About

An independent site about cameras and the paperwork around them

Three sections, twenty-six pieces, and a view that the hardware and the licensing are the same story told from two ends.

Thayer Photo covers the bodies people are actually buying, the software a raw file passes through, and the business that decides what a photograph is worth. Every piece is built from published material: manufacturers’ own specifications and announcements, court filings, Copyright Office decisions, and the contributor-facing documentation of the stock agencies. Where a claim comes from a company’s own statement, the piece says so.

What the site does not do is guess. Unresolved questions — the status of AI-training litigation, whether a fund is proportionate to the value it distributes — are reported as unresolved.

The sections

• Cameras — The hardware as it stands — mirrorless bodies, fixed-lens compacts, film, and the lens market around them.
• Software — Raw processing, file formats, and the software market that Adobe's subscription model reshaped.
• The Trade — Licensing, rights, content credentials, stock economics, and the paperwork that decides what a frame is worth.

The complete register is on the archive page. Corrections and queries go to the contact page.