The final phase of East German photography developed in response to this ideological split. Unwilling to limit themselves to ZKF sanctioned subjects and quick to respond to issues of postmodernism, during the 1980s photographers created work that was critical of socialist policy and state control of the arts. Although very little such critical work ever saw the light of day in East Germany, from the mid 1980s onward Die Fotografie's editorial staff was emboldened by the need for a liberal journal within the increasingly international forum for photographic art. Indeed, in a period of growing social turmoil, periodicals such as Die Fotografie attempted to show the progressive side of East German cultural politics, promoting a view of liberal socialism both at home and abroad. Thus, at a time when only private exhibition spaces and samizdat publications were willing to present the work of young photographers such as Micha Brendel, Matthias Leupold, and Erasmus Schröter inside East Germany, Die Fotografie was among the few organs of the state to present the same work (albeit in weaker and smaller doses) to international audiences.

The greatest legacy of the ZKF to the history of photography was its recognition that "aside from minor beginnings, there are no investigations and representations of the history of photography from the Marxist-Leninist point of view." (DF 1/66, p. 8). After the Cultural Conference of 1960, the ZKF attempted such an investigation in Die Fotografie, extensively revisiting the histories of early Soviet photography and German worker photography, and re-examining the work of such artists as Lewis Hine, August Sander, Eugene Smith, and others for their contribution to its origins. Die Fotografie also allied with the periodicals Soviet Foto (USSR), Foto (Hungary), and Czechoslovakian Fotografie (CSSR), and began to present individual and mixed portfolios by international artists working in the revolutionary tradition. Similarly, the ZKF, in cooperation with the cultural ministries of other Warsaw Pact nations, sponsored a series of exhibitions, such as Bifota and Interpress, which focused on "the humanistic ideas of peace, of friendship among the peoples, and of human happiness." These exhibitions were extensively documented by Die Fotografie. Works by exhibitors were published alongside articles by ZKF representatives describing their contribution to the evolving socialist aesthetic.