Mediumformat.com

[GrahamWelland]

Has anyone looked at mediumformat.com that Ming Thein linked to from his recent blog?

It looked interesting right up until I saw the pricing that they are looking for. $249/year? Seriously? Now I don’t mind paying for premium content but this seems to be a complete disconnect from the market for pdf magazines.

I’ll happily pay $50/$75 a year for premium content such as LensWork, OnLandscape and LandscapePhotography magazine but this one doesn’t seem to offer anything that can compete with these publications and certainly not at the proposed pricing.

Has anyone else looked at this?

 

[dave.gt]

Has anyone looked at mediumformat.com that Ming Thein linked to from his recent blog?

It looked interesting right up until I saw the pricing that they are looking for. $249/year? Seriously? Now I don’t mind paying for premium content but this seems to be a complete disconnect from the market for pdf magazines.

I’ll happily pay $50/$75 a year for premium content such as LensWork, OnLandscape and LandscapePhotography magazine but this one doesn’t seem to offer anything that can compete with these publications and certainly not at the proposed pricing.

Has anyone else looked at this?

Graham, thanks for the heads up on what appears to be a first-class effort.

I hesitate to even comment about it since I live on the margins of society and such a price for an online magazine seems like a complete "disconnect" situation with the realities of life. But then again, there may be a market for the premium price. I have no idea. It does seem that high-end is marketed in every aspect of Medium Format Photography, and I am not sure exactly why that is, but I suppose that in the grand scheme of things, that is where MF resides and maybe where it should be to distinguish itself from the likes of Nikon and other products. I have no idea.

In years past, I subscribed to many magazines (none online) and it was always a love/hate exoenditure, especially with LFI magazine. As a passionate Leica shooter, I just had to subscribe to LFI... and eventually I just had to end my subscription.

I cannot remember a positive takeaway from LFI other than gaining a little insight into what other photographers were shooting. Their topics were always unsettling with negative subjects and dark images. Did they ever produce beautiful images or was everything about politics, death, poverty and "street" scenes? I don't remember.

At the end of the day, I wish the new magazine well, but I have no plans to subscribe. I, too, think the premium price is beyond my comfort level.

 

[JeRuFo]

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.

 

[DB5]

If it's worth it then I would buy it. I like to support high quality print productions. They are expensive to produce and with a higher price they are less likely to be hijacked by too many adverts.

But it really has to be very good at that price - The content and the print quality really has to be top notch. I will check it out when it's out there.

 

[JeRuFo]

If it's worth it then I would buy it. I like to support high quality print productions. They are expensive to produce and with a higher price they are less likely to be hijacked by too many adverts.

But it really has to be very good at that price - The content and the print quality really has to be top notch. I will check it out when it's out there.

I think it is a digital publication only.

 

[Frankly]

People save, struggle and ruthlessly compete to pay $400 per credit hour for "education" from prestigious institutions that rely on exploited adjuncts and interns.

Many of us pay $1000-plus for technology hardware assembled by slave labor.

And if you work hard and are successful then half or more of your income evaporates to the rulers, on pain of prison and theft, to support ingrates and wars in far off places, with a little set aside to pay debt service on roads and pensions.

So if the actual content producers make $20-30 from each subscriber this is exorbitant?

 

[vjbelle]

I have no intentions of feeding the retirement accounts for Ming or Chambers. This is just another way to make a buck for those guys. As for Ming..... I found this (http://photothunk.blogspot.com/2015/08/just-how-fictional-in-ming-thein.html) over at LULA and found it interesting.

Victor

 

[tcdeveau]

I’m also in the “I’ll pass and watch from a safe distance” crowd.

Like all of you I’ve read various work by Ming, Lloyd, and Jonas over the years. I’ve pretty much stopped because I find I don’t get much out of it, frankly. I only now keep up with Ming for nuggets he drops about the progress of the X system.

I’m also in general not too interested in spending $$ on anything photography related that isn’t gear, insurance, rentals, software, or prints. My current needs are that I need to get out and use my camera, and paying to read bits from Internet celeb photogs isn’t going to help my needs, regardless of the quality of content.

Plus, I’ve been getting the majority of my medium format content from all of you fine folks here at GetDPI, and don’t feel the need to supplement. I’d rather just donate to GetDPI.

 

[Bill Caulfeild-Browne]

Graham, thanks for the heads up on what appears to be a first-class effort.

I cannot remember a positive takeaway from LFI other than gaining a little insight into what other photographers were shooting. Their topics were always unsettling with negative subjects and dark images. Did they ever produce beautiful images or was everything about politics, death, poverty and "street" scenes? I don't remember.

l

I agree, Dave I found LFI more depressing than inspirational!
Bill

 

[hcubell]

I also had significant sticker shock when I saw the annual subscription price. I think they may have set the price after seeing all of the jokes here about Dante's Inferno. They need to cut the price by at least 50% and provide an introductory price of, say, $5 for the first issue so people can decide whether the publication is worth a subscription. I believe LensWork charges $10 for its monthly Extended Computer Edition.

 

[4711]

I also had significant sticker shock when I saw the annual subscription price. I think they may have set the price after seeing all of the jokes here about Dante's Inferno. They need to cut the price by at least 50% and provide an introductory price of, say, $5 for the first issue so people can decide whether the publication is worth a subscription. I believe LensWork charges $10 for its monthly Extended Computer Edition.

I do not know why Ming Thein wants to open another Hasselblad spot in a rush. It seems that the successor of the Hasselbladinfo.com forum is coming back and that one is as always for free: Home - MediumFormat.Family

 

[Vivek]

I see a special pre launch price of only $195/year.

I think it is a Leica model.

Given the cost of the MF gear, it is not unreasonable if it has useful content unavailable anywhere else.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

I have no intentions of feeding the retirement accounts for Ming or Chambers. This is just another way to make a buck for those guys. As for Ming..... I found this (Photos and Stuff: Just How Fictional is Ming Thein?) over at LULA and found it interesting.

Victor

So, some punk is envious. Sorry to say, but the blog you linked to is the longest piece of trash I've read in quite some time. Ming's photos speak very well for him, and I actually made a detour to KL to see one of his exhibitions a couple of years ago. Great stuff. He's also a very helpful guy who doesn't hesitate to give advise for free, or at least that's what he's done when I have asked. As for his commercial clients, many of them are listed on the "About" page of his blog, and include:

"Koenigsegg, Nissan, Chun Wo Engineering and Construction, Jaeger Le-Coultre, Van Cleef & Arpels, Maitres du Temps, Richemont, the Swatch Group, Hijjas Kasturi Architects, Tange Associates Architects, Sunway Group, Maybank, Eastern & Oriental, The Boston Consulting Group, several Michelin star chefs including Fergus Henderson and Bruno Menard, The City of London and Moon Travel Guides."

https://blog.mingthein.com/aboutcontact/

Yup, $250 is expensive and way above my budget, but it's anybody's choice if they want to subscribe or not.

He also designs watches btw., and apparently, they sell well. They're not cheap either.

 

[Frankly]

So, some punk is envious. Sorry to say, but the blog you linked to is the longest piece of trash I've read in quite some time. Ming's photos speak very well for him, and I actually made a detour to KL to see one of his exhibitions a couple of years ago. Great stuff. He's also a very helpful guy who doesn't hesitate to give advise for free, or at least that's what he's done when I have asked. As for his commercial clients, many of them are listed on the "About" page of his blog, and include:

"Koenigsegg, Nissan, Chun Wo Engineering and Construction, Jaeger Le-Coultre, Van Cleef & Arpels, Maitres du Temps, Richemont, the Swatch Group, Hijjas Kasturi Architects, Tange Associates Architects, Sunway Group, Maybank, Eastern & Oriental, The Boston Consulting Group, several Michelin star chefs including Fergus Henderson and Bruno Menard, The City of London and Moon Travel Guides."

https://blog.mingthein.com/aboutcontact/

Yup, $250 is expensive and way above my budget, but it's anybody's choice if they want to subscribe or not.

He also designs watches btw., and apparently, they sell well. They're not cheap either.

Haha Jorgen we finally found common ground.

I really like Ming's looser street photography and found architecture, it's far better than most of what I see. And his commercial work is excellent, I'd have destroyed those watches out of frustration long ago. And I agree about that blogger, his other material was not impressive.

While I wouldn't purchase "workflow" training I gather people do. Sure it's expensive but compared to tuition at any private school it's a bargain. I've taught photo-design-digital at several universities and workshops and the reality is you have to dumb things down and go slow enough for the weaker students. A strong learner could probably mainline the entire course in a fraction of the time if unencumbered... so if this new venture truly has quality and depth then why not?

Also do the math, even if 1000 people subscribe it's hardly retirement money for any of them. A nice vacation perhaps? A partial payment on a new camera? The intent is probably as much to weed out the unserious and to guilt the teachers into providing meatier content.

 

[hcubell]

So, some punk is envious. Sorry to say, but the blog you linked to is the longest piece of trash I've read in quite some time.

I had exactly the same reaction. A jealous loser.

 

[GrahamWelland]

I had exactly the same reaction. A jealous loser.

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.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

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.

If he doesn't want to be insulted, he should stop insulting others. In his blog article, he tries to sow doubt about more or less everything Ming Thein has done since before he graduated from Oxford. Most of the information that he questions is openly available on the net, and anybody who has ever contacted Ming would know that he answers openly and straight forward about most things, also regarding his own person and his work. Apparently, he never tried to contact him.

I don't know what his motivation is to smear Ming Thein, but it's certainly undeserved.

Oh, and not even under "View my complete profile" does this blogger who calls himself "amolitor" reveal his full name, unlike the person he chooses to criticise. That's pretty weak in my book.

 

[thompsonkirk]

Besides the price, I have a couple of additional problems with the idea.

First, I can’t develop much interest in a print or online magazine called ‘4/3’ or ‘medium format’ or ‘4x5’ - I don’t focus on photography from that angle.

Second, Ming and Lloyd don’t strike me as particularly interesting photographers or editors. It isn’t like Minor White editing the original Aperture, Bill Jay or Colin Osman at Creative Camera, or Allan Porter at Camera. I’d pay the asking price only if a magazine at that level of quality were revived.

Kirk

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Sorry, I see now that I've not treated "amolitor" fairly. I'm far to kind. He seems to be on some sort of crusade against Ming Thein and has posted an endless series of articles smearing him:

https://photothunk.blogspot.com/search?q=ming+thein

I've had a look at the guy's photos too. No comments. They speak for themselves.

Edit: Here's one of his "Anti-Ming" blog articles: "Ming Thein is an Idiot"

https://photothunk.blogspot.com/2015/07/ming-thein-is-idiot.html

Insults? This guy is a professional.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Besides the price, I have a couple of additional problems with the idea.

First, I can’t develop much interest in a print or online magazine called ‘4/3’ or ‘medium format’ or ‘4x5’ - I don’t focus on photography from that angle.

I agree fully. The idea of photography doesn't necessarily change with different formats or even different technlogy. I treat MF film very much the same way as m4/3.

Second, Ming and Lloyd don’t strike me as particularly interesting photographers or editors. It isn’t like Minor White editing the original Aperture, Bill Jay or Colin Osman at Creative Camera, or Allan Porter at Camera. I’d pay the asking price only if a magazine at that level of quality were revived.

Kirk

When it comes to Mings's photographic style, I find it interesting mostly as a graphic designer. I tend to see his photos more as design abstracts than anything else, but from that point of view, he's very clever. If I didn't know where he comes from, from looking at his photos, I'd think that he was German. It's the clean, almost cold style that was popular in Germany during the sixties and early seventies and that has seen a revival the last decade. Think Dieter Rams.