Photofeed Monthly Photography News

What to get for the videographer who has everything?

Because a $200,000 car just isn’t quite enough.

David Slater wins Monkey Photo/PETA Copyright Case

Many of you may recognise this photo, it caused controversy back in 2015 after animal rights group PETA launched a law suit against the photographer (David Slater) on behalf of….the monkey. The reason the photo went viral in the first place was that the monkey (Named Naruto) took the photo himself and the image quickly became dubbed the monkey selfie.

Slater actually settled the case with PETA in 2017 by agreeing to donate 25% of the profits from the image to charities which would protect Naruto and his environment. I guess really the settlement actually seems pretty fair and one images that Slater was more than happy to continue to support causes which he believes in. What frustrated the photography world was the sheer ridiculousness of PETA’s case, let alone the inconvenience, stress and financial losses incurred by Slater during the course of events. I can’t image it ever feels good to find out someone has launched a law suit against you, let alone a huge organisation like PETA!

Although the case was settled the courts refused to drop it on the basis that they wanted to set a precedent for future cases. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed with the Lower Court ruling that US copyright law does not allow animals to file copyright infringement law suits.

Well….yeah….that seems obvious!?

I can’t help but think that Slaters 25% settlement was down to two main reasons, firstly, this is a guy who was out shooting wildlife; when a monkey selfie unexpectedly goes viral donating 25% of the profits to charity must be quite a nice feeling. Secondly, and this is the one that concerns me more in this increasingly litigious society, I imagine he just wanted the hassle of legal action to be over!

And that’s the problem with copyright, so often nowadays we see large companies abusing photographers rights because really, legal action comes down to finances. Even if you have a great case, it still costs time, money and stress to defend yourself! Personally I read this ruling with a great amount of satisfaction and a great deal less respect for PETA

Here’s an excerpt of the jucy bit: “PETA appears to have failed to live up to the title of “friend.” […] [I]n the wake of PETA’s proposed dismissal, Naruto is left without an advocate, his supposed “friend” having abandoned Naruto’s substantive claims in what appears to be an effort to prevent the publication of a decision adverse to PETA’s institutional interests. Were he capable of recognizing this abandonment, we wonder whether Naruto might initiate an action for breach of confidential relationship against his (former) next friend, PETA, for its failure to pursue his interests before its own. Puzzlingly, while representing to the world that “animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way,” PETA seems to employ Naruto as an unwitting pawn in its ideological goals.”

The ‘Worlds Fastest 75mm Lens’ Released

The Meyer-Optik Goerlitz ‘Nocturnus 75mm f/0.95’, announced this week and designed for Fuji X mount, Sony FE and Leica M mounts is officially the widest aperture 75mm lens in the world. It’s a somewhat dubious claim really given the focal length, I rarely hear people espousing the virtues of a 75mm focal length, but let’s face it f/0.95 is always going to look buttery smooth!

With a clickless aperture and solid metal build quality (available in Silver or Black) the 75mm seems most suited to video, especially with it’s native Sony mount option. Minimum focal distance is a little disappointing at 90cm but even at that I would expect a pretty razor thin depth of field on the right camera!

Although not one of the best known brands in photography Meyer-Optik Goerlitz trace their roots back to the early 1923 and claim to have pioneered available light lenses (their 75mm f/1.5 certainly did that back in the 20’s!). The 75mm will sit alongside their Nocturnus 50mm f/0.95 lens and a soon to be announced 35mm (presumably also f/0.95) but won’t ship until December of this year. You’ll need to be quick if you want to grab a ‘bargain’ though, as earlybird pricing of 1899 Euro’s only lasts until May the 20th it reverts back to it’s RRP of 3499 Euro’s!

Want to look a bit stupid [/super hipster] and NEVER miss an inane moment? These are the shades for you!

You may have spotted this article in my Photofeed Monthly roundup, I said there the same as I’ll say here, as much as lenses and cameras are more useful, these ridiculous things are incredibly relevant! The strange thing is that to me this really is the kind of thing that, like it or not (and I’ll go NOT!) this is the way our industry is moving. I’m not sure how relevant the old photography hierarchy even is anymore, it used to be that the Pro’s were at the top of the ladder, with Professional equipment getting a large chunk of the R&D budgets with the tech trickling down into consumer level gear within a year or two. Let’s not forget that the consumers are who spend the most money – there’s more of them after all! And in this ‘the customer is always right’ world, the consumer is king.

I’m probably being a bit harsh to these, the second iteration of Snapchat’s ‘Spectacles’ (shockingly dubbed the ‘Spectacles 2.0’) after all it’s not the idea of capturing everything that annoys me, more the idea that EVERYTHING is worth sharing!

Anyway after the flop that was the Spectacles version 1 Snapchat seemingly ignored the poor sales in their quest to ensure almost constant life blogging from their users. Whereas the old glasses captured 10 second videos, the new ones can capture still photos as well at a retro feeling 1642x1642 – because what we really want nowadays is a digital camera that takes us straight back to 1999. Oh, and video res is a (comparatively more impressive) 1216x1216.

Seriously though, am I the only one who finds these things ridiculous?

Rolleiflex Announce Instant Kamera

Almost 20 years after their last real camera release the iconic brand Rolleiflex are back, this time with a new approach on their 2.8 series that lasted half a century.

Rolleiflex TLR (Twin Lens Reflex) cameras have an instantly recognisable look that has been duplicated and imitated numerous times over the years. Their Rolleiflex 2.8 model was manufactured from 1949 with the 2.8A all the way through to 2000 with the 2.8 GX. There was even a small run of 2.8 FX models produced to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Rolleiflex back in 2015. The camera wasn’t actually that much different from their original 3.5 model with the exception of modern amendments such as TTL compatibility and faster shutter speeds.

Well, Rolleiflex are back with this, their Instant Kamera [no, that’s not a spelling error!] which, as the name suggests, is somewhat of a divergence from their medium format roots. This isn’t the first time Rolleiflex have tried to update their offering for a 21st century audience, with the Mini Digi 5.0 5 megapixel digital camera attracting a bit of a cult following and prices that in no way reflect the fairly poor quality sensor they shoved in the camera!

Indeed the Instant Kamera seems to follow in the Mini Digi’s footsteps in commanding a price that reflects a passion for the legend that is Rolleiflex rather than the camera’s actual capabilities. Medium Format TLRs delivered exceptional image quality, as well as several unique advantages due to it’s top facing viewfinder, allowing the viewer to compose images from the hip rather than eye level.

While the Instant Kamera does allow the same ‘from the hip’ shooting style it’s only real UNIQUE selling point is the ability to compose a shot in real time on a full frame viewfinder safe in the knowledge that your instant photo will be composed exactly the same way you intended it to be. Using the same Instax Mini film that most modern instant cameras have adopted the Instant Kamera does deliver a nice image, but it’s safe to say that few other manufacturers could ask 4000 HK$ (£370) – as an early bird price – for an INSTANT CAMERA! The Rolleiflex name certainly still holds some weight given that the Kickstarter campaign (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rolleiinstantcamera/rolleiflextm-instant-kamera#) has already hit £171,000 at time of writing, easily surpassing their £18,490 goal with 31 days still left to run!