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The Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 IS Macro STM lens: a solid wide angle prime with 5 stops of stabilisation to keep your images razor sharp

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I love shooting with prime lenses. Something about the simplicity of having to ‘zoom with your feet‘ combined with a lighter weight and usually better value for your wallet makes them an obvious choice for many photographers. I shoot a lot of portraits and generally gravitate towards the 50mm. However, for environmental portraits and even the odd landscape image, I will often reach for the 35mm prime lens. On a full frame camera, it’s a fantastic focal length for street photography.

So I was curious to find out how Canon’s native full frame RF mount 35mm f/1.8 lens stacked up. It has 5 stops of Optical Image Stabilisation and 1:2 macro capabilities. But, at $499, for a prime, it’s not especially cheap. So I was keen to find out how good it could be. I tried it out on my Canon EOS R.

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This Fujifilm golf GIF camera is the weirdest camera in the world

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For some strange reason, this video from Taylor Nowel popped up on my suggested feed yesterday, although it was actually posted to YouTube about 18 months ago. It documents the weirdness that is the Fujifilm Rensha Cardia BYU-N 16. What makes it weird is that it has sixteen lenses. Yes, sixteen. Count ’em. Each with their own individual shutters.

It shoots to 35mm film and contains two separate shutter buttons. When it was released in 1995, it seems to have been marketed to golfers, allowing them to shoot a rapid succession of images when they tee off in order to be able to analyze their swing after the fact. Today, it’s basically an animated gif-making machine (although you will need to scan the film).

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Focal length feud: 28mm vs 35mm for telling a story

From April to August 2020, our small co-operative of photographers decided to apply our documentary photography skills to tell a story about what seemed to be coming together as one of the most unique summers in recent memory. We started out with the intention of documenting an account of life under the shadow of an emerging pandemic, along with the adjustments required to prevent its spread. We looked at the consequences of lockdown, social isolation, supply shortages, and a permeating sense of unease towards the status quo.

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Is 645 medium format film really better than 35mm? Well, yeah. It is.

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I still shoot quite a bit of film when the opportunity allows, and when I do, I still primarily tend to reach for a 35mm. It’s not that it’s the best, or even just the best suited to what I want to shoot, but it’s convenient. The 35mm film SLRs I use the most are all Nikon F mount bodies, letting me use most of the lenses I also own for my DSLRs. But medium format definitely has it’s benefits.

In this video, photographer Kyle McDougall looks at the overall thought process behind using 645 medium format instead of your standard 3:2 ratio 35mm film, as well as some of the objective benefits and drawbacks to the larger format.

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The Scura is an open-source curved panoramic 3D printed pinhole camera

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3D printed cameras are a lot of fun, and something I was planning to make a bunch of this year before we were told we weren’t allowed to go out and play. But despite most of us not being able to get out to shoot our cameras right now, it hasn’t stopped people developing new ones.

You might remember Dora Goodman, creator of the Goodman One 3D printed medium format camera. Well, now she’s back with the Scura, a new open-source 3D printed curved panoramic pinhole camera.

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The NONS SL42 is the world’s first M42 mount instant film SLR camera

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I’ve always loved the concept of instant film like Polaroids or Fuji Instax, but never it’s really interested me enough to buy into it. But then I discovered the NONS SL42, which might finally win me over. It’s an M42 mount SLR that uses Fuji Instax Mini instant film to let you create instant prints with real lenses. It’s currently funding through Kickstarter, and it’s an intriguing looking bit of kit.

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Comparing Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros II to original Acros. What’s the difference?

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Understandably, I was very excited to hear the news of Fujifilm bringing back NEOPAN 100 ACROS in the form of ACROS II earlier this year. So, when a second announcement came with details of a November 22nd Japanese release date, I started making calls to see if I could buy some. I got lucky and $190 dollars and a week later, I received my shipment; a brick each of 35mm and 120 ACROS II.

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Meike announces a new 35mm T2.2 Cine lens for Micro Four Thirds

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Meike has announced a new 35mm T2.2 cinema lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras. As a cine lens, it’s full manual focus and aperture control, with a wide aperture of T2.2 (stopping down to T22) and a fairly short minimum focus distance of only 42cm. The lens is constructed of 10 elements in 8 groups and offers a field of view equivalent of a 70mm lens on a full-frame camera.

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