Hi,
Has anyone read this months UK B&W mag, if you have what do you
think of it?
IMO it's the worst issue yet and I've read them all.
It seems all doom and gloom for silver photography
to them this month, what do you think?

JON

We won't get the September issue on this side of the Atlantic for another month, however I think this is the issue that features some work by our own Kate Seymour (BWKate), whose shots all all traditionally based.

As to the future of the mag, I was a little worried about it's direction when I heard Ailsa was leaving. We'll see.

I am not impressed; far too much digital. I am very close to cancelling my subscription, but will wait till the year end to see what the new editor brings to the table.

Dave,
I'm of the same thinking, there is even DSLR listing
at the back.
JON

I know, the sight of it made me spill my cornflakes with the shock.:mad:

Hi,
Has anyone read this months UK B&W mag, if you have what do you
think of it?
IMO it's the worst issue yet and I've read them all.
It seems all doom and gloom for silver photography
to them this mouth, what do you think?

JON

Yes.
Film seems to be on the back foot.
But at last nights projected image monthly club competition about 25% were black and white digital images! As a sign that change is not necessarilly progress we now have to enter slides a week in advance instead of on the night because the digi. boys can't get their images sorted in a few minutes as we did with slides.
Will review my subscription December time.
Cheers
Jeff

Even under Ailsa it was starting to trend digi... not offensively, but nonetheless... If this becomes a standard modus operandi for the magazine I'll be quite disappointed. Only upside is that I'll be able to cut back on my monthly magazine outlay. Less crap to accumulate and bloat the library with.

One photo mag I truly miss was Photographers International - very much a portfolio magazine, but it had higher production values than all but the best clothbound book printers. And only a dozen pages of advertising or less in a 100-150 page magazine. Pricey, but worth every penny they charged for it. I have about twenty issues of it on my shelves. Almost exclusively black-and-white work, and more journalistic/documentary than anything else, but it was a true joy to examine each issue.

thebanana,
It's the October issue I'm talking about.
JON

Sadly I fear that a once great magazine is about to become just another DSLR and photoshop rag.

Is the new editor a member of APUG? If they are perhaps they should be directed to this thread.

I agree, I thought it wasn't up to it's usual standards and also noticed the change in emphasis to digital.

Another thing which really worries me is the announcement of the new editor, David Corfield. Now, I know nothing about him at all, but what concerned me was the mention that he's been a deputy editor on Practical Photography and Photography Monthy. Two magazines which are very strong digital evangelists. The last time I brought PM a year or two ago, I chucked the mag into the bin after traditional photographers were derided as luddites and scared of computers. As someone who has a PhD in Computer Science I probably know more about computers than everyone working on that rag put together.

Mike

Definitely too much d****** in this issue; I'll probably not renew my subscription if this becomes the norm. What disappointed me the most was Mike Johnston's article; which is basically a d****** SLR review. If I wanted that I would buy Practical Photography... And as for the SLR listing they didn't even bother with any film cameras. What's wrong with the Nikon F6 or perhaps (and I know they're not SLRs) the new Voigtlanders?


Well, the new editor hasn't started yet so I suppose there is hope. The only worrying thing is that he used to be the deputy editor of Practical Photography. A magazine that surely should be renamed Practical Digital Photography as it is more concerned with how to re-create grain in Photoshop than in using film with grain built it.


I'll get off my soap box now...


Brian

p.s. A few good points:

Eamonn McCabe - Talks about "Daily Encounter: Photographs form Fleet Steet" an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Worth visiting if you're in the area;

Our of fearc is published in the readers gallery (Well I think it's her)

Leon appears to becoming a regular fixture in this publication and is yet again featured in "The Printer's Art".

what is d****** ?

p.s. A few good points:

Eamonn McCabe - Talks about "Daily Encounter: Photographs form Fleet Steet" an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Worth visiting if you're in the area;

Our of fearc is published in the readers gallery (Well I think it's her)

Leon appears to becoming a regular fixture in this publication and is yet again featured in "The Printer's Art".

I agree with you on Eamonn McCabe -- I laughed out loud reading the Doris Day story ;)

I also enjoyed David Trainer's portraits.

Leon's days may be numbered unless he converts to photoshop.

Mike

Although I have not seen an issue of B and W in well over a year, if the only pool of 35mm camera are the F6 and variants fo the Cosina Rangfinders, and you need advertisers to stay in business what else can they do?

I agree I also enjoyed the articles mentioned, although I thought that
Leon's bit was not a good representation of his work, making the digital one
appear better.
It also seemed to gloat at the fact Hardy's darkroom is closing down
suggesting it is end of all darkrooms.

JON

Very disappointed with this issue. Always wait expectantly for each new issue to drop in the postbox and generally not disappointed. This time.... :-( Mike Johnston has really been p#@$ing me off lately as all he talks about are his new digital this, digital that and most of the images he offers up are colour? What gives?

Oh and another thing, the image reproduction has been going down hill lately. Very pixelated...

(I stand aside:)

Dear All,

Don't make too many judgements as yet. September and October were essentially between editors, and David Corfield has yet to put his stamp on the magazine. Yes, it will change direction: basically, we have to wait and see how. My recent tests (Leica Tri-Elmar and ZV) are all film-based and so is everything else that they have of mine, whether in stock or proposed. The only real exception was the M8 -- which is hard to ignore, and even harder to get film into. If you cut it down to the size of an SD card you can get it in but the results are AWFUL.

Cheers,

Frances E. Schultz

The latest M camera (I will not plug it) is very easy to ignore when you have no interest in Dcams.

traditional photographers were derided as luddites and scared of computers.
Well, they say you must face your fears.. Maybe that is why I fix and build PC's, make websites, hang out on sites like Gizmodo.com and am an avid computer gamer. It is a wonder the horrors of technology have not killed me yet, but I will persevere and just maybe one day victoriously overcome my fear of technology :p

Back from travelling I looked at two issues on the news stand. Was not motivated to buy either one
Mark

Sorry Frances I did read and enjoy your article on
the Tri-Elmar, I have had trial of this lens myself
with the new viewfinder and yes it is good but I
will be sticking with my M15mm f8 Hologon.

JON.

Sorry Frances I did read and enjoy your article on
the Tri-Elmar, I have had trial of this lens myself
with the new viewfinder and yes it is good but I
will be sticking with my M15mm f8 Hologon.

JON.
Dear Jon,

Frances is on the 'phone to her sister, but I'm intrigued to ask why you prefer the Hologon (which neither of us has ever tried). She LOVED that Tri-Elmar, and hated giving it back (mailed back on Monday after 2 months trial), but we couldn't afford it even with a press discount. I'm not questioning your judgement, just intrigued as to what you see as the main advantages.

Cheers,

Roger (oh -- and Frances, now off the 'phone, says 'thanks and watch out for the Hasselblad-fit ZV lenses in the next issue -- ALL ON FILM!')

Roger,
One reason is that I have already got it and after 20 years use I have
be very attached to it. The quality is without question legionary,
I like and prefer fixed focal length lenses and it is a classic.
JON

Yes, I have to agree that there was a very worrying amount of d******. And not only that, but a number of examples of typical incredulous digital evangelist type rubbish, which is always a very bad sign. Lets hope the new editor stops the rot.

One example that made me laugh: "the imaging performance of even modest (current) DSLRs is spectacularly good measured ... against the current DSLR state of the art". Or to interpret, the standard of the inferior examples of a group are greater than the average of the group. I don't know if something was lost in the translation from American, but its still b******s.

And this was from a columinst who recently suggested that the quality of digital prints should not be compared to silver prints because they are completely different things and hence the comparison is meaningless.

Steve