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Two Hot Shoes wrote in post #18878296
Yea, me and my lowly old X-E2 and a portrait session anytime you fancy it Alan, I'll even sweeten the deal and do it with the 18/2....

The distraction of gear can really stand in the way of getting where you need to go.
You'll get it one day

Can we start placing bets?

AlanU wrote in post #18878198
"extra bit of bang out of a portrait you might as well use a medium format camera"...........I kept on reading

Majority of Fuji crop users's would viciously defend 1.5 crop aps-c and mock saying there is no need of 35mm larger form factor FF, yet preach the existence of a large body/form factor GFX50 or GFX100 for $10,000 USD dollars (most here will never buy or cannot justify). The ergonomics of the GFX50R is atrocious! An extremely high percentage of the Fuji $$ market does not need 50MP or even 100MP. It's the professionals that shoot billboards and fashion that will appreciate the cheaper GFX solution.

Osa, you better get more bang and run out and buy a GFX I like the IQ but the more affordable GFX50 is just not for me. GFX100 is drool factor but I have to pay for future university tuition for my children

Before running out for a GFX, just play around with a 105mm f/1.4 pig sized Sigma lens with FF. OMG I tested one for giggles and it's a crazy lens but I've heard it prone to flare. We all have fun using whatever we have in our hands.

So many ways to skin a cat!

I got lost after you summarized the current state of every peace of gear you own in the first reply.

so i'll go on a bit of a ramble here....

because I dont have a true cinema camera , or the lighting required to make a cinema camera shine .. compromises are made.

as a bit of a tech geek some times its hard seeing past that .. but I try to remind myself that if at the end of watching one of my videos all people remember is the extra bit of grain in the low light scenes or the one stop less bokeh or what ever ..

well then I made a pretty crappy music video... and maybe its not the gear but myself that I should... , well anyways..


I used to lust after the 135 f2 back when I had a 5d3,, theres a guy here that does some beautiful portrait work with it (dankata ? or some thing like that I forget his exact user name),, his use of colors was always spot on..
but I get the feeling that if you gave him an old t2i and a plastic nifty fifty i'd still be impressed with his work.


i'm sure i'd have loads of fun with the 135's now available for the sony ff system.

but honestly its not even close to being on my radar for the a73.

I had the 85 gm ,, and if anything i'd rather re acquire that lens, even as slow as it was to focus... but for portraits I think 85 is as far as I want to go , at least in a prime lens.. after that i'd rather a 70-200..

i'd love a gfx.. but i'm concentrating on lighting for now .. I want to learn how to use and adjust lighting for the gear and not gear for the lighting .. (for portraits and video at least)

Fuji vs sony .. or ff vs apsc..

ok fine, honestly , yeah if i'm pixel peeping I can see the difference..

but if i'm looking at the image as a whole , I personally don't care about the difference..


if the one stop difference in bokeh is what makes my image than i'm a bit confused about whether its my pics that people like or simply the creamy backgrounds they are commenting on when they say " wow thats a nice picture"


yes , I believe that if you are constantly doing low light work, then yes a FF camera maybe a better tool.

but luckily I am not someone who shoots an overwhelming amount of photos or videos in super low light conditions. not all my photos are in great lighting..

at the moment Fuji is doing all of my street photos and most of my portraits..
I absolutely prefer Fuji or even my gh5 for street work over the a73

for portraits I could go either way sony or Fuji... but I prefer using my Fuji camera for photos despite the extra room for highlights and shadows in the raw files of the a73

at the moment the sony is on a trial basis to take the gh5's position as main video camera.. and it has nothing to do with sensor size but all to do with auto focus.. I dont mind manually focusing the gh5 .. but when on a gymbal I can get more dynamic movement with the a73 and its AF vs gh5 ..

but I love using the gh5 for video.. the buttons and layout of it all absolutely make sense for video and the ibis.. and the 10bit 422 is such a pleasure to work with over sony's 8bit

anyway .. my comments are a bit all over the place here.. so to sum up .. yes a smaller sensor has its disadvantages , as do larger sensors...

but again.. if those disadvantages are the only thing that people speak of after viewing your photo/video.. then theres an issue that goes beyond the gear of your choice

my best ,, or in my opinion , my best music video i've made had the grainiest/noisiest scene in it because for a certain scene the poor gh5 was asked to perform at iso 3200.

I say my best because I directed it and I feel like it represented the vibe of the song the best..
https://youtu.be/oYdK0​8A1wxI .. I know this is a Fuji section .. but i'll share it here anyway since we are speaking of smaller sensor sizes doing just as well as larger sensor .. if I had done it with an a7s2 would the files be cleane? .. absolutlely.. would any viewer care?

the grainy parts I speak of shouldn't be hard to spot for us here .. looking for noisy scenes

Hey Kim,

Is that a young Brendan Gleeson with Father Ted in that clip?

rantercsr wrote in post #18878327
so i'll go on a bit of a ramble here....

because I dont have a true cinema camera , or the lighting required to make a cinema camera shine .. compromises are made.

as a bit of a tech geek some times its hard seeing past that .. but I try to remind myself that if at the end of watching one of my videos all people remember is the extra bit of grain in the low light scenes or the one stop less bokeh or what ever ..

well then I made a pretty crappy music video... and maybe its not the gear but myself that I should... , well anyways..


I used to lust after the 135 f2 back when I had a 5d3,, theres a guy here that does some beautiful portrait work with it (dankata ? or some thing like that I forget his exact user name),, his use of colors was always spot on..
but I get the feeling that if you gave him an old t2i and a plastic nifty fifty i'd still be impressed with his work.


i'm sure i'd have loads of fun with the 135's now available for the sony ff system.

but honestly its not even close to being on my radar for the a73.

I had the 85 gm ,, and if anything i'd rather re acquire that lens, even as slow as it was to focus... but for portraits I think 85 is as far as I want to go , at least in a prime lens.. after that i'd rather a 70-200..

i'd love a gfx.. but i'm concentrating on lighting for now .. I want to learn how to use and adjust lighting for the gear and not gear for the lighting .. (for portraits and video at least)

Fuji vs sony .. or ff vs apsc..

ok fine, honestly , yeah if i'm pixel peeping I can see the difference..

but if i'm looking at the image as a whole , I personally don't care about the difference..


if the one stop difference in bokeh is what makes my image than i'm a bit confused about whether its my pics that people like or simply the creamy backgrounds they are commenting on when they say " wow thats a nice picture"


yes , I believe that if you are constantly doing low light work, then yes a FF camera maybe a better tool.

but luckily I am not someone who shoots an overwhelming amount of photos or videos in super low light conditions. not all my photos are in great lighting..

at the moment Fuji is doing all of my street photos and most of my portraits..
I absolutely prefer Fuji or even my gh5 for street work over the a73

for portraits I could go either way sony or Fuji... but I prefer using my Fuji camera for photos despite the extra room for highlights and shadows in the raw files of the a73

at the moment the sony is on a trial basis to take the gh5's position as main video camera.. and it has nothing to do with sensor size but all to do with auto focus.. I dont mind manually focusing the gh5 .. but when on a gymbal I can get more dynamic movement with the a73 and its AF vs gh5 ..

but I love using the gh5 for video.. the buttons and layout of it all absolutely make sense for video and the ibis.. and the 10bit 422 is such a pleasure to work with over sony's 8bit

anyway .. my comments are a bit all over the place here.. so to sum up .. yes a smaller sensor has its disadvantages , as do larger sensors...

but again.. if those disadvantages are the only thing that people speak of after viewing your photo/video.. then theres an issue that goes beyond the gear of your choice

my best ,, or in my opinion , my best music video i've made had the grainiest/noisiest scene in it because for a certain scene the poor gh5 was asked to perform at iso 3200.

I say my best because I directed it and I feel like it represented the vibe of the song the best..
https://youtu.be/oYdK0​8A1wxI .. I know this is a Fuji section .. but i'll share it here anyway since we are speaking of smaller sensor sizes doing just as well as larger sensor .. if I had done it with an a7s2 would the files be cleane? .. absolutlely.. would any viewer care?

the grainy parts I speak of shouldn't be hard to spot for us here .. looking for noisy scenes

That video was fantastic. You certainly had a vision and translated it. That song is solid!

Great job!!

Two Hot Shoes wrote in post #18878296
Yea, me and my lowly old X-E2 and a portrait session anytime you fancy it Alan, I'll even sweeten the deal and do it with the 18/2....

Billboards don't need a high megapixel camera. Other stuff a high count can be very important though, stuff people get up close to in shops & hotels etc... The high quality 100Mp sensor makes life a lot easier in that regard & I'm looking forward to seeing what Fuji have with the new GFX for that, 1/5 of the price of the Phase all be it a smaller sensor, still not as small as the little 135mm one though

You think [GFX 50r's] $4k is a high price for a medium format camera, lol indeed. Try $50k. Fuji have done something great, they have made MF accessible. I'm sure plenty of people will run out to buy the latest fast lens from whoever, and that's great an all, but those lenses will do little to make your photography 'more'. Taking your head out of the sand about gear might though. A photographer I shot with a few months ago was using that 105/1.4, he sold it recently. He's shooting more Fuji now too

The distraction of gear can really stand in the way of getting where you need to go.
You'll get it one day

Kim, I'm confused.... did you want me to take photos of people in coffee shops in natural light? I do like the photo of the toothless old dude you took in your coffee shop you frequent.

Years ago I was extremely impressed with a newbie fashion portrait/photographer and IIRC he used a t5i rebel series camera. He had this incredible gifted eye and was solid. However his image quality was limited to hardware. Just think the 16MP XE2 or X-T20 is a massive jump in IQ from that old Canon rebel series. However this photog had great subject matter of extremely attractive women that posed effortlessly as they were professional models. This is where taking portraits of professional models vs regular folks are totally different. Posing regular folks is not very easy.

A quick view of Fuji XE2 16mp file and X-t2 24mp file would look great on a typical IPS panel. I guess you like your 18/2 and X-E2 with ver 4 firmware.

The GFX100 $13,300 ($14896 after tax). The GFX100 pre orders at the 2 camera shops I frequent are seeing very little excitement and pre order deposits. Too niche for the average enthusiast. Only the hardcore pro's needing high res megapixels will find that a cheap affordable alternative vs the Hassie's and Phase one MF systems. I did a quick test of the GFX50R a while back and I am confused how anyone would commend the dreadful ergonomics of this Rangefinder style body. The GFX50S seems to be substantially popular according to sales at the local camera shops as it's a body that is so nice in the hands rather than a 2x4 feel of the R version.

Just got back from a quick run in my 65 beetle. Oddly I came home with a brand new special lens for my car event's photography and human portrait/subjects from time to time.

Buying lenses with different focal length is definitely not a distraction. The Black box camera body can have alternate "eyes" by swapping lenses.

Gear is not a distraction. Having limitations in gear can be annoying rather than distracting. This is where we are all different and have different tolerances.

We've seen people here discuss how they get some inspiration soul while shooting tactile Retro Fuji gear. GFX100 has now made that body with no soul then LOL! I do not seek "Fuji soul" in gear as camera's are tools and not inspiration to shoot in my case.

Low light I just cannot complain with my other gear. I "Do get it" in the literal sense when I want a certain compression or look I grab gear that delivers. Kim, you could understand as your fuji glass acquistion is growing now too


Photo taken with my aging X-t2 and 16mm f/1.4.

AlanU wrote in post #18878359
Kim, I'm confused.

Bingo

Jeff Hanson wrote in post #18878330
Hey Kim,

Is that a young Brendan Gleeson with Father Ted in that clip?

Sadly no but whoever it is they are still not getting it.
(Ardal O'Hanlon played the young priest)

AlanU wrote in post #18878359
Kim, I'm confused.... did you want me to take photos of people in coffee shops in natural light? I do like the photo of the toothless old dude you took in your coffee shop you frequent.

Is nice that you don’t realise most of those are lit with flash. But there you go, kinda answers the question about gear and how others see a photo. Thanks, the guy is an interesting character.

Sure, we can go grab a stranger in a coffee shop and shoot their portrait if that’s what you want, as long as you are out shooting it’s all good. There is nothing quite like like a solid personal photo project to help improve the skill.

Gear is important, after all I can’t work without it, some of mine lit with flash.

Two Hot Shoes wrote in post #18878439
Sadly no but whoever it is they are still not getting it.
(Ardal O'Hanlon played the young priest)

Is nice that you don’t realise most of those are lit with flash. But there you go, kinda answers the question about gear and how others see a photo. Thanks, the guy is an interesting character.

Sure, we can go grab a stranger in a coffee shop and shoot their portrait if that’s what you want, as long as you are out shooting it’s all good. There is nothing quite like like a solid personal photo project to help improve the skill.

How about this?

1. Camera, lens and lighting source up to the photographer unless they have already committed to a particular piece of gear above.

2. Subject not to be known to the photographer before photo session. You have to meet the person, ask, engage in photography and make final image all in one go.

3. Photo to be exposed during the seven days after the agreed start.

4. Anyone reading these rules is welcome to jump in during the seven days.

What do you say?

I guess I’m in the 18/2 and X-E2 so

EDIT: dusted it off and put a battery in, EVF is broken since it fell down a flight of steps in a church but otherwise good to go...

AlanU wrote in post #18878359
Photo taken with my aging X-t2 and 16mm f/1.4.

Hosted photo: posted by AlanU in
./showthread.php?p=188​78359&i=i36033060
forum: Fuji Digital Cameras

Aging?!?

Ramble for me as well...

FF lust is heavy. I succumbed to it when I upgraded from a Rebel T1i to a 6D. Then I bought the newer 7D2 and indeed did like my files better from the FF system because I shot a lot at night. The 7D2 demanded good light for clean exposures.

I ditched the Canon gear and went Fuji to reduce weight and bulk for my trip to SW Ireland a few years back. I also invested in more light mods and learned to use light better almost negating the need for a FF sensor. My night shots are primarily on a tripod so the difference in noise is not a deal breaker. Nor should it be.

I really see no other reason to have FF lust. I buy good glass and luckily Fuji glass is pretty much ALL good. I don't worry about bokeh anymore. Shooting f2 or 2.8 gives me what I need, even on a crop sensor. The MINOR difference if I went with FF is just not enough to make me want to lug around big lenses again. My 50-140 is too big. Never going back.

If pixel peeping is your thing then I think you are missing the magic of photography. For me it's about the STORY of the image, expressed by light, composition and perhaps color... and less about the sharpness in the corners or the noise.

My best shooting friend went Sony (from Canon FF as well, 6D and 5D3) and he is stuck on the FF sensor being superior as well. I told him he listens to too much Jared Polin. My other friend shoots mostly sports and has went all-in with Olympus and is loving the experience of m4/3 (he was also a Canon FF shooter).

IF I shot primarily at night and/or astro I'd probably submit to a FF body... but thankfully I only do that rarely and what I have is adequate.

Regarding GFX... now I admit having some lust for it. Four things stopping me from me from entry though; Price, size, weight and file size. Two of those being why I ditched Canon FF. I don't want to have to deal with 50mp files either. My computer is slow enough ingesting 24mp files. I would like to rent and give it a go someday. I am very happy that Fuji is pushing the envelope and developing the system. It shows that they are interested in innovation, and that for me is huge. The GFX100 is truly groundbreaking. We'll see how Hassy responds this week with it's X2D.

I'm not upgrading to the X-t3. I think I'll skip and wait for X-t4 because what I shoot does not normally demand faster AF capabilities.

And for those of you that shoot 2 or 3 different systems... well god bless ya but I just cannot wrap my noodle around investing in so many systems. If a job demands something different than what I have I'll rent (or borrow) but investing thousands into a completely different brand/ecosystem would not be ideal for ME.

/steps down from soap box

Happy Father's Day!

Dublin Bay as the boat arrives.

fathers day with my son ..

xh1 and the classic portrait lens.. 16mm

+1 education. Education to me could just be educating yourself by practice, practice, practice. Or watch some photography tutorials online.

Latest and greatest tools are fine and dandy, but if you don't know how to properly use those tools, the expensive ones aren't going to be any better than the cheap ones.

Heck, take a look at the series on youtube, Pro photographer cheap camera (or something like that). Think a Fuji X-E2 is dated, the cameras Kai picks for these photographers are ancient and comical in comparison, yet they still manage to pull off some impressive photographs with the tools at hand.