Mediumformat.com

[stephengilbert]

I think you're at cross purposes here: Graham objects to an apparent trashing of Victor, a member here.

Responders seem to think he was defending the cited photothunk blogger.

 

[GrahamWelland]

I don’t even know who amolitor is. As Stephen says, I’m just asking for some civility here.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

I think you're at cross purposes here: Graham objects to an apparent trashing of Victor, a member here.

Responders seem to think he was defending the cited photothunk blogger.

Ah... not at all, although I do think it's fair to point out when members link to trashy content. Victor can't have read all the vitrol that the blogger in question is spreading. I write it on the account of ignorance or lack of research

I did write "... but the blog you linked to is the longest piece of trash...".

 

[erlingmm]

Well, I have the opposite approach: I started a monthly subscription to give it a chance, will cancel if it does not live up to expectations.
I know Ming from workshops and have great respect for him. Not a big fan of Digilloyd, but let's see what they can do, hopefully with some other contributors joining in.

 

[hcubell]

Howard/Jorgen,

Please don’t use terms like that here. I’m sick of hearing it elsewhere ... every day these days. I very much doubt that Victor is jealous of anyone nor deserving your insults.

With respect to mediumformat.com, I think that they need to post some real teaser content to make the offer anything other than a portfolio of known industry names clubbing together on a money making venture (and no harm in that), but show us what you would actually sign up for.

Perhaps it doesn’t serve your narrative, but I was NOT referring to Victor. I was referring to the person who wrote the crap about Ming Thein that Victor linked to. I think Jorgen was as well.

 

[DB5]

I think it is a digital publication only.

Oh! I just assumed that $200 would be for something worthwhile.

 

[Shashin]

Well, Wimott costs $700 for an annual subscription of 6 issues, but it is printed (not that the paper is that expensive). Nomenus Quarterly has gone between $2,500 and $6,500 per issue. Zoot has a $150 cover price. If this new MFD mag is a monthly publication, then it is not far from many art magazine prices of around $25/issue (but those are on paper as well). The diamond-studded and gold issue of Kohl's was priced at $10,000, but that was a one off.

Given the time and labor needed for high-quality publications, short-run magazines are expensive--the cost is really not a material cost problem. Given the amount of information available on photographic technique and the availability in fine photography, this will be a hard sell. Personally, at that price, I would rather invest in a few good photographic books instead.

 

[DB5]

Special pre-launch price of $200 per year for a PDF Magazine from the "best medium format photographers and prolific visual thinkers in the world". Ming Thein, Lloyd Chambers, and some other camera blog guys (Patrick La Who?) I can't be bothered typing because no one knows them anyway.

:watch:

I mean, it's arguable, I guess, in a way...they do take photos OF medium format cameras for their blogs. Right? So it's not like it's an outright lie. Right? Riiiight?

Don't sell yourselves short, fellas! You may as well aim high and throw in "best prolific visual thinkers in the world" too! Oh the intrigue, it's too much. Do you suppose they are alluding to something meaningful? Or is it just in reference to the endlessly dreary pages of sesquipedalian verbosity and half-baked philosophy, pedestrian photography, the meaningless click bait fodder and whining about how their camera has some fault no other person on the planet seems to have or could care about?

I look forward to reading an "article" on the argument in favour of yawn inducing camera blogs and opinions on Medium Format gear from a Hasselblad employee and what their relevance to actual photography is. Or, how about a puff piece on the avoidance of actually taking pictures by reading about cameras on over priced irrelevant blogs?

As tempting as the offer may be....think i'll pass on this one.

 

[DougDolde]

Looks like Lloyd probably priced it. He wants $250/yr to read everything on his website. Now I know how he got the Sprinter

 

[MrSmith]

Better of spending the money going to an art gallery, a bookstore or a cinema.
Or maybe just shooting more...

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

The more I read this thread, the more I come to think that $249 per year may actually be a reasonable price and good value too. The cost of running a magazine is formidable, even if it's not printed. Most magazines ride on the back of their advertisers, and the editorial content often reflects that. Although one of the editors have strong connections to a supplier within this field, that doesn't take away from his creative capacities.

It's up to each individual to consider if anything written by the two gentlemen in question has value or not. Sometimes, visiting a museum or just taking a walk with the camera will make just as much sense. However, sometimes, particularly in a world where everything is supposed to be "free" but isn't, paying for something that is relevant to oneself and taking time to read it in solitude, preferably accompanied by a glass of good wine and equally satisfying music makes perfect sense.

It's a kind of intellectual luxury that is becoming rare these days, and I find that I often miss it.

I'll consider it, even if the price is way out of my league at the moment.

 

[PeterA]

Loyd lost me when he found issues with the Leica SL and 24-90 lens - issues which couldn't be replicated by anyone else in the universe. Any 'credibility' Loyd had as an independent tester went down the toilet with that episode. As for Ming, his criticism of the SL was that he dint like the feel of it in his left hand - fair enough thanks for that input Ming.

Good luck to them both - they are enthusiastic fellas whose blogging makes for a fun read occassionaly - and a bit of a coup to be able to secure a web adress called "medium format .com". As for paying them a dollar a year let alone 250?

lol

 

[faberryman]

However, sometimes, particularly in a world where everything is supposed to be "free" but isn't, paying for something that is relevant to oneself and taking time to read it in solitude, preferably accompanied by a glass of good wine and equally satisfying music makes perfect sense. It's a kind of intellectual luxury that is becoming rare these days, and I find that I often miss it.

Ascot and smoking jacket optional. Seriously, it's just a camera magazine. Does paying $250/year make it intellectual?

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Ascot and smoking jacket optional. Seriously, it's just a camera magazine. Does paying $250/year make it intellectual?

No, but reading quality magazines is an intellectual activity, an activity that will soon be forgotten if most people get their information through dpr and assorted "Youtube celebrities". I've paid more money for magazine subscriptions in the past. If it's good, it may be worth it.

 

[GrahamWelland]

To my original post, show us some sample content vs just a payment page and list of contributors. As I said, I pay for content today (heck, I probably even pay for most of you freeloader guys here too!) but I want to know what I’m getting before entering into a subscription.

 

[DB5]

You can see endless samples at Ming, Lloyd and Co's blogs for the last few years. I don't think it will magically change.

I occasionally read Ming for Hasselblad news and he has mostly stopped doing that. I rarely read Diglloyd for a laugh at how Leica is clearly, evidently, a dying company because they haven't done what he thinks they should, and how and his reader comments with actual news that the Leica S has been abandoned by Leica. Turns out his regular ranting reader is a flickr random who makes several paragraphs of captions on his photos and ranting about Leica and any other camera he doesn't like. Lets just say his camera choice doesn't make much difference to his photography and neither does Lloyd or Ming. For the amount of hot hair they release you would think the camera they choose made even a hint of difference to their work - it doesn't. Funny that. Because cameras rarely and maybe never do. And it's also funny to read the self appointed fault finder of the industry who finds faults like no other...because they don't exist, or people just don't care about it. I don't care about his inability to focus a camera. I've used cameras that don't focus very well for years without any issues, or care for that matter.

Am I going to pay $200 for that? Heavens no, I read both for a chuckle and to kill a little time. The internet gives these people a platform by default, like a soapbox on Speakers Corner at Hyde Park. Anyone can go there anytime they like - but do they? No. They pass through and stop for a moment too see what the loud ranting is about, but because it's a busy corner there the people who speak there think that people are interested. If it were called mediumformatcamerasandclickbaitrantsfromsomeinternetguys.com it might be a bit more representational.

When I read the OP I was actually interested and for the price assumed there must be some decent contributors and a print publication. If it were Alec Soth and Nadav Kander, for example, that did something like this I would buy it. These people have earned their interest through their deeply interesting work. Not through rants and opinions on spec sheets.

 

[Vivek]

dprevs is an Amazon outlet and that is how most others work. Mediumformatcom, is it an exception?

No, but reading quality magazines is an intellectual activity, an activity that will soon be forgotten if most people get their information through dpr and assorted "Youtube celebrities". I've paid more money for magazine subscriptions in the past. If it's good, it may be worth it.

 

[Vivek]

Have you tried asking the creators? AFAIK, none of them partcipate here.

Any chance of the freeloaders here spending $200/year there is zero.

To my original post, show us some sample content vs just a payment page and list of contributors. As I said, I pay for content today (heck, I probably even pay for most of you freeloader guys here too!) but I want to know what I’m getting before entering into a subscription.

 

[Erik Lundqvist]

The GFX group on Facebook has 16000 members, which is where I think a lot of the creators of the medium format magazine met. The GFX and X1D has really injected a massive growth into the number of medium format users. I think there might be enough to keep a indy magazine running. Will they be able to produce quality month after month remains to be seen.

I used to spend quite a lot on magazine subscription, but the more you read the quicker you realise the big magazines just repeat their content over and over again. Nowadays I use Readly, which costs $10/months and gives me access to around 10 photography magazines and lots of others genres. I'll probably buy the first issue of the magazine if it is possible to buy single issues and reevaluate from there. I don't really need inspirational articles. There is a whole world out there waiting to be discovered.

There seems to be very little content yet, or they are very reluctant to give us a glimpse. From the announced content it seems to be aimed at the rich amateur rather than the everyday working pro, more geared towards teaching than inspiration. I really like the format of on landscape. I think they strive for a community like that here too, but I'm afraid the market might be a little too small, especially if the community is kept behind the paywall. In any case, I'll wait and see for a while, especially at this price point and with so little info on what it wants to grow into.
I welcome the initiative, but I think categorizing photography based on equipment is not the ideal way. I can see them fill the inspiration part easily with interviews etc, but the staying on top of the technical side will require quite a bit of assistance from the manufacturers and since there are only a handful of those you run the risk of becoming a fancy brochure instead of an independent platform.

 

[Vivek]

After looking at this thread once over, it dawns on me that this is meant as a Leica defense thread.

Mediumformatcom is just a symptom but not the cause. Affordable cameras from Hassy and Fuji, as Erik mentions, is the real problem for Leica.