Sooner or Later

T

here is nothing new under the sun said an old friend of mine with whom I once worked. She was right.

For the past few days, there has been a buzz about a new lens just released by Tokina. It’s a 500mm F8 lens that fits in the palm of your hand. They call it a reflex lens, but it’s proper name is a catadioptric lens which means there are little mirrors inside of it which allows light to bounce around.

When you are using it, you either get the subject in sharp focus or you don’t. You’ll know as soon as you look it the picture. It also produces a very unique donut shaped bokeh.

Doesn’t this sound like an amazing new break through?

It is.

But, I owned one in — wait for it — in 1979.

That’s right. It’s 20th Century technology. The review that I read was written by a young woman who can’t be older than 25. To me this is the height of newbie photographers not bother to even learn about the subject they claim to love. They want to take great snapshots — that’s a derogatory term — from the first time they use a camera. They write posts about the “ten tips that will make you a great photographer.”

It’s starting to get annoying.

And yet, there are a trillion pictures being made and posted somewhere on the internet every year. Ugh. How many are great? How many aren’t derivative? Maybe ten. You can thank Instagram for that. And, the emergence of smart phones as the preferred camera.

Both Instagram and smart phones are examples of disruption. That isn’t always a good. Disruption doesn’t make things better. It just flattens the curve. So, it makes them worse.

So, I sent the young women writer a friendly email. I wonder if she’ll reply.

Stay tuned.