Weekly News Roundup

A black and white disposable camera, a decade-long software feud finally ends, and a conversation about color, culture, and bias worth having.

This week in photography: Fujifilm launches its first ever black and white disposable camera, Capture One finally supports Hasselblad after years of rivalry, Annie Leibovitz faces backlash over a controversial color grade, and the Sigma Foundation's new book explores experimental darkroom photography.

Fujifilm Launches Its First Ever Black and White Disposable Camera

This is the story of the week for this community, full stop. To mark the 40th anniversary of its QuickSnap disposable camera line, Fujifilm has announced the QuickSnap Black and White, the first time in the product's four decade history that it's been loaded with monochrome film rather than color.

The camera comes preloaded with ISO 400 black and white 35mm negative film good for 27 exposures, with a built-in flash rated to about 10 feet that you can switch off. Fujifilm is describing the film as designed for rich contrast and textured grain, and the detail that actually matters most here is a quiet one: the film processes in standard C-41 color chemistry rather than dedicated black and white chemistry, meaning literally any lab that develops a roll of color film can develop this one too. That's a real accessibility decision, not just a marketing one, and it removes the single biggest friction point that's kept casual black and white film photography out of reach for most people.

Fujifilm is framing the whole QuickSnap relaunch around the word "intentionality," a device that does one thing, no notifications, no editing, no filters, just look, frame, click, and wait. For a community built entirely around the idea that constraint and patience produce better black and white work, this is about as on-brand a product as a major manufacturer has released in a while. It's expected to retail for $22.90 and ship this fall.

Capture One Finally Adds Native Hasselblad Support, Ending Years of Rivalry

This is a bigger deal than a routine software update. Hasselblad and Capture One announced a partnership this week bringing native support for Hasselblad's .3FR RAW files directly into Capture One, something photographers have been requesting for years without ever expecting to actually get.

The reason it took this long is genuinely interesting. Capture One's roots trace back to Phase One, a direct medium format competitor to Hasselblad, and the relationship between the two companies was, in Capture One CEO Rafael Orta's words, "notoriously antagonistic" for years even after Phase One and Capture One split into separate entities in 2019. Getting Hasselblad shooters into Capture One meant clunky file conversions that cost real color fidelity and editing latitude. That barrier is gone as of this week.

Support launches with three of Hasselblad's 100-megapixel bodies: the X2D II 100C, the X2D 100C, and the CFV 100C digital back, with dedicated color profiles built for each camera and lens profiles covering the full XCD lineup. Tethered capture is coming later in the year but isn't part of this release. If you shoot Hasselblad and have been stuck choosing between Phocus and a workaround, this is worth checking out immediately in Capture One 16.8.3.

Annie Leibovitz Faces Backlash Over Color Grading Choice

This one is less about gear and more about a conversation worth having. As part of a new exhibition on World Cup soccer at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, Leibovitz photographed players from Mexico, the United States, and Canada, the three host nations. When she shared the images on Instagram, the photo of the Mexican players carried a warm, sepia-toned color grade, and it sparked real criticism, with commenters accusing her of applying what's been dubbed the "Mexico filter," a recurring criticism leveled at films and photography that render poorer or non-Western countries in dusty, desaturated, or amber tones while depicting wealthier nations in cleaner, neutral color.

Others defended the image, pointing out it was shot at golden hour and carries a natural warmth that has nothing to do with any deliberate grading choice. Whichever side of that specific debate you land on, the underlying question is a real one for anyone working in color or monochrome. What does a tonal choice communicate about a place, and who gets to decide whether that reading is fair. Worth a genuine conversation in the comments, particularly for a community built around the idea that removing color removes exactly this kind of ambiguity.

The Sigma Foundation's Third Book Explores Experimental Darkroom Photography

The Sigma Foundation has announced its third photobook, this time centered on experimental photographic technique rather than a single photographer's documentary body of work. The book focuses on unconventional darkroom processes, physically manipulating negatives and prints in the chemical stage rather than relying on digital effects after the fact.

For anyone in the Collective who works in film and has ever pushed a print past what a straightforward exposure and development process would normally produce, this is worth a look. It's a reminder that experimentation in black and white photography has a long, hands-on history that predates any editing software entirely, and that some of the most striking tonal effects in the medium's history came from photographers willing to get chemistry on their hands rather than a slider under their thumb.

"Seeing in B&W" Exhibition Runs Through July 12 at Photoworks

If you're anywhere near Glen Echo Park, Maryland in the next week, Photoworks is currently showing "Seeing in B&W," a focused survey exhibition dedicated entirely to black and white photography, running through July 12. It's a smaller, more intimate show than some of the larger institutional exhibitions we've covered, and worth the trip specifically because focused monochrome surveys like this are rarer than you'd think, most gallery programming defaults to a mix of color and black and white work rather than giving the medium a dedicated room of its own.

Rencontres d'Arles Continues Its 57th Edition, Honoring William Klein and Ming Smith

The Rencontres d'Arles, one of the most significant photography festivals in the world, is in the middle of its 57th edition in the south of France, with programming built around memory, liberation, and identity across Africa and the Mediterranean. This year's edition specifically honors several major photography masters including William Klein, Martine Barrat, Ming Smith, and Harry Gruyaert.

Klein and Smith in particular are essential viewing for anyone serious about black and white photography. Klein's aggressive, high-contrast street photography from 1950s New York fundamentally changed what photographers thought a "correct" street photograph was allowed to look like, and Ming Smith was the first Black woman photographer to have her work acquired by MoMA, with a body of work built on blur, double exposure, and deliberate imperfection used as expressive tools rather than mistakes. If a summer trip to the south of France is anywhere in your plans, this festival is worth building an itinerary around.