2025 Goal Review and 2026 Goals

The Wilds of North York

Z5ii, 24-85VR

Last year's version is here: 2024 Review and 2025 Goals

This one is late, but here we go

I had 3 goals for 2025:

 1. Reach 10,000 images shot on one camera system without a system change

2. Take 7 major photographic outings
3. Get my post/like percentage up to 66% on Fred Miranda

1 - Fail. I didn't hit 10,000 images and had a system change, arguably two, although my six month Sony sojourn occurred after acquiring the Z7 I still own and use.
2 - Bare pass. I did this, but only if counting mixed photography/fishing outings.
3 - Significant success, I not only hit 66%, I broke 70%.

For 2026 we're going to continue down the same path

1. Reach 10,000 images shot on one camera system without a system change

2. Take 7 major photographic outings

3. Get my post/like percentage up to 75% on Fred Miranda

The first goal is 10,000 images total count on one system since the first body was acquired (I'm around 4,000 right now on the Z system since acquiring the Z7 in January 2025) with a stretch goal of 10,000 images in Calendar Year 2026 on the same system. 

Second goal is the same as last year, this is just a 'get out and shoot seriously' goal.

Third is a bit of a stretch. I can do it, but I need to be regularly posting images on Fred Miranda, not inconsistently doing so. 

A Very Dead Winter and a Spring Return

Nikon Zfc, TTArtisan 25mm f2

Well I've been gone since October and the simple reason is that I shot pretty much nothing all winter, because I stayed cooped up at home for multiple reasons. Since I wasn't going far, I never carried the Z5ii or the Z7 due to size/weight/inconvenience and therefore took pretty much no pictures.

This did make clear to me that I needed a real light carry solution. I wasn't carrying around town largely because both of my bodies were too big, even with only the 40/2 or my M 35/5.6 mounted (my two smallest lens setups for them).

Light carry on Z is in a bit of an awkward position at best. The only smaller FX body is the ZR, and that costs more than a Zf, let alone a Z5ii. This makes it a poor choice for anyone other than a Z8/9 user unless light carry or cinema are their primary uses. Z DX is on life support and we're still waiting to see EXPEED7 updates of the Zfc and Z30, despite the first EXPEED8 body being expected this year (Z9II most likely), and Nikon's lens lineup for Z DX is only slightly less terrible than it has been historically (thanks to them finally dropping a 16-50 f2.8 normal zoom, the first in DX, F or Z, since the old 17-55 from 2003). 3rd party primes and a couple zooms from Tamron & Sigma carry all the load in Z DX, so you need to be willing to run 3rd party glass if you want to do anything serious as a DX shooter today.

I greatly prefer my light carry option to match both mount and format with my primary bodies. Cards I don't care about (since I don't really swap cards much anymore, a 64GB+ card is sufficient for my needs on most anything and cheap enough even at today's inflated prices that I can have enough for my bodies + a spare or two) and batteries are more a 'nice to have match' than anything else. I generally only need 1 larger or 2 smaller batteries for a day of shooting and they don't take up much space. 

That said, since there were no viable options in Z FX, I had to compromise on either format + battery, mount + battery, or all three (since Nikon Z DX exclusively uses EN-EL25 series batteries instead of the larger EN-EL15's or EN-EL18's of the FX bodies). 

Mount + battery would mean the Panasonic S9 for me. The A7c's have a dire viewfinder and an A7Cr or A7CII are too expensive for this use for me, the R8 doesn't adapt manual lenses well enough but would do in a pinch if I was willing to focus on native glass. 

Format + battery is Z DX. Z30 lacks a viewfinder and is less pocketable than the Zfc due to the grip. It's EXPEED6. Zfc is a tad pricey for what it is (being EXPEED6), Z50ii has all the toys, but is the least pocketable and the best performer for the dollar.

The other alternatives (compromising on all 3) would be m43 or Fuji. m43 still suffers from the lack of really up to date lower-end bodies, and they're overpriced too (OM-5 series I'm looking at you). Fuji's a bit pricey and the AF-C is dire by modern standards, but the main complaint here is that every body is a different UI experience. 

Eventually it came down to Fuji something vs the Zfc. Narrowing further would be the X-T30III vs the Zfc, similar price point, similar specs and both are very viable in this use case. The 3 big differences other than mount items (Fuji has way more lenses, Zfc can use all my current lenses and can get a Fuji X AF Adapter) are the EVF (same panel specs, Fuji's magnification is 0.62x vs 0.68x for the Zfc), the left control dial (film sim for Fuji, ISO for Nikon) and the screen (single axis tilt for Fuji, Flip/twist for Nikon). In all 3 cases the Zfc actually wins for my preferences.

Realistically, if I'd found a used X-T3 in this price range I would have snagged it, barring that the Zfc wins out (used X-T4 is too big/too expensive for light carry). Plus I really need a second FTZ so I can run two F mount AF lenses when running a 2 body setup (needed since the vast majority of my lenses are F mount) and Nikon was running the usual FTZ deal when paired with a new Z body with the Zfc qualifying.

So I grabbed the Zfc/28SE kit, and FTZ and ordered another TTArtisan 25/2 APS-C pancake and a Smallrig EN-EL25a compatible (with integrated USB-C charge) off Amazon. That gets me a compact wide for my FX bodies and completes my SE lens set (I have the 40/2 SE already), and even more compact MF prime for the Zfc and the spare battery it's definitely going to need. Why the 28SE kit? Well I can always grab a 16-50 used for super cheap, I had a real use for the 28SE on my FX bodies and the bare body was not in stock. I personally think Nikon should do a 24DX SE for the Zfc update, it makes more sense than the 28SE in a kit with a DX body (but the 24DX didn't exist when the Zfc was released). Would also give people a reason to actually buy the 24DX over the cheaper (and often better) 3rd party alternatives.

Short Zfc review - It's better than I'd expected. The build is light, but it's not the FM10-level build I'd initially thought. Viewfinder is adequate, ergonomics feel like an FM10 just with better materials. It's no secret I loved the FM10 as a light carry film body and the Zfc is a direct drop-in for that use, with improvements. I think I'll do just fine with it. My main complaint is the lack of support for Flexible Picture Controls, which would make it much more viable as a JPEG body, and it's the only body I own where I am really likely to shoot JPEG in the first place. 

Regarding usage, this gives me a body well suited to pairing with cheap manual focus APS-C lenses, which is something I really loved during my last go around with Fuji (especially that 18/6.3 pancake on the X-T1 and the 12/2.8 on the X-T2). So I'll be building up a small collection of those and probably will end up doing a 'Nikon DX on the cheap' series like the one I did for Fuji on the Cheap some years ago. 

 

A Second Goal Down, Plus Stretch Goals and Archive Clearing

A7IV, Tamron SP 17-28mm F2.8

The image above is the last image in the to-post queue for my recent Sony sojourn, it was posted today, a relatively quick end to a short and not very productive time with a solid camera that I never really jelled with for some reason. I still have plenty of Canon stuff in the archives to post, with even a few remaining R7 images. I'll clear those out and post them on Fred Miranda over the next few weeks. 

On other news, with uploading 3 images in every update (1 Sony, 1 Canon and 1 Nikon), I've seen a massive jump in likes on FM and am now over 67% on my likes to posts ratio and it continues to climb. I hope to break 68% and get a decent way to 69% before the Canon backlog clears out. For various reasons the Nikon forum on FM doesn't generate anywhere near the same number of likes per post as the Sony and Canon forums, this is likely because the Nikon forum is both less busy and has a bajillion separate image threads vs a single core image thread going at any given point. I find the more centralized the image threads, the more likes I get for a given post. 

I also took a small but dedicated photo outing last week after work, closing off the 7th such outing this year and completing a second goal for the year. That's 2 of 3 goals down and into the stretch realm. At this point I deem it unlikely that I'll shoot over 7000 more images this year (It's possible, but very unlikely) so I think the 10,000 images on one system goal is going to roll over to next year. I'm currently up around 2700 images for Nikon (1600 on the Z5ii, 1100 on the Z7) and 1350 for Sony (all on A7IV) with the streak broken for the latter as I sold it in September.

I'm counting that goal based on continuous ownership of the system, so from my acquisition of the Z7 since I'm still shooting that body actively alongside the Z5ii. 

At this point I'm really hoping I've broken my curse of chasing the dragon by coming back fully to Nikon. Looking back, I semi-regret selling the R6, I got a lot of good stuff with it and it was very well suited to my hiking needs, but it just didn't work for me for around-town shooting and adapting old and/or interesting lenses. The Z5ii is a better option for how I shoot than the R6 was, although I'd LOVE to see a Nikon equivalent to the tiny and excellent RF 100-400. I really miss that lens. I am enjoying the 300/4D as a telephoto option though. 

 

A Very Good Day of Photography

Nikon Z5ii, 300mm f4D on FTZII

Yesterday was a very good day of photography. I got out early enough to catch a sunrise (and pre-dawn mist) at Smoke Lake in Algonquin Park, one of my favourite places to shoot sunrises, and spent the day meandering through the park and then the Algonquin Highlands southeast of it, finishing up at Silent Lake Provincial Park before heading home through some backroads just before sunset. That's the sixth of my seven photo outings from my goals. Just one more this year and I'm done.

In other news, I broke 66% on my Like to Posts ratio on Fred Miranda, netting the first goal of the year done. At this rate if I keep up my posting there I should break 67% and possibly even 68% by year's end. The downside is the Nikon forum is the least active in Liking photography posts so once I exhaust the archives of old Sony and Canon shots, the rate of increase will drop. 

On the camera side, the Z5II is now at 1400 shots, exceeding in 1 month what I shot with the A7IV in 6 months. The Z7, which I also shot with a bit yesterday (mostly for the sunrise shots) is now up around 1100 shots and closing in on the 1350 or so shots I took with the A7IV. I expect shooting to taper off after October as we get into the dull portion of late fall which is always a photographic doldrum for me. I'll be happy if I finish the year with 1500 or so shots on the Z7 and 2500 on the Z5ii, bringing me over 5000 shots for the year and 4000 or so towards my 10,000 with one system goal (which I will not come close to making in 2025 barring a miracle). 

I also got a new lens this week, lucking into a nearly-mint AF-S 300mm f4 D ED for a crazy low price. It's got the AF-S squeak which is why it was so cheap, but otherwise looks essentially unused, likely having sat in a closet for years after purchase which is also one of the causes of AF-S Squeak. Even if the motor fails, I still got an otherwise mint 300 for less than a similar-condition copy of the AI-S version goes for. Had lots of fun shooting it yesterday, it's very sharp, has great close focus performance and stupid fast AF which matches up well to how I like to shoot when hiking. Lots of critter pics and also nature close-ups from yesterday. 

 

Post-Summer Updates

Sony A7IV, Tamron 17-28/2.8

Well, it's been a long and busy summer with relatively little shooting. I got out with the camera a total of 3 times, and only shot 6-700 shots total across all of those. The A7IV is now just shy of 1400 shots.

The A7IV has been delivering what I wanted for hiking/landscape work, but I just do not really like using it for adapting lenses, the only adapted lens that's seen any real use is my EF mount Voigtlander 90/3.5 APO-Lanthar, which is fully coupled on my EF->FE adapter. 

This breaks into one of the issues with being dual system. I just like the Nikon more, even though the Sony stuff has been working well overall. I really wish I'd waited and bought the Z5ii instead (or just got that used Zf I was eying instead of the A7IV). Nikon has also solved the light body issue with the new Zr, although it is somewhat expensive (since it's really a Z6iii in a small body, not another Zf/Z5ii sibling, so it costs near Z6iii money, sitting halfway between the Zf and Z6iii in price, which is reasonable for what it is as a video body, but high for light carry).

This is kind of a pisser, since the Sony does work fine for its primary uses, it just has a few minor annoyances that irk me. The biggest one with native glass is how the metering display behaves when in M+Auto ISO. In short, it doesn't do anything even if you are bouncing off ISO limits. Which means you basically have to guess what the heck it's doing in a mode I REALLY like shooting in. The Z7 displays accurate metering in this use case.

The reality is the Sony A7IV spent a lot of the summer next to my desk hoping I'd pick it up, and I rarely did. I didn't shoot the Z7 much either, largely because every time I wanted to, I got indecisive. 

End result - After 6 months of ownership the A7IV and my 3 native lenses got traded back in and a Z5II came home with me. 

2024 Review and 2025 Goals

Canon R6, RF 24-105 IS STM

I had 3 goals for 2024

1. Shoot 10,000 images with one camera system (split)

2. Take 7 major photographic outings (pass)

3. Get my post/like percentage up to 66% on Fred Miranda (fail)

For #1, I'm still shooting Canon RF, but I only shot 3,827 photos in 2024, so it's really still in progress

#2 is a pass, I just managed to achieve this by September

#3 is a fail, I wasn't really all that active on FM, so I was only able to raise my ratio up to 63.2%

So for 2025, my goals are going to be largely similar.

 1. Reach 10,000 images shot on one camera system without a system change

2. Take 7 major photographic outings

3. Get my post/like percentage up to 66% on Fred Miranda

#1 is something I keep trying and failing to do. We'll see about 2025. 

#2 proved reasonable, so I'll repeat it.

#3 remains my FM engagement goal. It will stay until I either stop my involvement on FredMiranda or achieve it (and then set a higher goal).

Some Updates

Canon EOS R6, RF 16mm f2.8, 3-shot/1 stop bracket to HDR

Well, after 13 months, the R7 is gone. That's still a recent record for me to keep a camera, and I for once didn't switch systems. I'm still all-in on RF, and now solely on FF. I also sold off my EF-S 10-18 STM, TT Artisan 25/2 APS-C and of course the RF-S 18-150 was a kit with the R7 so it went in with it. 

The R7 got sold because I needed a good longer telephoto option more than I needed a backup body. So it went in to trade for an RF 100-400. The RF 100-400 is slow (f5.6-8), but tiny, lightweight, shockingly sharp and with outstanding close focus. It is an ideal bugging lens, can take a TC and long enough for occasional airshow/bird/wildlife photography. 

 I also added the wee RF 16/2.8 a few weeks ago, giving me a small and surprisingly good UWA for the R6.

This makes my kit the following:

R6

16/2.8, 24/1.8 IS Macro, EF 50/1.8 STM, EF 70-200/2.8 L IS v1, RF 100-400/5.6-8 and an adapted Nikon-mount Tamron 90mm f2.8 AF Macro (plus all my old Nikon MF glass if I decide to pull it out of storage)

I will still like to have a second body, but that will be either adding an R8 for light carry, or demoting the R6 to backup and adding an R5 or R6II to maintain battery commonality. Both options are viable (even together in the long term)

In terms of lenses, the next priorities for me really will be a fast 35mm and either the 85/2 IS Macro or the EF 100/2.8 L IS Macro, so I can go all-in on native or EF lenses for my common work and get a real replacement for the R7/RF24 combo. For the 35, it will probably be either the RF 35/1.8 IS Macro or a used Sigma 35/1.4 Art in EF, not sure which as I'd like both the size of the RF and the speed of the Sigma. Beyond that I'd like to add the RF 14-35/4L and RF 24-105/4L to round out a zoom-based hiking kit. The RF 14.x Extender is also on the to-acquire list. I might add the RF15-30 & RF24-105STM as interim/ultra-light options. 

I also finally started to add UHS-II cards to my arsenal, we'll see if I even notice the difference. Not a lot of stuff I do really stresses the buffer on my R6. 

2024 Update and 2023 Review

Canon EOS R6, EF 70-200/2.8L Mk1

It's been a while, usually I post a wrap up and next goals in January. This year life interfered and I was far too busy and focused on non-Photography stuff in December, January and February to update.

I had 3 goals for 2023, and achieved one of them.

The goals were:

1. Take 10,000 images with one camera (Failed)
2. Take 2 major photo outings per quarter (Failed)
3. Get my Fred Miranda Like to Post ratio over 60% (Succeeded at just shy of 62%)

The first was a stretch goal and I'd commented that I'd be happy enough if I got to over 5000 images on the R7, which I did succeed, as I ended the year at 5600 images on the camera. That's been somewhat unusual for me given my low rate of shooting and system switching. Combined with ~2500 on the OM-1, I shot around double the number of images in 2023 as I did in 2022.

The second failed very simply because I was far too busy in Q4 and as a result only had one outing. 

The third succeeded, and in fact I'd hit it by mid-year. 

 So for 2024, what are my goals?

1. Shoot 10,000 images without changing camera systems. 

2. Take 7 major photo outings in the year
3. Get my Fred Miranda Like to Post ratio over 66%

And yes, I still have the R7 and it will continue to see regular use, although it's somewhat been downgraded to my video/second/small body recently as I just added an R6 to my bag. The R6 addresses my main usage complaint with the R7 (AF tracking against busy backgrounds is frustrating) and adds a second body for situations where I don't want to swap lenses. I will need a second EF adapter for the best config, since that would be the EF-S 10-18 on the R7 and the EF 70-200L on the R6, both of which need an adapter. 18-150 on the R7 and 70-200L on the R6 will likely be the standard combo for now.

Regarding gear, I plan to slowly add more FF lenses now that I have an FF body again, I need a flash as well, and also a new tripod as my most used one was in my Jeep when it was stolen last December, which is a large part of why I failed goal 2 for 2023. 

Ideally I'd like to exit 2024 still shooting the R6/R7 combo. That would be something of a record for me, with one camera then being at 18+ months of ownership and the second at 10 months. I do plan on concentrating on glass for now, filling out my system. 

Late Spring Updates

OM System OM-1, 12-40 PROmII, 6 stop LiveND

 Well, it’s been a hot minute since I posted here. What’s been happening? Both a lot and not very much. I spent most of the winter and early spring cooped up for various reasons. Not much photography happened until recently, although I did get one good outing mid-spring. I also started an RC-related YouTube channel which has been eating a lot of time. That’s somewhat relevant to this blog as I’m shooting those videos on my OM-1, which has proven to work very well for my needs for video. 

Overall I’ve been very happy with the OM-1, I’m up around 2300 exposures on it, limited mostly by the lack of outings. At this point I have very few complaints about it. The handling is great, the IQ is up to par, even coming from the outstanding A7RIV, I don’t find myself going ‘I wish I had the Sony instead’ when I look at the files from the OM-1. Is it a match for the Sony in IQ? No for resolution and Dynamic range, yes for colour. But with the computation capabilities, i rarely find myself in a situation where I can’t get the IQ I need while also getting the shot. I had more issues with the Sony due to the need for ND filters, poor LCD articulation for low-angle shooting and lower-quality LCD resulting in worse viewing angles in sunlight. The LiveND feature is probably the biggest win for me, I can carry one filter, a polarizer, and almost always get the shot I need. I do carry a 10 stop ND just in case, but rarely ever fit it, 6 stops is enough for most of my uses. 

On the handling side, the OM-1 beats the pants off the A7RIV. I just really like shooting with this camera, it feels right, the controls are better laid out, not cramped and I have full confidence in the camera in every condition. The A7RIV was good enough at handling, but just not as good as the OM-1. 

On the lens front, I have the 12-40/2.8 Pro mII, the 40-150/4 Pro and the 17/1.8, I haven’t used the 17  much at all yet (I’ve owned it a couple times before, so I know what I’m getting). My only complaint with any of them is the close focus on the 40-150/4, it’s a little restrictive. 

There’s surprisingly been more cases where I wished I had longer lenses than wider. I was expecting to miss not having an UWA more, and not having a longer telephoto (>300mm-e) less, but it’s actually been the opposite. Regardless I do see adding lenses at both ends of the spectrum over time. The 8-25/4 Pro and 40-150/2.8 Pro would make a good working pair, sharing a 72mm filter thread (and I already have a polarizer that fits), and the 40-150/2.8 is TC-compatible and known to work vey well with the Oly/OM TC’s. That way I’d have the current pair of zooms for minimalist carry and the bigger set plus a TC or two for wider-ranged carry. Stretch setup would add the 100-400 and 60 or 90 Macro. 

I have been somewhat interested in adding a second body, more as a B cam for YouTube than anything else. No idea where I’d go there, there’s so many decent options so long as all I need is decent 1080p60 with manual focus. I honestly will probably add an action camera first.

On the pure photography side, getting up north has been a big win for me. I love the geography of the Canadian Shield and getting up there to shoot has just been good for the soul, and also for the bank of images to process. I suspect there’s going to be more overnight and short weekend trips north in my future. While I have concentrated on the Muskoka’s and Ontario Highlands since getting into Landscape Photography, it’s the North that is where my true passion for the subject lies.

Second Outing with the OM-1

OM-1, 40-150 f4 Pro

It took long enough, but I finally managed to get out and shooting last week after being essentially stuck around home since early November for various reasons.

I got a little greedy with my plans, intending to chase a sunrise and sunset as well as do some hiking. I got the sunrise and half the planned hiking before realizing I was too tired to continue without a nap, and was not properly equipped to be napping in the truck in the winter. 

I got up along Highway 522 before dawn and chased the sunrise from a little before Loring to Golden Valley, then some golden hour shots on 522 east then 534 until I made it to Callander mid-morning where I stopped for an easy hike of a decent distance, ~5km on the Cranberry Trail. After that I drove up to North Bay for lunch, then east to Corbeil and started south. Somewhere south of Corbeil I decided that the right choice was to head homewards rather than stopping and napping before another hike and/or a sunset attempt. I've simply been so inactive since the summer for various reasons that I need to build back up to these long days if I'm going to be hiking and trying for sunrise/sunset on the same trip.

Photographically, I came home with a ton of images, 951 to be exact. That is in large part because I encountered Chickadees and feeding stations on the Cranberry Trail and decided to try out a few OM-1 features I'd never played with, namely ProCapture, the SH2 drive mode and Bird Tracking AF.

ProCapture is a pre-shooting experience, it starts recording images when you half-press the shutter and writes the current buffer when you full press. This allows you to control the end of the burst instead of the beginning and therefore force a write the moment after the moment you wanted to capture, and still get the shot. It's also a guaranteed way to come home with a full card.

SH2 drive mode is the fastest full-AF/AE drive mode on the OM-1 (SH1 is twice as fast, but AF/AE lock on half-press). With my 40-150 f4, SH2 operates at 25fps, but it can go to 50fps with a supported lens. Between those two features, I managed to shoot around 700 shots alone. 

Bird Tracking AF is exactly what it sounds like, an automated subject recognition mode for birds. The OM-1 has several such modes, although confusingly eye detect AF for people is a completely different AF tracking mode. OMDS does need to sort out the control system for these modes, they're too time consuming to switch between unless you put them on a Custom menu slot. 

Being a newbie to bird photography I also made one big mistake, I left the camera in Aperture Priority mode, which meant my shutter speed stayed WAY too low for small, fast moving birds, at 1/320 vs the 1/2000 or so I actually needed. I have a bunch of nicely focused blurs from whenever the birds took off. I did figure out my mistake afterwards and now C4 on my mode dial is Bird mode. Maybe next time I'll get 700+ usable shots instead of a lot of motion blur.

In terms of landscape, I definitely did better, although my route wasn't as scenic as I'd hoped. Just a lot of tree-lined rural highway with a handful of really nice winter morning views. I'm pretty happy with what I came home with, but also want some more soon. Might have to go up east of Algonquin, I haven't done that in the winter in a couple years.

 

2022 Wrap Up and 2023 Goals

 

OM-1, m.Zuiko Pro 12-40mm f2.8 II

2022 was a bit of a study in opposites for  me. While I didn't take that many photos, at 4093 for the year, I think I produced some of my best work ever, most notably the work from my trip to Algonquin Park in February and from Eastern Ontario in early November. The image above is from the latter trip. and the one below from the former.

A7RIV, SLR Magic 18mm f2.8

In terms of photographic outings, I really struggled. Not so much with motivation as with life getting in the way of any real excursions. Simply put, I had a lot going on this year between work and health (both mine and my partner's) and I either simply didn't have the time for a proper photography outing, didn't have the energy or couldn't be far from the city. That meant a lot of RC flying and not much photography.

Photography in and around my home struggled for different reasons. Simply put, I do a lot of macro and near macro work when shooting like this and Sony's lenses don't match up well to how I do that, with poor MFD on pretty much all the zoom options. It's the same basic issue I had with Nikon Z for that work, although I at least had the Laowa 15mm f4 Macro to partially make up for it. 

This leads to an interesting observation. Going back to m43 from Sony is the second time I have switched systems because of the 12-40 Pro. My experience with that lens, it's excellent optics and remarkable close focus performance was a big reason why I went all-in on m43 in 2021 and sold the Z5. My memories of that lens and struggles with close focus work on Sony was a major reason why I went back to m43 in October 2022. I found the FE28-60 to be a remarkable little lens, but I missed the close focus of the 12-40 and most importantly, across all the Sony system there simply wasn't a comparable mid-range zoom for close focus work. The takeaway here? Unless I have a direct replacement for the 12-40 in terms of optical performance and close-focus, I shouldn't even look at alternate systems. I'll just end up going back to m43. 

To be honest, I never was unhappy with the A7RIV, if I'd been able to find an acceptable and full replacement for the 12-40, ie small, sharp and great close focus, I would still be shooting the A7RIV. It actually got a ton of use, but as a webcam, not a stills camera. 

I had a couple minor annoyances with it, mostly the LCD articulation, and I never really trusted it in tough weather conditions, but that really was it. The challenge here is the classic FF one, the good normal zooms are big or short-ranged and MFD on zooms sucks compared to m43. 

In terms of my goals, it was 3 misses and a strike out in 2022.

Goal 1 - 10,000 images on one camera. Hard fail, I broke 3k on the A7RIV and that was over 3/4 of my shooting for the year. I think if I had been shooting more, I would have hit the bar. I simply shot 1/3 as much in 2022 as I did in 2021.

Goal 2 - Go out to do photography in some way every week. I'd failed this pretty much in a month from setting the goal. WAY too much hermiting up in 2022, for good reasons but it did cause a fail here.

Goal 3 - Get my Like to Post ratio up to 70% on Fred Miranda - Also failed, although I have steadily improved the ratio, it's currently 55.8%, up from under 52% when I set the goal. This was way too high a bar for the math to work unless I produced a ridiculous amount of work.

For 2023, my goals will be as follows.

Goal 1 - 10,000 images on one camera. This is a good goal, I just need to actually shoot 10,000 frames as my system shifting has slowed down. In 2021 I bought 5 cameras, mostly via trade-ins, in 2022 I bought 2. I'm hoping that will be 1 in 2023 (a backup camera for my OM-1)

Goal 2 - At least two major photographic outings every quarter. I think this is more realistic than the 'shoot something every week' in case I hermit up again. This also accounts better for the two big dead zones for me (spring from melt to first bloom and fall from leaf fall to first snow).

Goal 3 - Get my Like to Post ratio up to 60% on Fred Miranda. Same basic goal, but a more realistic bar. Given that the m43 forum is much less watched than the Sony one I need to be more realistic, I get more Sony likes than m43 simply because people are actually reading the image threads.

And I’m Back, with a switch

Olympus OM-1, m.Zuiko 12-40 Pro f2.8 II

This year has been pretty dead for me in terms of shooting, not because of a lack of desire, but a combo of too busy with work (I was pretty much flat out from May onwards), high gas prices, actively RC flying in my rare free time (the field is close, good landscapes are not) and just a general desire to hole up at home rather than go out. 

That said, I did get out a couple times and got a small selection of good shots. 

I’ve got my brain going off on gear again as well. I do miss a lot from the m43 system, especially the 12-40 Pro, the IBIS and the automation, LiveND especially. I do really like the A7RIV, but the two real gaps in the Sony lens lineup are a compact and close focusing 24-xx zoom and a good 70-200/4 options. There are alternative solutions though, the Tamron 70-180/2.8 can mostly replace a 70-200/4 in terms of size, weight and cost. But there’s only one small 24-xx option and that’s the thoroughly mediocre and ancient ZA 24-70/4.

Sony just launched the A7RV and Oly the OM-5. Both are fairly minor updates on paper, mostly processing and firmware improvements. Both kind of interest me, but one is WAY too expensive and the other really could only be a second body for me. 

The other aspect is something I touched on in my last post some months ago. Most of my best work has been on the Oly kit. The exception really is that one set of shots from Algonquin last February, and I could have done that with an OM-1. I simply don't really take advantage of the A7RIV's true power beyond the Dynamic Range, and I miss the OM systems quality of life features. 

In looking over my work over the last few years, and especially since February, I'm just not taking advantage of the A7RIV's insane megapixels, and while the AF is really nice, otherwise it's merely good.

So it went into the store, along with 3 of my lenses (18/2.8, 28-60 and 70-300) and an OM-1/12.40II kit came home instead. I really regretted selling off the E-M1.2 in March 2021 and this gets me back to where I was then, just with a lot more capable body and a mildly improved lens (the Mk2 12-40 has better sealing, better coatings and 50fps AF support). 

The initial take is the ergonomics are something I missed as well. The A7RIV was the best Sony I've shot with, but the OM-1 is significantly nicer in the hand. The EVF is better as well, somewhat surprising since it's the same basic hardware. AF is something I'll need to get a handle on as it works differently from either the A7RIV or the older Oly's I've used. IQ is very good, not FF good, but the files are way less crunchy than the E-M1.2, let alone the G9 or the 16MP m43 bodies.

Oh, and I have the 12-40 back. That alone is worth it, I've missed this lens a shocking amount over the last 8 months. The combination of compact, well built and crazy good close focus make it the single best normal zoom I've used over the years. 

 

800Km and 229 Images

 

A7RIV, Tamron FE 70-300
Chickory Flower along the road at Snake Creek

Yesterday was a good day. I left just after 7AM and headed eastwards on the 401. Jumped off the 401 onto the backroads midway between Belleville and Napanee, headed to Buttermilk Falls, which is a neat little spot, quite pretty, then went north on 41 to Denbigh, west on 28 to Hardwood Lake, then peeled off onto backroads and went north by north east to Killaloe on 60. West to Barry's Bay , southwest on Siberia Rd and Panineau Lake road until I met up with 62, crossed and went down Boulter Rd to McArthur's Mills where I met up with 28 again and headed west through Bancroft to Paudash, where I turned onto 118 and drove up to Tory Hill, then south on 503 to Kinmount with a brief stop at Furnace Falls, West on 45 to Hwy 35, south through Coboconk to the turnoff for 8, west to 12, south to 48 and home. Got home a little after 9pm, for a 14 hour day.

All in all, about 800Km though some of the prettiest country southeast of Algonquin Park. 

I stopped regularly for photography, with the last stop at McArthur's Mills. Furnace Falls was a washout as there were folks picnicking right where I wanted to setup and rather than bother them, I just had a break then headed onwards. Ended up with 229 shots, although most were 3 shot brackets (my standard when shooting landscape).

I also stopped to assist some stranded motorists on 503, they had a blowout and didn't know how to change a tire. Got them sorted and on their way and headed onwards. That does remind me that I do need to start putting together a recovery kit for the BWT, their situation could easily have required a pull (they were on the soft shoulder, luckily not soft enough for their car to get stuck and need a pull out).

Driving like this is a major stress relief for me, at least once I get off the major highways. There's nothing like the calm of an open road to carry my troubles away. Yesterday was mostly about this, although Photography was also part of it. I deliberately didn't do any hiking though, that's for another time.

In terms of photography, I came home with a bunch of river/wetlands shots. I do love shooting these subjects and they do well in regular daylight, at least before noon and after 3-4pm. 

I'm still thoroughly enjoying the A7RIV, the more I shoot it, the more I find it just fits. It really doesn't get in my way and aside from the LCD articulation and function lockouts when writing files, there's just not much wrong with it. And the files are amazing. I'm closing in on 3k shots on it, and it's just doing the job without complaint. 

I need to get out more, especially for golden hour shooting. The work from that Algonquin outing last February remains the absolute best work I've shot. If I want to produce more work of that level, I need to be there when the light is that good. 

Been Away for a While

 

A7RIV, Tamron SP 90mm f2.8 Nikon AF

So it's been a good while since I've posted. That's because I haven't really been doing much in the way of serious photography since the end of February, a 4 month drought.

I should break that drought in the next few days, finally getting out for a photography-dedicated trip over the long weekend.

What has been going on? A little local photography and some other stuff, I'm actually up over 2500 frames on the A7RIV just from around the nieghbourhood shooting and taking pics at a few RC events.

I have already failed goal #2 for 2022 though, just have spent a lot of time hermited up this spring, there's been weeks where I didn't leave the house except for groceries. 

Overall, I'm still happy with the Sony, and short of an A1, there's really nothing on the market that would make me look elsewhere right now. 

I do expect to slowly grow my lens collection though, but I'm going to try my hardest to end 2022 shooting the A7RIV, and I think that's very achievable even with my brain's odd behaviour.

2022 Goals

 

Olympus E-M5II, m.Zuiko 12-40mm f2.8 PRO

I've not yet published a review of my 2021 Goals or a new set of goals for 2022.

First, 2021 in review.

1. Goal 1 - 10,000 frames on one camera. Miserable failure, I did 3300+ on 2 different bodies and broke 10,000 total frames, but there were too many bodies and while I shot half the year with a single body for the most part, the E-M5II, I didn't get close to it.

2. Goal 2 - Get out at least once a week with the camera. Mostly successful. I did pretty well at this until October, but I really hermited up in Nov/Dec and wasn't leaving the house much at all. When I did, the camera usually came with me.

3. Goal 3 - Post an IG post for every deliberate photography outing. This I succeeded at and I'm pretty happy with that.


For 2022 My goals will be similar. In fact I'm going to try goals 1 & 2 all over again.

1. Goal 1 - 10,000 frames on one camera. The A7RIV puts me in a much better place to achieve this. For the first time in a long time I can realistically see myself shooting the same camera in December that I did in February.

2. Goal 2 - Get out at least once a week with the camera. This is quite achievable if I don't hermit up for an extended period this year.

3. Goal 3 - Raise my posts to likes ratio to 70% or higher on Fred Miranda. I've been active there for years, but because I mostly am active in gear threads historically, until recently my post to like ratio was under 50% until recently. I'd like to get that up to 70% in 2022. That's a stretch goal (I'm at ~12400 posts and ~6400 likes right now)

GAS - The Gear Nut’s Bane

 

E-M5.2, m.Zuiko 17/1.8

With fall well along now, I find myself suffering from a bout of GAS, aka Gear Acquisition Syndrome.

This has been the general bane of my existence for years. No matter what I have, I always want something different. I’ve often referred to my particular brand of GAS as ‘Chasing the Dragon’, because I keep switching systems to get something ‘Better’, which has led to an almost endless round of Nikon->m43->Sony->Nikon switching, with Fuji and Pentax stuffed in there occasionally.

The challenge for me is that each system fits me adequately, but not perfectly and each brings something to the table.

Olympus/m43 brings small, good selection of options, good ergonomics and really good IBIS (good enough for me to find it useful)

Nikon brings great ergonomics and IQ, but somewhat limited selection and a lack of customizability (speaking Z here, I’m not going back to DSLR’s). Oh and great EVF’s for the money.

Sony brings selection. All the cool/odd/cheap lenses, the best 3rd party support, etc. 

Plus my partner shoots Sony these days, and still has some m43. My small film kit is also Nikon (all manual focus stuff).

I’ve not bought any gear in months, since I got the E-M1 in late June. That’s something of a record for me when I’ve actually been shooting, and I have at least at the beginning and end of that period. I did take some time off from serious shooting though, as I discussed in my last post. 

The challenge now is I keep looking at all the neat stuff available for E mount, and find myself wanting another Sony. However I also remember some of the frustrations I’d be dealing with, especially with screen articulation (tilt only), which is an area where I’ve simply become so accustomed to increased flexibility that I’d have issues giving it up. I probably would have kept the Z5 if it had been flip/twist or even dual-tilt (and it looks like the Z9 will be dual-tilt like the Fuji’s, hopefully that will come down to the lower end Z’s as they refresh)

I think I will be getting another body soon. But I’m going to try and do the right thing and get another m43 body, ideally an E-M1.2/3, but I might try a G9 as an alternative, the pricing is really good on them right now, enough so that it could outweigh the software features that Oly would give me by going E-M1.2/3 

I still really do feel an attraction to shooting Full Frame though. Not sure how that will play out long term. But I could see also buying a cheap Z7 at some point just to play with. They seem to be dropping nicely in price. While I definitely am attracted to the Sony system, I’m just not that interested in the bodies that I could realistically get at the moment.

The End of the Break

 

E-M5.2, 12-40 Pro

I pretty much took July and August off as a break, even stopping uploads to Flickr from the Archives for much of this period. 

There were a few reasons for this. Part of it was just general burnout. I hermited up in general over this period, as I just didn't want to go anywhere or deal with people.

The Forester had to be on limited use for a month of it while I waited for my 100k km service appointment, as it had a really bad rattle going on around 1500rpm and I did not want to risk pushing it, plus I did not want to go over 100k without getting the service and I had to wait over 3 weeks for the nearest appointment at the shop. Turned out the rattle was the minor 'Subaru Rattle' that I expected, ie a loose heatshield, but the alternative was potentially major. 

The weather also sucked, I do not like really humid hot weather and it was exactly that for this period.

Once the Forester got cleared, I ended up with a new blocker, namely I'd decided that after 6.5 years the Forester was just no longer the right vehicle for me, so I traded it in on a new vehicle and one that's much more adventure focused, namely a 4WD Crew Cab pickup with an offroad package, which I picked Sept 1st.

I'd looked hard at modifying the Forester for Overlanding-type usage and while doable, it just would require too much money and too many compromises to get what I wanted, and I would make the Forester's two biggest weaknesses worse, namely the lack of power when pushed and the seating/cargo tradeoffs (the Fozzie hauls stuff or people, not both). As I don't daily drive to work anymore, the fuel efficiency of the Forester is less of an benefit and it's relatively high maintenance costs were going to get worse as I passed 100,000km and started to look at really expensive service intervals every 20k, instead of just moderately expensive service intervals every 20k.

That ended up taking me through the end of August with no outings since late July.

E-M5.2, 12-40 Pro

I did kick off September with a bang, with an 800km road trip up to Barry's Bay, then west on 60 and 169 to Bala, south-west to the 400 and home. Did a decent amount of photography but only a bit of hiking as it was really the first adventure with the Big White Truck. The truck photo is from Highway 62 near Maple Leaf, ON. The truck did very well, averaging 9.7L/100km and with 200km of range left over from a full tank. I did fill up mid trip to be safe, but with less than 80L of fuel burn on a 98L tank, that was well within my range, which it would not have been with the Subaru, which would have burned 60L or so of fuel on the same trip on a 60L tank. While I've got some great mileage from the Forester (6.5L/100KM is quite achievable on road trips in Southern Ontario), it did much worse in the hilly Highlands and Northern Ontario as that 2.5L engine just wheezed on the uphills. I'd occasionally outright run out of power, with the pedal floored on a steeper climb at highway speed even running light. The BWT doesn't even blink, unsurprising with the far more powerful 5.3L V8. And if I ever need more power, the BWT has a ton of aftermarket that can add significant power, while the Subaru's limited aftermarket can't add any real power to the 2.5L engine, it's pretty much at its limit now (Subaru's Turbo 2.0 and 2.4 can be tuned, but the non-Turbo 2.5 can't really)

Since then, I also did a Saturday Morning meander along the Lakefront Trail on the shore of Lake Erie, as part of a road trip to Tillsonburg to visit family. The top photo is from the harbour at Port Burwell, the end of that meander.

I'm on Vacation next week, so Fall Colour is on the menu. Not sure where yet, I have a couple destinations I want to hit over the week, including one I was always hesitant to go to with the Forester due to the rough dirt road.

On the Photography Gear side, little has changed. I'm still using the E-M5.2 as my primary, mostly with the 12-40 Pro, and the E-M1 as a backup/long-lens body. Still want an E-M1.2 or E-M1.3, a 40-150 Pro and some wide option (probably the new 8-25/4), but those are mostly long-term plans, the current kit works well enough for now and Oly has one new lens coming that I want to see before I decide my priorities, a new 40-150/4 Pro.

Expect to see some Overland-related content here as I go forward, the journey is as much of the fun as the images I come back with and I now have a vehicle that can be setup to take me to places that were inaccessible with the Forester, at least running Solo as I so often do.

Today is Cleanup Day

Sony A7II, FE 28-70 f3.5-5.6 OSS

I've spent some time over the past couple days doing a major cleanup of my Flickr stream. I was up around 2800 images and trimmed down to 1940 or so images.

Mostly I cleaned out a mix of old 'found item' shots, mediocre street photography and uninteresting cityscape work. I was largely focused on preserving images that had some significant engagement, as well as some of the stronger images that may not have gotten as much notice. 

I think the end result is a much stronger Flickr stream, and one that focuses more on what I shoot today, rather than being 50% 'guy with a camera wandering around finding random crap' and 50% 'photographer shooting interesting subjects'

The one thing I do need to decide is how to approach some of the stronger or more popular images that really don't match up well with my overall body of work. I'm primarily a landscape and nature photographer. I dabble in cityscape. I'm not a street photographer, a portrait photographer or an aviation or automotive photographer and I'm not sure if I want to just cut some of the strong or popular images of those types out of my stream, especially since those genres dominate my earlier posted work. I'd like to have a solid body of work that dates back to 2005 when I joined Flickr, but a lot of that work just doesn't match what I do today. 

 

2021 Goals

 

 

Fujifilm X-T1. 7Artisans 18mm f6.3 UFO

Well, with 2020 as a wrap, it's now time to set some goals for 2021.

I traditionally set 3 goals for myself. One for volume, one for getting out to shoot and one for engagement. I'm going to do the same this year, but I'm taking a different approach than I have in the past.

For my first goal, volume, last year I set it at 10,000 images. I beat that by over 20%. Volume is really not valuable in and of itself, it's merely a push to get out and shoot. But this year I'm going to do it differently. I want to break the 10,000 frame mark with a single camera. That's not 10,000 new frames in 2021, but rather just rolling over the all-time 10,000 frame mark with that specific body. That would be easiest with the X-T2 as it's already at 4300 frames, but the D300 and X-T1 are possibles also (both bodies have shot a couple thousand frames already). The reason for calling out specific bodies is that I've owned 2 other D300's (for somewhere north of 15,000 frames shot total) and another X-T1. The goal here is to try and reduce my tendency to chase the dragon with bodies. I'm not setting aside the possibility of adding or replacing bodies, just giving myself an incentive to get out and shoot steadily with bodies I already have, and hopefully get a few more bodies over that 1 year of ownership mark. The D300 has set an ownership record for digital bodies for me, I've owned it for 3-4 years now, long enough that I don't remember when I got it, just what I paid ($20 and an FM10).

The second goal is for getting out to shoot. I've done this as numbers of new locations and numbers of trips in the past, typically 6-12 outings. This year I'm simply going to say 'get out of the house and shoot something every week'. The COVID situation makes any other goal too hard to predict. So I'm going with volume of outings, but also with a very easy mark to meet, as a walk to the grocery with my camera will suffice.

The third one has traditionally been 'post to Flickr every day and try and build views'. This year I'm ignore Flickr in terms of goals, although I'm not planning on drawing down my activity there. For this year my goal is to post to Instagram every time I go out specifically to photograph. So not necessarily going to the grocery, but if I go out specifically with the camera, there will be a post. I'd like to build my IG presence and I need to be active to do that.

 

Thoughts on System Selection in 2021

 

 

 

Fuji X-T2, XF 55-200mm

So here we are in the beginning of 2021 and the viable options for camera systems have shrunk a lot.

Pentax and m43 might as well be dead, well except m43 for video, where BlackMagic and Panasonic are still active. Olympus is dead, the replacement organization might as well not exist and we haven't seen a new sensor in 4 years with nothing on the horizon, Olympus having refreshed essentially their whole lineup over the last 18 months while only actually doing much for one model, the E-M5III, which got as much decontenting as it did upgrades. Pentax hasn't even done that much.

L mount is making noise, but it's hard to tell whether or not that noise is anything more than the last gasps of 3 companies that keep failing at the camera business, while doing something else very well (Sigma sells lenses, Panasonic does video, Leica sells jewelry for doctors)

That leaves 4 mounts of significance, which can be broken up into 2 real categories.

1. Buy if you are transitioning from their FF DSLR's. That's RF and Z mounts. While both systems have enough high-end lenses for somebody diving in at the deep end, both remain very weak at the low end in lenses, despite both systems having a solid entry-level body (unlike Sony today). The workaround is to re-use SLR lenses on adapters. That's a pretty good experience on either system if the lenses have lens-motor AF (a limiter for Nikon, not for Canon). Canon at least has a handful of real low-end lenses in the 24-105 STM and 50 STM. Nikon does not, even their cheapest lens, the 24-50, is wildly overpriced both in kit and retail forms.

2. If making a fresh start, it's pretty simple, pick APS-C or FF and buy Fuji or Sony respectively.

For crop systems, the only ones worth investing in are Fuji and Sony, and the Fuji bodies simply handle a LOT better than the Sony's, especially with larger lenses. Fuji's better JPEG's make them a better choice for the newbie as well and the lens lineup is better than Sony's haphazard selection of APS-C lenses. The one shining light for E mount is the excellent Sigma primes. Canon's EF-M line is crippled by its status as a dead-end mount with no upgrade path to RF mount and Nikon's efforts in DX Z mount are on par with Pentax's DSLR's (really nice in the hand, but they're making zero effort to move anything).

Do yourself a favour here and unless you plan on growing into FF, go Fuji. And don't hesitate to buy older Fuji's, the 24MP bodies in particular are great values, with features like USB charge and power which are missing on same-era bodies from other makers. The only downside is AF-C performance, but since the Sony bodies kind of suck in long-lens handling, it's tradeoffs down the line. Sony really needs to stuff the A6600 replacement into an A7III frame and call it the A7000.

For FF, it's FE or L and L might as well not exist. FE has the bodies (with one major exception) and it has the lenses, from ultra-cheap stuff like Yongnuo's line ($100USD 50mm f1.8's and the like) to very high end lenses like the Art, GM and Zeiss lenses.

The one gap is the entry level body. The A7c is a horrid joke, combining an EVF that would be embarrassing on a body at half the cost with a poorly implemented size reduction and complete failure to keep things consistent with the other IV series bodies, largely because it's a poorly cut down A7III at an almost not cut down price. And it's WAY too expensive, with barely a price break over the A7III.

Nikon did everything right on the Z5 and Sony should take a very close look there. The only reason why the Z5 isn't cleaning Sony's clock is lenses, Z lenses are WAY too expensive for the Z5 buyer, making it as or more expensive than the more capable A7III once you buy your second lens.

As to me, I'll continue down the Fuji path for now, although I'd be interested in an A7R series body at the right price. An A7R or A7RII would be a nice FF toy alongside my Fuji's, but an A7RIII or IV could replace them entirely (I'm still convinced that the A7RIV is the best crop mirrorless camera, and it's also a killer FF body).