The Online Photographer

New modules: Our friend Michael from DxO writes to tell us about the latest release of DxO's Optics Modules, which power the raw conversion process within DxO's software. This month's cameras and lens updates include:

Cameras:

• Canon EOS R50 V
• Nikon Z5 II

Lenses:

• Canon RF-S 14–30mm ƒ/4–6.3 IS STM PZ
• Leica Summilux-M 50mm ƒ/1.4
• Nikon Nikkor Z 35mm ƒ/1.2 S
• Sigma 16mm ƒ/1.4 DC DN C (Canon RF-S)
• Sigma 23mm ƒ/1.4 DC DN C (Canon RF-S)
• Sigma 28–105mm ƒ/2.8 DG DN A (L-mount)
• Sigma 30mm ƒ/1.4 DC DN C (016) (Canon RF-S)
• Sigma 56mm ƒ/1.4 DC DN C (018) (Canon RF-S)
• Zeiss Otus 50mm ƒ/1.4 RF
• Zeiss Otus 50mm ƒ/1.4 Z

Specific: Thanks again for all the kind comments about Butters. I was in an emotional state on Sunday, and every comment and shared experience had heightened meaning to me. I got comfort from hearing from so many people. I was feeling very alone. All day I found myself looking at the phone in situations I normally wouldn't have, hoping that one more kind comment had come my way.  My cousin Liz said something eloquent and true: talking about the stillness in the house after a beloved pet has passed, she said, "It's a very specific silence." So true.

Ut wasn't him: In a controversy that supposedly "divided the photojournalism community" (even that claim would need validation, in my jaded view), World Press Photo at least temporarily suspended Nick Ut's credit for the photo titled "The Terror of War," informally known as Napalm Girl, after a film called The Stringer floated the theory that Nick Ut wasn't actually the photographer who took the picture. After a year-long investigation, the AP announced that there wasn't definitive proof that Nick Ut took the photo, but there wasn't definitive proof that anyone else took the photo either, and that AP would reinstate Nick's credit.

This kind of thing pops up from time to time. Mostly, it amounts to sketchy little people seeking attention for themselves. Sometimes, however, it reveals the truth, as when an 18th-century picture of a man who looks just like Nicholas Cage led to the conclusion that Nicholas Cage must be a vampire and is actually undead. I mean, of course he is—how else would he have gotten parts in all those movies? We've heard all sorts of things over the years—Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare's plays, Robert Capa was scared on D-Day and blew the assignment (never mind the fact that the photos from D-Day he did take are among the most iconic war photos in history), a box of negatives discovered in the trash are by Ansel Adams and worth millions (despite the fact that negatives aren't actually worth that much to the collector market), such-and-such a picture was faked, such-and-such a caption was a lie. There's always someone who invented something famous before the person who's famous for it did. Etc., etc. One blanket comment: "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

Sleep experiment: I apparently like to experiment on myself. I started the practice of biphasic sleep (sleeping in two phases) three nights ago and...well, it's too soon to tell. But I'm also recovering from caring for Butters, which has fractured my sleep habits but good since last December. I've been sleep deprived for half a year. I'm assuming that this is not going to be something I'll continue, whether because I won't want to or I won't be able to I don't know, but I'll tell you one thing...writing in the middle of the night, I've gotten more work done on my books in three nights that I have in the whole of 2025 prior to this. I'll keep you posted. I do these experiments so you don't have to! 

A-flutter: The rumor sites are a-twitter—ah, I guess we can't use that word any more—a-flutter?—with the news of a new (or "new," scare quotes on) Fujifilm camera believed to be arriving tomorrow. The X-Summit is being held in Shanghai, and there's an official teaser, which is so by-rote that I'd personally feel almost ashamed to get excited by it. So I didn't. But none of that should be held against the camera, which might or might not be something good. Or great.

By the way, yes, I know about the half. I'm half interested, and half mean to write about it, if I weren't half thinking it'd be a waste of time...I'll stop now. Stay tuned to internetti tomorrow.

Pen-tell: I got obsessed with cheap pens recently, clearly in a neurotic attempt to distract myself from my worries about Butters. I've now tried about 29 of 'em. (The number is actually 30, but I'm making an attempt to underplay my rampant, blatant gearheadedness, which in this case went spinning off into pointlessness.) Of course I also quickly got into mixing and matching refills, because—well, you know me. My latest conclusion: my favorite refill is the Jetstream SXR-7 in blue (the number means the point size; SXR-7 is 0.7mm, SXR-5 is 0.5mm, SXR-10 is 1.0mm, etc.). It fits a lot of pens. To pick a pen for it, go to this page: those are all the pens it fits. I really like it in the Zebra Biotube, which comes in blue transparent, blue-green transparent, red transparent, and clear. I like it for a very specific reason, namely that the grip extends farther down the tip, which suits the way I hold a pen. The refill also fits the sturdy Pilot G-2, pretty much any Pentel (in which it feels very nice), and...well, all those others. Someday I will do a ranking of all 30 cheap pens, from the ones I like least to the ones I like best.

But not for a while. You can only take so much of my nonsense, and I know that.

Last word: You'll notice that these items have alternated between photo-related and not. Last word goes to photo-related. This via my friend Jay:

Yikes! 

Mike

Original contents copyright 2025 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

John Camp: "I've been very interested in the Nick Ut controversy and had an internet exchange about it with David Burnett, who was on the scene at the time and believes that Ut took the photo. You are precisely correct with 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,' and in my opinion, the 'evidence' in this case is a mish-mash of claims and speculation by people who stand to benefit, and some of those claims are fairly outlandish. And one thing I've never seen discussed: there's no doubt that Ut was there, with a camera, is a professional photographer and that he ran toward the running girl and was taking photos. We know that's all true, for sure, so if some other guy claims the photo is his, what happened to Ut's photos, which should have been virtually identical?"

Richard Alton: "There's a very interesting podcast covering the Nick Ut controversy, by Grant Scott at United Nations of Photography. Have a listen if you're curious."

Stan B.: "The Nick Ut issue has gone back and forth in my head like the proverbial ping-pong ball. It's always good to ask questions, but...if they didn't raise the question of authorship when the one person who could have settled it was alive—I'm referring to Horst Fass (died 2012), the AP's chief Photo Editor at the time, who was directly involved with Ut and his iconic image—don't be clamoring for a definitive reversal without new and definitive evidence. It's blatantly unfair to all involved!"