Photonic Shunkan

When I first started shooting with an interchangeable lens camera, I chose a Canon and considered myself a Canon shooter for a long time. These days I shoot more Fujifilm, both the X and the GFX Systems. I have kept the Canon EF mount system because there are so many lenses you can't get for Fuji mounts. Today, I would discuss how the field vs studio camera difference  that we previously discussed comes into play in practice. Of late I have been shooting a lot of macro work after making friends with Kiki the neighbourhood brushtail possum! They are encountered often in suburbia here in Australia. Here's a little link to the story on Instagram . Kiki is quite the Fujifilm fangirl. When she sees my camera, she comes rushing down from the treetops to say hello. She is fascinated by the Fujifilm camera and goes right up to it, sniffing it and touching it with her hands. There were issues I had with shooting this scene. The biggest one comes from the fact that poss...

As always, Tony Northrup is someone whose opinions I respect. Here are his predictions on which mounts will survive and which will not. A summary of the points with predictions based on sales points can be found at the  Mirrorless Rumors   website. The analysis is based on sales data from Amazon US data and CIPA Japanese data. Tony's strength is that he typically has data to back his analyses up. I am going to counter a little with respectful counter-analysis of his views. First, the things that back him up. Sales of Sony mirrorless cameras are topping the sales lists of nearly all major Japanese sales outlets. Yodobashi camera sales 1st June to 15th June 2019 : 1. Nikon Z 6 24-70+FTZ mount adapter kit 2. Sony α7Ⅲ body 3. Sony α7Ⅲ lens kit 4. Sony α6400 double zoom lens kit 5. Sony α7RⅢ body 6. Nikon D5600 double zoom kit 7. Nikon Z 7 24-70+FTZ mount adapter 8. Canon EOS Kiss M double zoom kit 9. Nikon...

One of the oddities produced by the dawn of the digital photography era is the multi-purpose professional camera. A typical example is the Canon 5D series (current iteration = 5D Mark IV). It can be used for a bit of sport/wildlife/action, portraiture, weddings, travel, street etc. It is a jack of all trades. In future, the multi-purpose consumer level camera will be some sort of small format mirrorless-EVF (ML-EVF) camera (eg M4/3, APS-C, 35mm small format). It will be interesting to see if it continues to remain acceptable for professionals to shoot with such devices across multiple scenarios. Such multi-purpose cameras are becoming increasingly capable eg high resolution, fast frame rate, good ergonomics/portability. They will remain popular and retain some sort of place in the market. The rise to dominance of the multi-purpose professional camera can be put down to the loss of camera differentiation caused by the mass extinction of speciality camera firms from the apocalyptic e...

A field system is for sports, wildlife, reportage, and street photography. A studio system is for more methodical use in ideal light situations where portability is less of an issue. As with all dichotomies, the margins are always blurred, but I see this as a good thing. For some, the field is the studio, and Ansel Adams did take his large format camera out into Yosemite. I still find the term "field" vs "studio" camera to be a useful distinction for the purposes of discussion. The most interesting phenomenon today is that we can squeeze much better quality out of much smaller formats. The basic field camera in everyday use today is the phone camera. Today, M4/3 and APS-C cameras are maturing into remarkably highly resolving field systems. It used to be that 35mm format was considered a low resolution field system that compromised on image quality for ergonomic gain. You could even buy a disposable 35mm camera at souvenir shops at tourist spots (and nobody t...