PhotoActive

Episode 184: US Tariffs and Camera Gear

April 11th, 2025  |  29 mins 20 secs

apple, cameras, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, tariffs

The US government has begun to impose high tariffs on goods brought in from nearly every country in the world. Since most camera gear is made in Japan and China, what does this mean for the industry and, more important, for your own purchasing decisions? Since the policies are changing by the day, we decided to release this episode a week early.

Episode 183: Fujifilm GFX100RF, A Medium Format Walking Around Camera

April 4th, 2025  |  32 mins

apple, cameras, fujifilm, gfx100rf, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, medium format, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast

With the bonkers success of the Fujifilm X100VI, it seemed only a matter of time before Fuji made a compact camera based around its GFX medium format line. That’s the recently-announced GFX100RF, a new compact-ish, 100 megapixel, fixed-lens, $5,000 camera. We look at the inventions and the tradeoffs incorporated into this high-res entrant into the compact field.

Episode 182: Photoshop on iPhone

March 24th, 2025  |  29 mins 59 secs

apple, cameras, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, photoshop, podcast

Adobe has released Photoshop for iPhone, a bonafide version of real Photoshop, not to be confused with Photoshop Express or other earlier variations. We take a look at this new app with one main question in our minds: Who is this for?

A programming note: Toward the end of the episode we talk about using the Remove tool in Photoshop and Lightroom, but Jeff forgot to take screenshots. When he tried to reproduce the same actions later, he didn’t get the same results as described while we were doing it. So we apologize that we don’t have visuals to accompany what we’re describing.

Episode 181: Leica Lux Grip and App for iPhone

March 7th, 2025  |  41 mins 45 secs

accessory, add-on, apple, cameras, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, leica, leica lux, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast

Two episodes ago Jeff expressed cynicism about iPhone add-ons that try to make the phone more like a traditional camera. And yet here we are looking at Kirk’s new Leica LUX Grip accessory...and not hating it? Learn about why this could be the camera grip for the iPhone that succeeds where others falter, and how the Leica LUX app does some very smart things in the name of photography.

Episode 180: David Young’s Brief History of Photography

February 22nd, 2025  |  33 mins 25 secs

apple, book, brief history of photography, cameras, david young, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, rocky nook

On this week’s episode we welcome David Young, photographer and author of the new book A Brief History of Photography: From the Very Beginning to the Age of Digital. It may feel like photography is only a little more than a hundred years old, but the principles of the art, from lens design to chemistry, have been around for centuries. We had a great conversation about things that surprised David while researching the book, the long obsession with ultra-wide apertures, and more.

Episode 179: iPhone Camera Accessories

February 11th, 2025  |  32 mins 54 secs

apple, cameras, grip, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, moment, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast

Photographers love to accessorize their cameras, and the iPhone is no different. A case is one thing, but what about other photo-centric add-ons? Should you buy an extra-wide or telephoto lens that snaps in front of the built-in cameras? What about grips and shutter buttons that make the iPhone feel more like a traditional camera? We weigh in with our opinions and experiences with these types of embellishments. (And Jeff accidentally uses the B-word.)

Episode 178: Photographing the LA Fires

January 24th, 2025  |  28 mins 19 secs

apple, cameras, fire, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, wildfire

The recent devastating fires in Los Angeles have created a lot of fire photography, and some of it compelling both for its content and its artistry. We talk about the challenges of photographing such extreme situations.

Episode 177: AI in Photography in 2025

January 10th, 2025  |  35 mins 11 secs

ai, apple, cameras, generative ai, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast

We’ve been looking at various AI-related photography topics in recent episodes, such as using the Clean Up feature in the Photos app to remove unwanted items or the bigger question of “What is a photo?” Now it’s time to look broadly at what AI can offer photographers and where we think it’s going.

Episode 176: Cleaning Up Libraries

December 13th, 2024  |  27 mins 19 secs

apple, cameras, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast

As we wrap up 2024, we’re realizing our photo libraries have grown quite a bit—in Jeff’s case, almost filling his cloud storage. So as we anticipate some holiday downtime, we’re turning our attention to strategies for cleaning up our photo libraries.

Note that we’re taking the next episode off to celebrate Christmas, so our next scheduled episode is January 10, 2025. Happy holidays!

Episode 175: What Is a Photo?

December 1st, 2024  |  34 mins 54 secs

apple, cameras, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast

Our recent discussions of AI and the Photos Clean Up tool have brought us full circle to the bigger question: What is a photo?