Get ready to immerse yourself in the vibrant and captivating world of New Orleans second line parades as Art Conscious Gallery proudly presents the opening of “Back When the Good Times Rolled: Charles Muir Lovell Photographs.” This exciting exhibition, featuring color photographs capturing the essence of second line celebrations, will debut at Art Conscious in Arabi with an opening reception on Saturday, March 9, from 6 to 9 p.m.

The photographs showcased in this exhibit, captured between 2009 and 2021, were featured in the 100-page large-format photography book, “Back When the Good Times Rolled,” generously supported by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. This remarkable book, which includes a foreword by Don Marshall of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation and essays by esteemed writers and curators, offers a profound exploration of New Orleans’ rich cultural heritage.

Visitors to the gallery will have the opportunity to not only admire Lovell’s stunning photographs but also to purchase copies of the book and select prints. Additionally, an e-book version priced at $10 will be available for purchase on Blurb.com, providing accessibility to Lovell’s remarkable work to a broader audience.

Charles Muir Lovell’s photographs, renowned for their authenticity and visual storytelling, have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions and are part of esteemed collections, including the Historic New Orleans Collection, NOMA, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

Don’t miss the chance to experience the magic of New Orleans second line culture through Lovell’s lens at Art Conscious Gallery, located at 6601 St. Claude Ave., Arabi, for an unforgettable evening celebrating art, culture, and community. The exhibition will run from March 9 to April 6, 2024.

Introduction

Ease of Use

I first used (and bought) the original X100 camera way back in 2011, just as smartphones were getting into their all-conquering stride. Fast forward 13 years, and seemingly very little has changed with the release of the sixth-generation X100VI, at least externally.

It’s fair to say that if you’re a long-time user of the X100-series than you won’t notice too many major differences between all of the models as regards to their in size, weight or control layouts.

This new model still shares the very similar svelte, stylish retro DNA of the X100, just continuously refined by Fujifilm as they’ve worked their way through the X100, X100S, X100T, X100F, X100V and now the X100VI.

Each one has shared the same core characteristics of a large APS-C sensor and a 23mm f/2 fixed lens, and the new 2024 version is no different in either of these respects.

The roughly two-year life-span of each new X100 release was interrupted by Covid, so the X100VI is effectively replacing a 4-year-old camera.

Outwardly Fujifilm have played things very safe, as you’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the VI and V when looking at them side-by-side from any angle.

This new version is ever so slightly deeper (by 2mm!) and it’s heavier by 43g than its predecessor, a necessary increase due to the inclusion of in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) for the very first time on an X100-series camera.

IBIS makes it easier to hand-hold the camera and still get sharp results, providing around 6 stops of compensation for both stills and video (5.5 stops when using the optical viewfinder), greatly increasing its versatility in low-light situations where its predecessor may have struggled.

The new X100VI concentrates on delivering sheer resolution and high levels of detail by utilising exactly the same 40-megapixel X-Trans CMOS 5 HR sensor that first made its debut in the Fuji X-series camera range with the X-H2.

This is a BSI (back-side illuminated) sensor design that has much more of a focus on detail and resolution than out-and-out speed.

It offers a big increase in resolution compared to the X100V, allowing you to crop much more aggressively than before, or to make bigger prints at similar resolutions.

The X100VI offers exactly the same burst shooting rates as the X-T5 mirrorless model. They can both shoot at 20fps when using the electronic shutter with a 1.29x crop applied, and both offer the same 15fps continuous shooting speed when using the mechanical shutter.

The buffer size is 117 JPEGs or 52 compressed RAW files before the continuous shooting rate starts to slow down.

To help with capturing the precise moment, the X100VI has a clever Pre-shot burst shooting mode, with the camera constantly filling the buffer while you half-press the shutter button, and then keeping the most recent 20 frames taken 0.5-1 seconds before a full press of the shutter button, eliminating any camera and human-added delay. Note that this feature only works with the electronic shutter.

The X100VI actually has two kinds of shutter, mechanical and electronic. When using its mechanical leaf shutter, it has a top shutter-speed limit of 1/4000th second in all shooting modes.

It considerably improves the fastest shutter speed for the electronic shutter by 2.5 stops, from 1/32,000 sec on the previous generation X100V to a remarkable 1/180,000 sec on the X100VI.

This allows you to leave the aperture wide open in very bright conditions such as a sunny beach or a ski slope, or to capture a split-second motion. You can continue shooting wide-open with fast aperture lenses in the brightest of conditions without having to resort to fitting a glass ND filter or using an external flash and lights.

It’s all very well being able to record at 20fps, but unless the camera can quickly, accurately and reliably focus on whatever fast-moving subject you’re trying to capture, it’s all for nothing.

Thankfully, although the new X-T5 has the same hybrid autofocus system with up to 117 selectable phase detection and and contrast detections points as its predecessor, Fujifilm have made a couple of significant improvements to make it the best X100-series AF system yet.

Chief amongst these is the inclusion of subject-based computational AI, with the X100VI being able to automatically detect animals, birds, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, airplanes, trains, insects, and drones.

You do have to specifically choose which of those you want to track from the Subject Detection Setting menu, but you can easily register different settings to the camera’s various custom modes.

Turning this feature on resulted in a super-high hit rate in terms of auto-focusing, with the camera often able to focus on the subject before we’d even spotted it ourselves.

The improved autofocus prediction algorithm and particularly the subject detection modes help to ensure that the vast majority of your images are sharp.

The 40 megapixel sensor also allows the X100VI to record 6.2K/30p video with a modest 1.23x crop recorded in 4:2:2 10-bit internally.

It supports DCI 4K/60p recording at up to 30p from the sensor’s full with or at up to 60p with a 1.14x crop, and can shoot 1080/240p slow-motion footage. It also offers the F-Log 2 profile with up to 14+ stops of dynamic range.

Combined with a compatible HDMI recording device from Atomos or Blackmagic Design, 12-bit RAW video output can be recorded as Apple ProRes RAW or Blackmagic RAW.

There’s also a digital zoom function that uses the camera’s 40.2MP sensor to deliver up to 2x of digital zoom with little to no loss in resolution when recording video in 4K.

Sadly, the the X100VI doesn’t have a Still/ Movie switch for changing between these modes, as on the X-T5 and other X-series models. Instead the Movie mode is still rather buried away at the end of the Drive menu, which has always been rather incongruous.

The camera does at least swap between dedicated in-camera menu systems when you change modes, so you don’t have to scroll through excessive video options when all you want to do is photography, and vice versa, and the menu system for both disciplines is really well laid out.

A nice touch is that the front and rear control wheels can be used quietly in movie mode to make changes to exposure settings, even during capture. In conjunction with the touchscreen menu, most other key video controls such as white balance and image stabilisation can be adjusted too.

The camera is now equipped with a tracking AF function during movie recording – just tap the subject on the LCD screen and the camera will automatically keep it in focus.

Note that although its more well-appointed for video, there is still no full size HDMI port or 3.5mm headphone socket on the X100VI.

The X100VI has exactly the same 1.62M dot LCD touchscreen as its predecessor, a 2-way tilting unit that makes it easier to shoot at both waist-level and whilst holding the camera above your head.

It can now be tilted slightly further down to 45˚ and pulled slightly further away when turned upwards, but you still can’t tilt it out to the side, which would have been ideal for video use.

In order to smooth over any objections to the tilting screen, Fujifilm have gone to great lengths to effectively hide it by making an incredibly thin screen (just 4.4mm) that sits flush against the rear of the camera. Indeed, if it wasn’t for the slight indent and tab in the bottom left corner that’s used for pulling it outwards, you’d probably think that the screen was fixed in place.

Another key feature of the X100 series that has been retained is the hybrid viewfinder. This long-standing feature offers a frame coverage of 95% and 0.52x magnification.

Similarly, the electronic viewfinder is the same too, being 0.5-inch in size whilst offering 3.69M dot resolution, 0.66x magnification and a refresh rate of 100fps.

Just like the model before it, the Fuji X100VI is weather-sealed, something that further adds to its versatility as a go-anywhere street camera.

There is still quite a big catch, though – whilst the camera body is fully weather-sealed out of the box, the lens isn’t, requiring the purchase and fitting of the optional PRF-49 protective filter with the AR-X100 adapter ring to fully protect it from the elements.

Fujifilm have said that they didn’t want to make the camera bigger and more expensive by making the lens weatherproof out-of-the-box. While this is commendable, having to purchase expensive accessories that make the camera bigger and heavier isn’t exactly an ideal solution for anyone who want to shoot in the rain or dusty environments.

The X100VI offers a total of 20 Film Simulation modes, including the brand new ‘REALA ACE’ mode, which makes its X-series debut on the X100VI and provides more faithful colour reproduction coupled with high-contrast tonality.

This camera features both built-in wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The latter option creates a constant, low-power connection between the camera and a smartphone/tablet to transfer images and video using the Fujifilm Camera Remote smartphone app.

The former allows you to remotely control the camera via either a 2.4Ghz or 5GHz wi-fi connection using a smartphone or tablet and the Fujifilm app, and transfer images and video from one device to the other.

Battery life has been marginally improved despite using exactly the same NP-W126S battery as the X100V and the X100F, up from 350/420 frames when using the EVF/OVF to 360/450 frames on the X100VI.

The X100VI can also be powered and charged via a USB-C connection, which is useful if you’re out and about and have a compatible power-bank to plug the camera into. It uses the newer Type C standard which also allows it to be used as a port for a external headphones, using an adapter.

Rather infuriatingly, the single SD memory card slot that’s housed in the battery compartment on the bottom of the camera still only supports the slower UHS-I standard, rather than UHS-II, a surprising omission on a 2024 camera.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 40.2 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 18Mb.

The Fujifilm X100VI produced images of outstanding quality. It records noise-free JPEG images from ISO 64 up to ISO 3200, with a little noise at ISO 6400 and more visible noise at the faster settings of ISO 12800 and 25600 (ISO 51200 is best avoided), an amazing performance for a camera with a 40 megapixel APS-C sensor. The RAW files were also excellent, exhibiting more noise than their JPEG counterparts but still producing very usable images from ISO 64-6400.

The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds being long enough for most after-dark shots, and the Bulb mode allowing much longer exposures if required. The Dynamic Range and HDR settings subtly improve detail in the shadows and highlights, while the extensive range of Film Simulation modes hark back to a bygone era, and the Advanced Filters allow you to have a little fun with your images in-camera.

Noise

There are 11 full ISO settings available on the Fujifilm X100VI for JPEGs and RAW files. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.

JPEG	RAW
ISO 64	ISO 64
ISO 125	ISO 125
ISO 200	ISO 200
ISO 400	ISO 400
ISO 800	ISO 800
ISO 1600	ISO 1600
ISO 3200	ISO 3200
ISO 6400	ISO 6400
ISO 12800	ISO 12800
ISO 25600	ISO 25600
ISO 51200	ISO 51200

File Quality

The Fujifilm X100VI has 2 different image quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

Fine (18Mb) (100% Crop)	Normal (9.1Mb) (100% Crop)
RAW (85.5Mb) (100% Crop)

Dynamic Range

The Fujifilm X100VI has three dynamic range settings – 100% (on by default), 200%, and 400% – and an Auto setting if you want to let the camera take control.

These settings gradually increase the amount of detail visible in the shadow and highlight areas, with the side-effect of more noise appearing in the image. Note that you can’t actually turn this feature off. All three settings are available from ISO 500 upwards.

100%

200%

400%

HDR

The Fujifilm X100VI has a High Dynamic Range mode with five different settings – AUTO, 200%, 400%, 800%, 800%+. The camera takes three shots with different exposures, changing the shutter speed for each one, and then combining them in-camera.

Off

Auto

200%

400%

800%

800+%

Film Simulations

The Fujifilm X100VI offers 20 different film simulation modes to help replicate the look of your favourite film stock from the past, including the brand new Reala Ace.

Provia / Standard

Velvia / Vivid

Astia / Soft

Classic Chrome

Reala Ace

Pro Neg. Hi

Pro Neg. Standard

Classic Neg.

Nostalgic Neg.

Eterna / Cinema

Eterna Bleach Bypass

Acros

Monochrome

Sepia

Advanced Filters

The Fujifilm X100VI offers 13 different creative filter effects which are found in the Drive menu.

Toy Camera

Miniature

Pop Color

High-Key

Low-Key

Dynamic Tone

Soft Focus

Partial Color (Red)

Partial Color (Orange)

Partial Color (Yellow)

Partial Color (Green)

Partial Color (Blue)

Partial Color (Purple)

Multiple Exposure

The Fujifilm X100VI’s Multiple Exposure mode combines up to 9 different images together in-camera to create one composite image, with four different ways of combining them – Additive, Average, Bright, Dark.

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Fujifilm X100VI camera, which were all taken using the 40 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Fujifilm X100VI enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We’ve provided some Fujifilm RAW (RAF) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movies & Video

Product Images

Conclusion

Thirteen years have passed since the debut of the original X100, and here we are with the launch of the 6th generation, which looks remarkably similar to all of its predecessors.

Fujifilm have certainly stuck with the tried and tested formula that has served the series so well, and who can blame them when the X100V has been one of, if not the, best selling camera of of the last two years?

To be fair to Fujifilm, they could have chosen to just sell as many X100Vs as they could produce in order to satisfy the seemingly insatiable demand that’s been fanned by social media influencers.

Instead, they’ve launched an entirely new version that is a definite improvement on the old one, whilst not rocking the boat too much so as to put off all those would-be buyers who couldn’t get hold of the X100V for love nor money.

By far the best new feature on the Mark VI model is in-body image stabilisation (IBIS), which makes the camera much more versatile in low light than its predecessor. The fact that Fujifilm’s engineers have managed to incorporate it with only a very slight increase in size and weight is the proverbial icing on the cake.

The other significant change is the incorporation of Fujifilm’s latest image sensor and processor combo, no doubt made to help keep manufacturing costs down across the camera range.

The 40 megapixel sensor offers the twin benefits of much greater resolution and 6K video, whilst the processor significantly introduces subject-recognition AF, all features previously seen on other X-series models but never featured before on the X100.

Whether you actually need bird-detection AF on a camera with a 35mm fixed focal length lens is perhaps another matter entirely, as is the fact that the video mode continues to seem like an after-thought on what is very much a stills-focused camera, and we can’t really forgive the UHS-I SD card slot on what is after all a new 2024 camera.

With a reported 1/2 million pre-orders in China alone, it’s clear that the new VI is certainly set to continue the recent enormous success of the X100-series. It may represent an evolution of the blueprint rather than a revolution, but that hardly seems to matter when just producing enough X100s of any kind seems to be the order of the day…

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Fujifilm X100VI.

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Fujifilm X100VI from around the web.

Specifications

Your Comments

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Having a profitable photography business may seem especially difficult right now, but there is hope out there. By following this quick guide, you can give yourself the best possible chance of success in 2024.

Being a photographer for hire can be a daunting task even for seasoned professionals. That’s why now, more than ever, it’s vital to have a plan of action in place to increase your chances of success. The good news for us is that photographer and educator Justin Mott has distilled down his 20+ years of experience in the industry to talk to us about the best way to stay afloat in the coming years.

The video starts with Mott talking about being mentally prepared for having a successful photography business and how important it is to understand the challenges ahead and how best to strategize for them. This one point alone is worth its weight in gold and is often missed when it comes to talking about building a photography business. Without a clear view of the landscape, it’s impossible to navigate the choppy waters that we find ourselves in.

Mott also talks about the biggest elephant in the room right now, and that is how AI is likely to impact the industry going forward. He suggests selecting areas of photography that are more likely to be resilient to AI and offers some examples such as wedding and portraiture which may fare better than the likes of stock and product photography. Seeking new opportunities and being open to change has always been the best way for photographers to stay ahead of the competition and is a valuable approach for any creative to have.

While this video is aimed at photographers starting in 2024, I do think Mott’s thoughts and insights are valuable to photographers at any stage of their career. His video goes through everything from selecting genres, and important skills to learn as a photographer, to the mundane business tasks we all must get used to doing. For just under fifteen minutes of your time, this video is the kind of clear-headed motivational talk we all need to hear from time to time.

What are your thoughts on the photo industry in 2024? What’s your plan of action to stay afloat? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Whether you’ve wanted to click birds at your local park or some fancy winged wonders at foreign conservation reserves, seeing the costs of long telephoto lenses can put you off from wanting to buy them. We’ve rounded up a set of lenses that will make your birding photography options more accessible and affordable for everyone. These won’t be as pricey as some super telephoto primes can be, and the pricing on some of our choices here might be downright surprising to you.

How We Test and Choose the Best Affordable Birding Lenses

• The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear we’ve fully reviewed in these roundups.
• If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. You can read more about our ethics on this on our Disclaimer page.
• When we test products we’ve got various things in mind. First off, we consider who might want to buy the product and what they might do with it. With that in mind, we try to tackle at least three genres of photography with that product in a variety of situations. For example, if a lens has weather resistance, then we’ll test it accordingly with a weather-resistant camera. We also test the autofocus of the lens in continuous mode, single mode, with exposure preview effects, without those effects, and then with all the major image quality parameters. These days, no one really makes a bad lens — but some are far better than others. And that’s what we’re trying to find in our reviews.
• In all of our roundups, we’re basing our findings on the reviews that we’ve done. We’re choosing a favorite, but we’re also giving photographers a bunch of others that they might like, depending on how they shoot.

Our Choice Amongst the Best Affordable Birding Lenses Of 2024: Canon RF 100-500mm f4.5-7.1 L IS USM

We love our telephoto lenses here at The Phoblographer. And we’re excited to be testing out some of the newer releases in the coming months. But in recent times, no other telephoto lens won our hearts as much as Canon’s RF 100-500mm f4.5-7.1 lens did. It weighs only around 3 lbs and is less than a foot long when zoomed in, which makes it super convenient to carry around for long hours. And it feels really well-built too in your hands. Canon mirrorless users who want to look at getting their first telephoto zoom can seriously consider this one.

Tech Specs

These specs are taken from the Adorama Listing

What We Think

In our review, we state:

Canon RF 100-500mm f4.5-7.1 L IS USM is an excellent lens. There isn’t really a single flaw about it. It’s compact compared to some competitors, the image quality is wonderful, and it’s weather sealed. And $2,699 for what you’re getting isn’t too awful of a price point, though it’s also not a no-brainer purchase. For what this lens is, it’s exemplary, and I think that any serious birding photographer will really enjoy it

This lens took home our Editor’s Choice Award. It’s really that fantastic.

For Some Photographers, These Might Be The Best Affordable Birding Lenses To Choose From

I get it, affordable is a very subjective word. But rest assured, these lenses are all considerably cheaper than having to buy a car (many of which these days can be cheaper than some telephoto lenses I have my eye on). Here are some lenses across various brands that you can trust to give you fast autofocus (when used with capable cameras) and great image results

Sony 200-600mm f5.6-6.3 G OSS Super Telephoto

There is quite a few things that make this lens a worthy addition to your Sony kit bag, as we noted in our review

The Sony 200-600mm f5.6-6.3 G OSS Super Telephoto combines snappy and precise autofocusing performance, robust build quality, and stellar image quality into a superb lens that is worthy of being added to any sports and wildlife photographer’s arsenal. The fact that Sony was able to keep it relatively lightweight and compact just adds to its versatility. Sony Full Frame Mirrorless shooter specializing in sports and wildlife photography, you will definitely want to get your hands on the Sony 200-600mm f5.6-6.3 G OSS.

Fujifilm 150-600mm f5.6-8 R LM OIS WR

Fujifilm has a wonderful option, but it does come with some limitations as we observed during our review:

The Fujifilm 150-600mm f5.6-8 R LM OIS WR finally brings big telephoto capabilities to X Mount. And, since that’s a crop sensor mount, this lens offers a focal length difficult to find on full-frame options. The lens delivers Fujifilm’s lovely color science on more distant subjects, like sports and wildlife. While the reach is long, the lens is compact enough that photographers can still hike with it. And an excellent stabilization system means the hike doesn’t have to include a tripod. While the lens offers a big reach for the X-Mount, quality is best at the wider and middle range. The f8 on the long end means pushing the ISO to get the shutter fast enough for moving subjects. That, mixed with some corner softness at 600mm, makes getting a sharp shot at 600mm challenging. Buyers should also beware that it’s not fully compatible with any X-mount camera — it’s listed for the X-H2s, X-T4, X-T3, and X-S10. With other bodies, the extra controls on the lens are incompatible.

Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f4-6.3 II

This lens works well within the few quirks we observed during our tests with it. But on the cool side, it has 1:2 macro capabilities. In our review we noted:

The Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f4-6.3 II is a prime example of both the advantages and limitations of Micro Four Thirds. The lens offers an incredible reach considering it is closer in size to a 70-200 than an 800mm equivalent. For sports and wildlife, this lens can get photographers close to the action because it’s small enough to hike with or navigate the sidelines with. Add in beautiful colors, sharp details, a Leica metal build, weather-sealing, and a reasonable price, and the lens is easily a win. But, on the flip side, the f6.3 aperture on the long end and the Micro Four Thirds sensor is a challenge for sports and wildlife. Freezing the movement of birds on an overcast day requires really pushing that ISO up high, and if you come across wildlife at dusk, even ISO 12800 isn’t enough to freeze the movement. The autofocus miss rate also seemed a little high considering the narrower depth of field. While the 1:2 macro focusing capabilities are excellent, a macro position on the focus limiter would have been beneficial.

Nikon Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S

Nikon has been bringing out some versatile lenses for its Z-mount camera owners, and this one took four stars in our review:

The portability and semi-palatable price point makes the Nikon Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 a solid choice for many wildlife and action photographers. While there’s less bokeh than the Z 400mm f4.5 or the 400mm f2.8, the lens is easy to shoot handheld and it fits in a typical camera bag. Image quality is excellent with great sharpness and color.

Sigma 60-600mm f4.5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports

If 3x or even 5x zoom telephoto lenses aren’t enough magnification for you, why not check out this 10x model from Sigma. You’ll miss out on some sharpness as we found out during our review:

OM System 40-150mm f4 Pro

If you’re an OM System camera user, you’d probably have quite a few options already. But this one we felt is the best of the lost. In our review we said:

The OM System 40-150mm f4 Pro delivers the sharpness of a Pro line lens in a smaller, more affordable package. It’s simple to use, easy to carry around on long hikes, and I even dunked it under a faucet to no ill effects. This lens is pretty durable and feels great in the hands. The images are sharp and the lens flare is fun to work with. But, there are a few sacrifices to get to that smaller size. An f4 lens on Micro Four Thirds means higher ISOs for photographing action, which translates into more noise and less detail.

Tamron 50-400mm f4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD

The last on our list here, but by no means the least of the lot is Tamron’s highly capable 50-400mm. We found it to give the same sharpness as comparable Sony G Master lenses, as we said in our review:

If you want Sony-level sharpness without the price of a G Master lens and a wide zoom range, buy the Tamron 50-400mm. Image quality leaves very little to complain about. And, with a focal range starting at 50mm, it’s a nice complement to the typical focal lengths of a kit lens. If versatility, portability, affordability, and sharpness are important, this lens is an excellent option.

Using This Guide to the Best Birding Lenses

If you’re considering purchasing anything from this list of the best macro lenses, consider the following:

• All the product images and sample photos in these roundups are shot by our staff. In fact, we don’t talk about products at length in roundups like this unless we’ve done full reviews of them. But you can surely know that we’ve done all the research ourselves.
• Laowa probably makes the best 3rd party macro lenses right now. But they aren’t without their shortcomings, as we noted above
• Does macro photography mystify you? Look at our quick guide to understand it better
• Macro photography autofocus accuracy also depends a great deal on the camera system you’re using
• The best macro photos are taken with a methodology called Focus Stacking
• We’d never recommend a product to you that we haven’t tested or that we really didn’t like. You can reference our linked reviews, for more information on this.

Picking the Right One For You

If you’re still a bit confused as to the right birding lens for you, here are some questions to ask yourself

• What’s your budget?
• How will you use the product?
• What lighting situations are you in, and how will that affect what you’re doing? Our reviews hyperlinked in this article can help with that.
• Are you traveling a lot with it?
• Will you be using it in a situation that’s a bit rougher?
• Who else uses this product? How are they using it?
• What’s so appealing about this product that I can’t get from what I have already or something else?
• When will I really have time to use this product?
• Where will I bring this product?
• How will this product help bring me joy and joy in my photography?

REEL: AXIS, NOT POLES & DYKE HANDS, QUEER SHORTS

Reel: Axis, Not Poles is a month-long screening programme curated by Languid Hands featuring experimental moving image shorts by five Black artists from across the diaspora. Inspired by Teshome Gabriel’s writing in Thoughts On Nomadic Aesthetics And The Black Independent Cinema: Traces of a Journey (1988), “these artists create work that is not purely reactive to cultures of oppression, nor hindered by the burden of visual representation”. Instead, they use their own references and approaches to creating a “visual, sonic, and textural language”, that moves “towards a liberated culture of art-making”. The artists included are Che Applewhaite, Dita Hashi, Kondo Heller, S*an D. Henry-Smith, and Kadeem Oak.

On Wednesday, 23 March, from 7pm, Languid Hands presents a selection of shorts from Cinenova’s collection, which are either made by or centre Black, lesbian, and non-binary people. This selection, screened over one night, is inspired by S. Diane Bogus’ 1989 book of poems and essays, DYKE HANDS & SUTRAS EROTIC & LYRIC. Artists included will be Jamika Ajalon, L Franklin Gilliam, and Sonali Fernando.

Reel: Axis, Not Poles runs March 10 – April 2, 2024 (Thursday-Saturday, 11am-6pm). Dyke Hands, Queer Shorts runs on the  March 23 from 7-9pm. More information here and here.

Exteriors at Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris (until 25 May 2024) expresses the ineffable experience of modern, urban life

March 01, 2024

The dominant perception of early photography from West Africa is that it was taken through a colonizing lens. Of Europeans in the mid-19th century spreading through the arteries of the region, new technology in hand, documenting people and places under the aegis of empire. Of a balance of power that favored the person behind the camera over the person in front of it, authoring a story for Europeans, by Europeans.

But what if that image were only partly true? What if that story was merely one of many – and one that conceals a more complex and empowered story that West Africa claimed for itself?

These are questions asked by a new book that seeks to re-examine the history of photography in the region. Giulia Paoletti, an assistant professor in the Department of Art at the University of Virginia, has built a timeline in “Portrait and Place: Photography in Senegal, 1840-1960,” unearthing unpublished gems, giving authorship to images long labelled anonymous, and dispelling many myths.

“The narrative that is told about the history of photography is that it is a Western invention, and then at some point it gets appropriated by Africans,” she told CNN in a video interview. Her book demonstrates that gap was short, and history has been obscured in a way that has disenfranchised many Africans.

“We have these histories,” she said, “and what I’m trying very hard to do is recuperate some of them.”

Beyond the colonial narrative

For more than a decade the academic conducted research trips to Senegal, interviewing hundreds of people, including the surviving relatives of the country’s canonical photographers, uncovering lost stories and context attached to their work. “I had a lot of enthusiasm and support, mostly based on (the) Senegalese being very proud of this history and heritage they want to share,” said Paoletti.

“I was always aware of my position as an outsider,” she added, and accordingly, “never had the ambition to ‘represent Senegal.’”

“My ambition is to amplify the voice of and offer more visibility to Senegalese authors, artists, and collections, and de-center Eurocentric perspectives, starting (with) mine.”

The book begins in 1842 with the earliest surviving photograph from West Africa, a daguerreotype taken by Frenchman Jules Itier of the port town of St. Louis. The image doesn’t show us much, other than a few colonial buildings, a square and a couple of ghostly figures straying into the frame. Itier described it as a “missed shot,” but it’s evidence of how quickly commercial photography, invented just three years prior, spread around the world.

It wasn’t long before Senegalese people were calling the shots. Unlike some other West African nations, Senegal has no recorded history of portraiture before photography, Paoletti said. But by the 1850s, a class of Senegalese women that existed from the 17th to 19th century called the signare – Black or mixed race, and often married to colonial officers – were commissioning portraits in St. Louis, the seat of power in French West Africa.

“The sitters in this case have a lot of agency,” said Paoletti. “It’s not a surprise that two of the earliest portraits … are of women. It was not unusual for (signare) women to have that status, and photography would be one of the means to express that.”

Outside of colonial circles, a different picture emerges. Paoletti tells the story of Belgian explorer Adolphe Burdo meeting a man he described as the “King of Dakar” in 1878.

At the meeting, the king handed Burdo a keepsake called a “carte de visite,” featuring a photo portrait that the king that had commissioned of himself. Confronted by this modern African, the Belgian fled “too civilized” Dakar “to go in quest of more genuine savages,” Paoletti reports Burdo writing. The same carte de visite was turned into an illustration and distributed in Burdo’s published travelogue. In doing so, a European erased this African’s modernity.

“There is shock and there is resistance,” said Paoletti – an attitude that reverberates today, she argues, in the scarcity of early African photography in many museums, that favor art in older mediums instead. “You will rarely see early engagement with modernity,” said the author.

“Historically, Africa, African subjects and African objects, have tended to be constructed and maintained outside of time, in this timeless space,” she argued. “There is always this construction of the ‘Other’ that never co-exists in our time.”

Nevertheless, it is well documented that the first (albeit temporary) photography studio in Senegal was set up by a Black man, African American Augustus Washington, in 1860, and at the turn of the 20^th century photography was relatively widespread in the country, writes Paoletti.

Finding comparisons around the world

From the 1930s, photography found a unique social function in Senegal via the “xoymet,” a Wolof word for a decorative collage associated with weddings. Photographs of friends and family would be collected and used to furnish a bride’s room ahead of the ceremony, Paoletti writes. People would visit, and this symbol of the bride’s social circle would prompt conversation, then after the wedding the collage would be taken down and the photographs returned.

“If you talk about photography in Senegal it will come up all the time,” the author said, “but there’s very little research on it.”

Academics don’t know why the practice died out in the 1960s, she added, and only around a dozen photographs of xoymet survive. Notable examples were taken by Macky Kane, including of his bride-to-be Fatou Thioune sitting in front of her xoymet.

“We see this format, of photographs within photographs, in very important photographs, such as ‘Sun Rays­–Paula, Berlin,’” she explained – an image taken by pioneering American Alfred Stieglitz in the late 19^th century.

To Paoletti, it’s evidence photography in West Africa didn’t evolve in isolation. “We need to see these photographs in relation,” Paoletti said. “We need to see how they’re connected in the world, and how the people who sit in front (of the xoymet in these photographs) want to be part of those worlds.”

Today, Macky Kane and compatriots Mama Casset and Salla Casset are widely celebrated for their mid-20^th century portraiture, collected by museums including The Met. This was not always the case, said Paoletti. However, an “explosion” of exhibitions of African photography (including key exhibitions in the US and Senegal) in the 1990s, as well as pivotal 1998 book “Anthology of African Photography,” did a significant job in bringing many of their photographs to a broader audience (even if some images were listed as by “anonymous”).

As if to prove the riches still to be unearthed, Paoletti visited the holy city of Touba between 2012 and 2019 and interviewed Oumar Ka, a respected mid-century photographer. Ka, who died in 2020, “still lived by his old studio, and he kept his whole archive of negatives. He had these incredible portraits from the 1960s of rural sitters that I’d never seen before,” said Paoletti.

It was, she said, a “transformative moment.” Some of these photographs, composed in wide shots with deep depth of field, with subjects (or Ka) in natural surroundings, don’t just look modern but contemporary, and starkly different from other major West African photographers’ work at the time.

But for every photo that is found, others remain lost. No daguerreotypes taken by Augustus Washington during his time in Senegal have been discovered, Paoletti said, while some works by Mama Casset will presumably never surface, after a fire in the 1980s consumed his studio, which contained most of his negatives.

Paoletti intends to present her project in the Senegalese capital at the Dakar Biennale later this year, with book talks at the Institut Français du Sénégal and University of Dakar. And after sinking over a decade into the book, her mission continues, not only for a deeper understanding of Senegal’s photographic past, but its rightful place in history.

“Portrait and Place: Photography in Senegal, 1840-1960” is published by Princeton University Press and released on March 5.