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Daily Archives: July 29, 2011

Fuji X100

Yesterday I taught someone on a 121 course. The camera being used by this student was the new Fuji X100. This is a surprising camera, retro in styling, and very nice too, but so up to date in technology. By far the most interesting thing about this camera is the new viewfinder system it uses. A hybrid optical viewfinder, large and bright, and an in viewfinder heads up display of the exposure details and a whole host more. I think this is a major breakthrough in the serious compact/rangefinder type camera and I hope a technology that will be incorporated in many cameras in the future. A full and excellent review is available on the dpreview site which is a must for anyone looking to buy a camera, lens or printer here is a link to the review

The X100 is a very handsome camera that evokes, if not copies exactly the early Leica range finder cameras. If you want something that looks and feels like a real camera from the past with the caché of looking like a Leica and have nearly £1000 to spend this is for you.

pictures courtesy of DP Review

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Diane Arbus: humanist or voyeur?

This interesting article by at guardian.co.uk, is, as usual from O’Hagen, an intelligent and well thought out piece, here is an excerpt

“When we look at an Arbus photograph, we cannot help feeling that we are intruders or voyeurs, even though her subjects are tied to a time and place that has all but vanished. A sense of complicity – hers and ours – lies at the very heart of her power. Her images hold us in their sway even when our better instincts tell us to look away. Perhaps her greatest gift is that she understood that conflict instinctively, and did more than anyone to exploit it artistically.”…….more

Camera obscura … Diane Arbus poses for a portrait in New York c 1968 Photograph: Roz Kelly/Getty Images

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