Articles written by Mike Smith

If there is one type of news story that is a recurring theme in journalism it is the protest. Think "Tank Man", "The Burning Monk", or "Taking a Stand in Baton Rouge" (with Ieshia Evans). They stick in the memory, their iconographic status forming a peg from which we hang related memories. So why then are we more interested in riots as opposed to protests?

Nikon's new Z fc has been widely praised for its return to retro styling and — indeed — taking the design cues of the much loved FE/FM series. It's one thing to make a retro camera, but it's quite another thing to sell it. So, who is it targeted at?

Sony's not a camera company or at least hasn't been until relatively recently. Its heritage is as un-optical as any recent manufacturer can be and is certainly far removed from the heritage of the likes of Nikon, Canon, Leica, and Pentax. Yet, among the gravestones we see littering the photographic landscape, it seems likely that the A mount will soon join them, finally severing any link to the past. So, why wasn't the A mount Sony's future?

Leica pretty much took the world by storm with the 35mm camera, and manufacturers haven't looked back since. In the film and digital realms, 35mm has been the mainstay for any serious photographer, however, it is also true that those who wanted a little bit "more" went medium format. This tended to be the mark of certain professionals with a price tag to match. So, why then is Fuji capitalizing on a digital market that Pentax seemingly had at its feet?

The film era was a cash cow, with cameras being high-precision instruments from specialist manufacturers and because they used film that needed developing and printing, a huge service sector that surrounded it. From the 1960s onward, the sector innovated and grew at breakneck speed. And then, it fell apart. Is that about to happen for digital?

Fuji's Instax line of products — the legacy of its film heyday — is successful. They've sold more than 50 million cameras, with 10 million alone in the 2019 business year. However, more than that, it's the financial powerhouse for its Imaging division, turning over twice as much money as its digital counterpart. It's strange to think that film is where the money is, but for Fuji, that is the case. So, why is it making digital cameras?

The Sony a1 has arrived and the Nikon Z 9 was recently been announced, so it's now Canon's turn to make an announcement about its forthcoming top-end camera, the R3. Last month, I compared Canon's then top-end R5 to Sony's and Nikon's offerings, commenting on the different strategic approaches of the three companies. Now that the R3 has arrived, what does it say about Canon's approach to the burgeoning mirrorless market, and what are the portents for Sony and Nikon?

It's not the famous Moulton Barn in Jackson Hole and those definitely aren't the Tetons rising majestically in the background, yet this image of a barn in Idaho is perhaps more impressive. Not because of what it is, but what it represents in the form of the Carol Highsmith Archive.

In an age of digital, of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat; photos are de rigueur when it comes to promoting yourself. News is fast, which means if you want to get noticed, you need to be faster. The tool of choice is obviously the smartphone because it can take and deliver photos instantly. So, why on earth is an instant print desirable?