What to Do with All of Those Old Family Photos?

This is The Digital Story Podcast #908, August 15, 2023. Today's theme is "What to Do with All of Those Old Family Photos?." I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue

Old family photos are indeed important. Even if you don't think so right now, there will surely come a time when your opinion changes. And sometimes we're handed a stack of snapshots well before we have the time to deal with them. When that happens, what do you do? I have a practical suggestion that I think you will find useful. Find out more on today's TDS Photography Podcast. I hope you enjoy the show.

Digital Photography Podcast 908

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I attended a family gathering this past week, and my cousin handed me a large envelope of pictures... I tell the story on the podcast.

The Quick Scan Method for Old Photos

Group the photos in sets of six with the same year of origination.
Place them face down on your flatbed scanner.
Before closing the lid, take a picture of their backs with your smartphone.
Scan the set of six with the flatbed.
Name the files (photo scan and smartphone picture) so they can be kept together.
Create an album in your photo management software and add the two files you just created.
File the original pictures in the same groups as you scanned them.
Store the originals in a safe place.

Someday, when you are ready to deal with these pictures, you will have digital contact sheets of them. That way you can quickly find the shots you want and make a solo scan of the original.

And if you never have time to return to this project, at least you have digitized the images and saved them from further deterioration.

TTArtisan Brings Its 50mm f/1.4 Tilt Lens to Micro Four Thirds

You can read the entire article on Petapixel.com

After announcing its 50mm f/1.4 Tilt Lens for Canon RF, Fujifilm X, Leica L, Nikon Z, and Sony E mounts last year, TTArtisan has released its compact tilt lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras.

Given the diverse mount compatibility of the manual-focus lens, it is no surprise that it was designed to work for a wide range of sensor sizes. While the 50mm f/1.4 lens delivers an equivalent focal length of 75mm on APS-C cameras such as Fujifilm X Series models, it will provide an equivalent 100mm focal length on Micro Four Thirds cameras.

The lens incorporates seven elements organized across six groups, including a high refractive index element. TTArtisan promises "outstanding image quality" with minimized aberrations and reduced distortion.

The manual lens can focus as close as 50 centimeters (about 18.7 inches). Thanks to the two times crop factor, the lens will offer better magnification on Micro Four Thirds cameras. The lens sports a 12-bladed aperture diaphragm and accepts 62mm front filters.

Alongside the focus and aperture rings, the lens also includes tilt controls that offer eight degrees of tilt and can be rotated 90 degrees. Photographers can achieve what TTArtisan calls a "Lilliput" look by rotating the lens. Named after the tiny people in Gullliver's Travels, this look makes objects appear much smaller in the frame and gives images a miniature toy appearance.

Although the tilt function enables "Lilliput" images with dramatic out-of-focus areas, the tilt function can also be used to achieve a greater depth of field, allowing more elements in the frame to be sharp. PetaPixel's guide to using tilt-shift lenses for product photography closely examines how tilt lenses offer photographers much more control over perspective, distortion, and depth of field.

The TTArtisan 50mm f/1.4 Tilt Lens has been built with photography and videography applications in mind. For video users, the lens' focus and aperture rings are made to fit most focus followers, like purpose-built cinema lenses.

The TTArtisan 50mm f/1.4 Tilt Lens is available from Pergear for $199 in all its mount options.

Olympus' new owner is about to buy Toshiba for $14 billion. Who's next?

You can read the entire article on DigitalCameraWorld.com

In a fascinating move, the investment firm that bought Olympus' camera business is about to buy electronics giant Toshiba as well.

Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) purchased the Olympus Imaging Division in January 2021, and continues to operate it under the name OM Digital Solutions. The firm has now announced a $14 billion (approximately �11 billion) offer to purchase Toshiba - which, among its many operations, continues to make industrial cameras and imaging technology (and, until 2019, was a distributor for Canon).

Toshiba hasn't made consumer cameras for some time; it ceased producing point-and-shoot cameras some 20 years ago, with Sony buying its image sensor business in 2015. However, it has fingers in many technology pies - including semiconductors, quantum storage, business displays, televisions, printing, digital solutions, railway solutions, energy and hybrid technology... as well as a very rich research & development ecosystem (including a highly respected research lab in Cambridge).

Intriguingly, Toshiba is a company that has been plagued by public scandal following very high-profile accounting fraud (which saw the prosecution of five senior executives, among them a pair of former company presidents). This is a similar situation to the tarnished reputation of Olympus, again following a public case of accountancy fraud, which led to it being purchased by JIP.

Well, the main thing is that the best Olympus / OM System cameras probably won't benefit from Toshiba technology. This is not, after all, a merger; JIP is a firm that specializes in rescuing embattled or failing companies (among them carving out Sony's Vaio computer business), but it does not have a history of cross-pollinating them.

That said, given that Toshiba does have specialist imaging divisions, it's possible that these might be somehow merged with OM Digital - perhaps at the R&D phase, if nowhere else. It may also, conceivably, open up Toshiba's patent library if anything is relevant to the OM business.

Any cooperation between the two companies would be a boon for OM Digital; to have its consumer camera business shored up by the industrial camera business is sure to be a welcome development.

Photos: Deadly Wildfires Sweep Across Maui

You can read the entire article on The Atlantic, Aug. 10, 2023.

Yesterday, wildfires that were fanned by winds driven by a distant hurricane tore across the Hawaiian island of Maui, forcing thousands to flee, destroying hundreds of structures, and killing at least 36 people, according to an Associated Press report. The historic town of Lahaina was hit especially hard as the fast-moving fires burned through buildings toward the waterfront, forcing a number of people to jump into the water to escape. Gathered below, early images from the disaster in Lahaina.

Virtual Camera Club News

The Nimble Photographer Newsletter is now publishing every Thursday. Readers will enjoy a variety of content spanning from short photo essays, to commentary on weekly events, to reviews of the latest and coolest photo gear.

TDS Workshops! - You can sign up for available workshops by visiting The Nimble Photographer. Inner Circle Members receive a 10-percent discount on all events.

Inner Circle Members: A big thanks to those who support our podcast and our efforts! We are having a blast at our new Inner Circle hangout, the private group I've set up at DerrickStoryOnline. We'd love it if you join us. You can become an Inner Circle Member by signing up at our Patreon site. You will automatically be added to the new hangout.

Great Photography Articles on Live View - If you check out our publication and appreciate what you see, be sure to follow us and clap for those authors. You can find us at medium.com/live-view.

If you're interested in writing for Live View, drop me a line at dstory@gmail.com.

The New Donation Kit for Carefree Shipping of Found Film Cameras - If you've discovered a film camera that's no longer being used, our new Donation Kit makes it easy to pack and ship. Just visit the Contact Form on thenimblephotographer.com, click the box next to Donating a Film Camera, and let me know what you have. In your note, be sure to include your shipping address.

Affiliate Links - The links to some products in this podcast contain an affiliate code that credits The Digital Story for any purchases made from B&H Photo and Amazon via that click-through. Depending on the purchase, we may receive some financial compensation.

Red River Paper - And finally, be sure to visit our friends at Red River Paper for all of your inkjet supply needs.

See you next week!

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