#296: Binning the kit you’ve stopped using and all HAIL the 18mm!

We’ve reached 300 episodes! What’s changed since the first one, from a time we didn’t even see a pandemic coming? Well, for a start, the DSLR has quietly taken its place in the museum, while Kodak, CineStill, and Fujifilm ramped up film production, as demand for analogue exploded again; turns out grain never really went out of fashion. Medium format isn’t chained to a tripod anymore either. With Fujifilm’s GFX line, photographers are now shooting huge resolutions on something that fits in a shoulder bag. Oh, and then there’s AI. In 2019, you might rightly have shouted, “A WOT?” Now it’s the invisible hand behind how clients and an audience find you. With more people using AI to search instead of scrolling Google pages, your website, your words, your presence, they all need to speak a language that machines can read, as well as humans. Also on the show, Kev’s Driving School has started its engine, AI writes us some poetry, things to change on your website to allow AI to seek you, what to say when a client asks to see the raw photos from a shoot, buying the latest GFX, film photography borders on your website, and SCRL. Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

Kev’s unboxing a glimpse into his new photographic pastime, but what has arrived at Studio Mullins? All will be revealed. Also on the show: Lightroom sharpening tips - have the worms returned?  GFX100RF dynamic range discussed and hopefully solved, pricing strategy and how we’d launch our photography businesses if we were starting again today - what would we do differently? We discuss smaller gigs in the light of consumer confidence, excellent used-camera purchases, advise how to survive multiple weddings in a row and street law. Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

Neale is trying to cheer Kev up, who is sitting in a blacked out room in beautiful Malmesbury, counting down the hours, minutes and seconds until he can escape the UK for the sunnier climes of España! On the show, the boys discuss using Pictime as an art gallery, software solutions for back-up, the foto app, fixing up a retiring camera, the best compact camera in the Fujifilm range to travel with, switching to video using an X-T4, and we also feature the Zine work of Adam Ramjean, as he photographs the Notting Hill Carnival. Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

Neale invites Kev to street photograph and adventure with him in Kolkata and Varanasi as he prepares for the next 2026 Photowalk adventure in India, but will he say yes. Also on the show a VERY special offer from our wonderful sponsor Pictime, called 72, plus an invite to come and join us on a special Pictime Zoom show on Wednesday 14th May at 6pm UK time, invite URL below. Questions into the show about lost custom settings, website picture layout nightmares, finding a discreet camera system for shooting unobtrusively, the classic Fujinon lens line-up for the X-system, protecting gear from bangs and knocks in the bag, ChatGPT accuses Neale of stealing Kev’s 35mm, a 500mm beast, and battery talk.  THE BIG ZOOM INVITE for 14th March 6pm UK time: https://www.fujicast.co.uk/pictime  Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

Neale’s getting nervous about the footie and Kev’s celebrating picture sales to clients who forgot to order ANY pictures when they got married almost a decade ago! Also on the show, trading in all the lenses you don’t use for one excellent lens you will, more on the GFX IBIS-gate story and cropping in camera, being honest in reviews, wedding-centric glass, learning to shoot candidly for day-in-the-life shoots, and what is your camera doing while it’s sat in your camera bag?!? The book of the week is Queer Happened Here by Marc Zinaman. Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

When we recorded this episode, the tariff situation was locked in, firm as a rock, ‘You know who' said absolutely no U-turns. So naturally, by the time you hear it, the rock's done a cartwheel and landed in a hedge. All the same, just in time for Easter, questions in to the show include how to egg collect and take pictures at the same time, although all is not as it seems! Also on the show, can Pictime be a replacement for your website, are mentors important to your development as a photographer, and should you pay for their services? Touch screen controls, do they drive you bonkers too? We talk about eye-tracking, a new pancake lens for the system and how to respond to unhappy clients. Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

Kev’s talk at The Photography Show draws more than a few admiring glances, and it’s now a film! The GFX 100RF has been announced and we ask, is it a camera you need for your kitbag? Who is this camera really for, and why does it leave some photographers vacillating between curiosity and a quiet sense of unease? Kev answers these questions and more, whilst attempting to keep his blood pressure within safe limits. Also on the show, finding a small interchangeable lens camera for street work in the Fujifilm range, manual focusing for astro photography, a documentary magazine collection introduced to us by Ashton Zala, sneak peaks of galleries for clients, and a new genre possibly: chicken dinners!? Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

Kev’s been to Cheltenham to take pictures of people losing money at the races, although he has a secret, not-so-secret strategy! Also, on the show today, do you do colour calibration (?!?), back-button focus-gate, what’s happening with my X-T5’s ISO on all-auto, is there a good free alternative to Adobe products, there’s a hole in my lens hood - what should I do, and how do I cope with guests at weddings instructing me not to take pictures of them? Plus, dealing with working outside your style for clients, the fabled 18mm f2 lens, and should you use your own name as your business identity. Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

Kev returns from Spain and seems to have found a new career as a handyman, finding a particular passion for cutting stuff down to size with a chainsaw!!! Also on the show today from the mailbag, Neale and Kev answer questions about photographing solo professionally, shooting video alongside stills, showing unedited material to clients, posing v doc, choosing email and mailing list providers, Substack, invoicing software, and why do people think Kev looks like David Brent??!? Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.

Kev is wondering who sent red roses last Friday, was it you? On the show today, recommendations for a good zoom lens sub £400, just how good is the new Fujifilm X-M5, starting from scratch as a photographer, X100V as a powerhouse, audio kit to accompany your photo storytelling, perfect lenses for travel photography, Kev’s post-retirement plans, can you become a pro wedding photographer in your 50s, and a peak inside Neale and Kev’s kit bags. Plus there’s a bonus question on Judo! Email the show with your questions: [email protected]  Pic Time: https://www.pic-time.com/ - use FUJICAST when creating an account for discount offers to apply For links go to the showpage.