Jon Sienkiewicz Blog

Photo Walks are in. As we welcome spring to our part of the world, photo walks should be on your radar. But he who hesitates is lost wandering the streets alone. For example, Ricoh Imaging recently announced a photo walk in Las Vegas via an email blast. Slated for April 6, the event sold out with lightning speed. Thankfully, Ricoh has more walks at other locations in the works. Similarly, Fujifilm and Luminar Neo recently shared plans for 50 photo walks throughout the US. If you hope to participate in a photo walk, you must monitor the schedules and act FAST. Let's unpack this.

It comes as no surprise that many professional and some high-output amateur photographers use AI-assisted editing apps and/or plug-ins to perform standard image editing operations in bulk. Pros have outsourced common, repetitive editing tasks (like knocking out backgrounds) for years. In fact, beginning back in the good ol' days of analog photography, studios routinely outsource retouching and — of course — film processing and printing.

Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera systems promised us lenses that are more compact but fully featured. That promise has finally been fulfilled—and it took Tamron, the master of the All-in-One Zoom, to make it happen.

What every photographer should own; add to that list an inexpensive collapsible reflector.

Remember Altman Camera? This year marks the 40th anniversary of Altman’s closing. Why was it important? Because when it closed in May of 1975, Altman’s was the largest camera store in the world. And Altman’s stocked everything. Not just a lot of stuff, everything. 

I used to believe that the Auto setting on a camera was something to be avoided the way a tired waitress avoids eye contact when you’re signaling for a coffee refill—she can’t deny that you’re there, but she can ignore the hell out of you. I still feel that way about fully auto exposure, but my maniacally stubborn attitude toward Auto ISO is softening like marshmallow Peeps in a microwave.  

DxO just announced PhotoLab5 and FilmPack 6, and we had the chance to explore the software for a few weeks before the release. PhotoLab5 is more than just an incremental upgrade over the previous version. For the first time ever, DxO PhotoLab supports Fujifilm X-Trans sensors (but requires purchase of FilmPack 6 to apply Fujifilm Film Simulations).

FilmPack 6 is hugely exciting – it’s the first upgrade to the DxO FilmPack series since 2015. In FilmPack 6, DxO introduces an intriguing new feature they call “Time Machine.” Here’s a careful look at this new approach to creative image editing.