Get ready to mourn people–Hasselblad announced today in a press release statement that they are killing off their legendary 503CW camera. If you’re not familiar with the name, you’re familiar with its looks. This is perhaps one of the more famous medium format cameras in recent days and the one that many publications recommend if someone wants to get into medium format. According to Hasselblad though, it has been around for over half a century.
Instead the company will be focusing on their H system of cameras–which are out of reach of many therefore cutting down on the dilution of the brand.
While supplies last, you can snag your own 503CW at Amazon, B&H Photo, or eBay.
Today is a day thats been a long time coming now, back in September Fuji released a statement saying that they are planning to cease film production and today was that day. Let it be known that on the second of April 2013 Fuji has announced that they are bringing all of their motion picture films to a halt. Fuji will continue to sell motion picture film as long as they have stock to sell but I’m sure it won’t be around for long.
I know a lot of you understand what this means for the industry as a whole and those of you who don’t will soon find out. Announcements like these along with the price hikes on consumer films is making it a really stressful time for those of us who believe in film. Kodak is still making motion picture film and they should be coming out of bankruptcy this year. Hopefully the current generation of film lovers can keep it alive long enough for the next one to enjoy it.
Remember those days when you bought a software, or a CD just because the packaging was cool? I don’t! In a business move of similar logic, Adobe has today announced that they’re killing the box set of their Creative Suite softwares. The last day to catch em’ while you can will be April 30th 2013.
The company’s official statement was, “As Adobe continues to focus on delivering world-class innovation through Creative Cloud and digital fulfillment, we will be phasing out shrink-wrapped, boxed versions of Creative Suite. Electronic downloads for Creative Suite products will continue to be available – as they are today – from both Adobe.com, as well as reseller and retail partners”
For schools and universities that work through a purchase order system, this is going to be one interesting move an perhaps a pain in the neck for IT depts everywhere. But for businesses, this will be extremely simple.
You can spring for the software ASAP on Amazon, Adorama or B&H Photo.
Via No Film School
So here’s the deal: NoFilmSchool heard from Canon Rumors who read on Canon Japan’s website that the 5D Mk II is gone and officially discontinued. Indeed, when the page is translated, one can see that as in the screenshot above. But Canon USA’s website doesn’t reflect that in their listing at the time of publishing this piece.
Either way, it can be easily stated that the 5D Mk II was very much so a game changer. It created the HDSLR videography market when Nikon’s D90 couldn’t, and it became a staple for wedding photographers, photojournalists, portraitists, and hobbyists alike. I was a former Olympus DSLR owner but when the company couldn’t keep up with my demands, I made the switch to Canon when I wrote for Photography Bay. And to this day, I refuse to give mine up. Indeed, I’ve found many ways to still keep mine alive–most recently switching over to all Sigma glass which has given me some spectacular results and still uses the camera’s sensor to its fullest potential. That camera has quite literally helped me build this site and through some very tough times in my content development and photography career, has stuck by me through thick and thin. I’ve debated upgrading many times, but I simply can’t justify it to myself. In this world of gear-mongering; we really need to remember that it’s the creative that creates the images; and the 5D Mk II is more than modern enough to give many of us what we need and want.
The camera at the moment is still listed on Amazon, B&H Photo, Adorama and Borrow Lenses. And it is probably the best bang for your buck at the moment for full frame DSLRs. Farewell, old friend!
Yesterday Nikon officially discontinued my Nikon D700. I have owned her since the first week that she came out in mid 2008. Yes I keep referring to her as her and not an it because like a lot of us who travel alone we become attached. Yesterday, when the announcement happened surprisingly my D700 didn’t just up and die. Today’s modern digital cameras are becoming very similar to yesterdays film cameras. We are at a point where the technology is so good that these items wont become irrelevant after their lifecycle.
I have been viewing Ming Thein’s “Inspirations from an older cameras” series and it reminds me how these cameras will live on as long as we put them to work. If you haven’t seen Ming’s series please take a look here and enjoy browsing.
We’ve just received some really exciting news. First off, the Fujifilm X100 was said to be discontinued according to Photo Rumors via Crutchfield camera. At the moment of writing this post, it still is marked as such. However, upon seeing our WCL conversion lens review, our Fujifilm USA rep just told us that this report is false and that the X100 is still current.
So does this mean that there could be a delay on the announcement of the highly rumored X200?
In the meantime, it is still pretty much the point and shoot camera to beat despite the Sony RX100 being very hot. So get it while it’s still available as B&H and Amazon have it in stock.
