the X-H1 was. And that is after using the later X-H2 and X-H2S.
I think the Sony A9 III is a one-in-a-thousand camera, and not in a good way
My argument is that the Sony A9 III fixes problems only one photographer in a thousand has – if that. It is, perhaps, a ‘halo’ camera that will impress a thousand times more armchair experts than actual photographers.
The Sony A9 III launches with stunning specs… and a wait of MONTHS
The New York launch of the Sony A9 III was met with the kind of whooping and hollering US audiences love, but also a few gasps and astonished mutterings from people not quite prepared for Sony’s technological tour de force.
Megapixels vs image size, and why we don’t always get what we think
When cameras come with a hike in resolution, we think about image size gains in megapixels or percentages, but actual image dimensions follow the inverse square law, so that if resolution increases by 37.5%, as in the case of the new Sony A7C II vs the existing A7C, the actual image width and height only increase by 17%.
The long goodbye of the Canon EOS M system
It’s been predicted since the launch of the Canon EOS R system and its APS-C models, but now Digital Camera World reports that the EOS M system is officially discontinued by Canon Japan. It’s still listed on some regional Canon websites, but it’s surely only a question of time before stocks finally dry up.
I can’t get close to Canon’s claimed stabilization figures
It’s not just Canon. I’ve been testing cameras and lenses for years, and testing lens IS as well as camera IBIS. I do it with informal real-world testing because there are no reproducible tests for stabilizers unless you are a testing body like CIPA.
Have the best stills cameras already been made?
There are lots of new cameras hitting the market all the time, and if anything the pace of development seems to be accelarating. But it’s all clustered around a couple of key areas, notably video capture, burst capture and AI subject-recognition autofocus.
The unfair stigma of Gear Acquisition Syndrome
Gear Acquisition Syndrome is a standing joke in the photographic community. It describes photographers who are constantly buying new gear instead of spending their time actually taking photographs. Well, I think it’s time to stop sneering and start accepting.
I need the extended depth of field of crop sensors more often than the shallow DOF of full frame
Often – very often, in my opinion – the shallow depth of field of a larger format can be a nuisance. It’s a nuisance for landscapes, for interiors, for close-ups and for any other kind of image where you want objects at different distances from the camera to all look adequately sharp.