Update (#1)

You're probably wondering about what's happening. So am I 🫤.

Things are going slower and taking longer than I expected, but still progressing nicely. Let me tell you what just happened with my sites:

On January 1st a few of my current Web sites changed, as follows:

• sansmirror.com — went into mothball status. I'll no longer be updating that site in 2026. However, I took the time to take out all advertising, affiliate links, and tracking mechanisms (e.g. Google Analytics). I cleaned up some pages and simplified some structure, but everything posted from 2013 through the end of 2025 is still there for everyone to enjoy at their leisure. The Nikon1 and Sony Alpha books have been retired.

• dslrbodies.com — this site was also cleaned up, plus had all advertising, affiliate links, and tracking removed. I will update news/views on this site (and perhaps add some articles/database pages) if and when Nikon drops firmware updates or there is something of significance to write about. I judge that to be rare, though. DSLR books are temporarily unavailable, but will return shortly.

• zsystemuser.com — everything remains the same for the time being, with the exception that all advertising, affiliate links, and tracking has been removed. I'll cover Z System news as it happens and keep the zsystemuser site fresh and updated. Eventually, I'll deploy a redesign.

• bythom.com — as with zsystemuser.com, you likely won't initially see any changes other than the removal of advertising and tracking (I did make some small cleanups).

All that might not seem like a lot, but I worked through over 10,000 pages making sure that everything tracks with where I want it to be in 2026. So let's talk about that:

My goal is to provide free, detailed, useful information for everything Nikon and for general photography, with no hidden privacy or tracking lurking anywhere. For those that want to continue their journey further with me and get even more insight, information, instruction, entertainment, plus more access to me personally, you'll need to subscribe to byThom MAX. But MAX ain't here yet. I'll get to that in a bit.

So what happens next? There's an order dependency of everything I'm working on that means things will need to roll out this way:

1. As soon as possible, the books will be moved to books.bythom.com and pointed to from all the other sites. This includes two new free books, and much more additional help and information for and about the books themselves. This is part of my entirely new site design process.
2. filmbodies.com will next be moved to a new site design, with a full redo and re-edit of everything I know on the film side of things. I'm excited about this reboot, because it looks good, handles like a sports car, and focuses on useful information for those of you still using Nikon film SLRs. You'll be surprised, I'm pretty sure. Plus, there's a free book!
3. bythom.com will be second moving to the new site design. This is one of the things that's turning out to be quite the effort, as I've written prolificly on that site and am grappling with making it cleaner, better organized, and more useful to newcomers. I'm doing a lot of rewriting of content. Plus, there's a free book! (Sensing a theme?)
4. Once the above is in place (or at least close) I'll be ready to launch byThom MAX. Don't worry, I've been amassing a body of new work that will become available when that new site appears. byThom MAX will be available to anyone for a modest lifetime subscription fee (e.g. one time fee for access). Some of the things already worked out are access to special files, instruction videos, long presentations on important topics, monthly hangouts, the return of a couple of older books, and much, much more (I'm not going to leak more specifics). Plus you're going to find I fire up the studio live for short videos any time something new needs to be addressed (for instance, those autofocus changes in the recent Z9 firmware drop).
5. Finally, once all the above has happened, I'll start moving zsystemuser.com over to the new site design. To give you an idea of the magnitude of what I'm trying to do right now: Write (or rewrite) five new books; Edit and republish at least two older books; Redesign three Web sites and design two new ones; Create a library of useful files and instruction for byThom MAX; Do all the above while juggling the balls I've already got in the air.

You're probably asking: why re-design Web sites? Simple answer: it's past time. Web technologies have moved far beyond where they were when I built the simple system I use today. Moreover, these sites have grown into the gigabytes in terms of the uploading necessary on each change (I use only static Web site technology, partly for your and my safety).

My redesign is modern (Tailwind, Twig, more). It's not just responsive and faster, but it also lays out optimally for several different sized screens, including phones; it's much more readable, browsable, and accessible. Site changes upload quickly. These new sites honor night/day modes. Videos just play in place and don't display ads (hey, what videos?). The sites have even more abilities in terms of the future, as well. For example, I could do polling in the future directly from the site without using components or services that track you.

Meanwhile, you're probably wondering about all that missing ad revenue. B&H was my exclusive advertiser (and more) for over a dozen years and it was not without some regret that I informed them that I was going to terminate our relationship. They continue to be disappointed and asking if there's a way to get me to reconsider.

However, going forward I want what is being sold is my services to you (byThom MAX and books), not selling you to someone else. I've said all along that I'm not in this specifically for the money (though that helps to make the product better), but because I want to close out my career by being the best teacher, motivator, and commentarian that I can be.

I'm trying to go out with a bang. Hopefully, a long-lasting, loud, and productive bang that will help you be a better photographer and better understand your equipment.

In Silicon Valley, what I'm doing is what we used to call a BHAG (big hairy-ass goal). But I'm doing it single-handedly, so goal approaching is only happening as fast as I can go, which at the age of 73, admittedly is a bit slower than before.

So, when does byThom MAX finally appear? My best guess right now is that it'll be in June, though I'd love to move that date up. That timing just happens to correspond to...oh, wait, I can't say that yet.

So hang in there. For the time being, keep paying attention to bythom.com and zsystemuser.com, which is where all my new postings up through byThom MAX launch will be.