Back to Film, At Least For a Bit

Nikon FM2, Nikkor-P.C 105/2.5, Ilford HP5+

A little over a week after picking up the FM, I now have 4 rolls though it (66% of this year's film shooting and 40% of what I shot last year, it's been a while since I've shot a lot of film) and have added a 135/3.5 AI to the kit (I'll also be borrowing a Tamron 19-35 to round out the kit for now). I really have been reminded why I like shooting with classic manual mechanical SLR's.

And why is that? Simplicity. I was speaking with a friend over beers last week and had the FM with me. They mentioned that they were looking for a simple camera, and I noted that there is nothing simpler than a manual, mechanical camera like the FM. There's no automation beyond a mechanical instant-return mirror, the electronics assist but are not essential and there's only a few controls. What the friend was actually looking for was a camera that would do everything for them (easy, not simple), but it did remind me of my preference for simplicity. I don't want the camera doing anything for me, I don't want to have to worry about the charge on my batteries or whether I've dumped my cards. I simply want to grab my camera bag, dump a few rolls of film in and go shoot.

Does this mean I'm giving up digital? Nope. There's too much it does better than film today, and I do enjoy shooting with the X-E1, even if I haven't bonded strongly with it. And I love those Fuji lenses. on the other hand I'll be shooting more film if it all works out.

Summer is Here and Living is Lazy

Nikon FM2, Nikkor-P.C 105/2.5, Ilford HP5+


Haven't posted in a while, as usual I've been busy with work and while I have been shooting, it's been relatively light.

After struggling with shooting near-macro stuff on the X-A1, I ended up selling it off along with the 16-50 and my FM10 kit and purchased an X-E1 at the end of May. The X-E1's proved to be a better fit for my shooting than the X-A1, and I wasn't really shooting much with the FM10 anyways. I've around 500 shots on the clock on the X-E1 now and while I can't say I love the body (it's decent, but not one of the bodies I've bonded strongly with) I do love the glass, especially the 18/2. Despite a LR5 based workflow I haven't had any problems with X-Trans RAW conversions yet, which is a good thing. The Fuji kit is working pretty well overall although I will either end up getting the X-T1 or I expect I'll do another system shuffle, although to what I couldn't tell you. Sony lacks a body I want, m43 has interesting bodies and primes (especially now that the 15/1.7 DG-Summicron is out) but continues to lack the 24-105-equivalent zoom that I really want as an everyday lens. That said, I suspect if I do get the X-T1 eventually that I might actually stick to a system for a while.

On the film front, the FM10 just wasn't doing it for me, which was a bit of a headscratcher as I've always liked the body. Some of it was lenses, my setup (28, 50 and 100 Series E and a 35/2.8 AI) nailed the focal lengths but not the lens performance, of those I'm only really fond of the 100, but some of it was the body. I've been getting the film bug back more than a bit of late, so I stopped by the Henry's Outlet and picked up a replacement for the FM10, I ended up with a near-mint black FM and a 50/2 K (non-AI lens with AI cosmetics). Taking it for a spin reminded me both why the FM10 wasn't doing it for me and why I do like the FM10. Both come down to haptics. The FM is a far more hefty and solid body than the FM10 and that's what I was missing. On the flip side, because I was missing that I wasn't experiencing the strength of the FM10, which was its small size & weight, especially when paired with a 35 or 50 Series E lens. I suspect I'll buy another FM10, probably with the 35/2.5 Series E, but only as a second body to an FM or FM2(n), it's not going to be a primary film body for me. The FM just feels better. Only downside to the FM is I'm losing a stop of shutter speed (max 1/1000 instead of 1/2000), but I'm sure eventually I'll find the right FM2 and that will be solved.

Next steps on the film front will be a couple lenses (28 and 85 or 105) and maybe replacing the 50/2 non-AI with an AI version, or my other favourite Nikon 50, the 50/1.8 AI (not the pancake model which I don't like nearly as much as the older designs). on digital it's a wide angle, sometime this fall there will be a 14/2.8 added.

Still Kicking 2.0

Nikon D600, Sigma 105 OS HSM Macro

It's been a very busy month for me with work, and the grey weather has limited the amount of interest in shooting, so I've basically been offline since March.

The above photo was in fact taken shortly before my D600 began misbehaving on Feb 1st, and is from the last batch of D600 photos I'll post. It certainly reminds me of what I liked about the D600 and especially the D600 with the Sigma 105. Lovely IQ, good colour and great DoF isolation.

But do I really see much more than I get with the X-A1? Nope. I'm pretty happy with my little Fuji, although I definitely need to add something with a viewfinder, I don't like composing from the LCD all the time. Given my current cash flow situation (tight due to other non-photographic projects), the X-E1 is looking like a good interim solution, with the X-T1 coming maybe in late fall. We'll see, I won't be adding anything before July anyways.

Still Kicking

E-M5, ZD 14-54 II

I haven't abandoned this blog, just haven't had time to do much shooting of late. Also the late winter/early spring blahs have kicked in, there's just not much that interests me from a shooting perspective in the period between the beginning of the melt and the arrival of new growth.

Once spring truly begins in mid-April, I'll get my mojo back and you'll see some more posts. In the meantime there may be a few photo-only posts.

A Wet Leaf, and a Few Thoughts

Olympus OM-D E-M5, m.Zuiko 40-150 R

This is mostly just a photography post. The above image is one of my favourite shots from my late September visit to the High Falls at Onaping Falls, ON. This was on the edge of a small stream that skirts the edge of the falls. High Falls is a classic example of Northern Ontario scenery and in mid-fall colour as it was is an absolutely stunning area to visit. Living down in the relative flat & bland landscape of Southern Ontario, I really do miss the epic landscapes of my youth in Southern BC and Northern Ontario. Northern Ontario in particular gives you so many chances at gorgeous intimate nature shots as well as some epic rocky landscapes.

On the gear front, I've cancelled my pre-order for the Fuji 35/1.4, I still intend to acquire it at some point, but I felt that the investment would be more valuable if applied to other items right now. So instead I acquired a Voigtlander 28mm finder, the HG-XM1 grip for the X-M1/X-A1 and a Domke F-802 bag. The finder is well suited to my preference for working primarily with the 18/2, it's a little bit tight in framing (the 18/2 is a 27mm equivalent in 135 format terms) but is nice & bright and works pretty well so far. There's a slight intrusion from the lens hood, but it's minor. I'll probably do the same thing with the Voigtlander 21/25mm finder when I acquire the XF 14/2.8 R, although I expect more VF intrusion with the combo of a wider finder and a larger lens. The grip really does improve the handling, although it also has to be removed for access to the battery/card compartment. I do wish Fuji would do a MHG series grip for the X-M1/X-A1 twins, as those grips have Arca-Swiss rails and cutouts for the battery compartment, but I do understand why Fuji wouldn't do a $150 grip for a $400 camera. The bag is just another stop on the way in my search for the perfect camera bag. In this case I'm looking for a good everyday shoulder bag for my 13" MacBook Air + accessories and camera+lenses, preferably with some extra storage for purchases and other items I might need. This is going to be my everyday bag, the one I carry everywhere.

On the online presence front, I'm abandoning Google+ again. After a month or so of participation it's clear that G+ does not work for me, I simply don't like the apersonal level of interaction and the UI drives me to distraction. The lousy integration between accessing your image albums via G+ and via Picasa Web Albums is also annoying, why do I need to switch UI's just to get a simple direct link to my image for posting? Flickr, for all its weaknesses, is simply less painful to use and better supports getting my content in and out of it. G+ makes it almost impossible to link posts from elsewhere automatically and difficult to push posts out to other platforms. Frankly at this point I see G+ as Twitter for people who have an attention span, the interaction model is quite similar, although the content is FAR better. But I only use twitter as a method of broadcast interaction, and it's automated, and G+ doesn't really allow for the sort of integration I can do with Twitter.

A Day Out

Fujifilm X-A1, XF 18mm f2 R, Silver Efex Pro 2

Got out for my first walk with the X-A1 yesterday. I had to head downtown for an errand and decided to grab the camera and walk rather than taking the TTC.

It was a solid intro to working with the X-A1, I shot 80ish frames with the 18/2 and a half dozen or so with the 60 Macro, there just wasn't much along my route that suited the longer lens.

I do have to say I'm liking the 18/2, my initial impression is that this is a highly underrated lens. It's quite sharp in the centre even at f2, is nice and compact and handles very well, cross-frame sharpness is very good at f8. I also like the hood/hood cap combo (much nicer than Fuji's chintzy lenscaps). The 60 didn't impress much, but most of that likely was just the way I was shooting it and what I was shooting, once I get the chance to take it out for the environment I bought it for (portraits & macros) I expect better.

Only one surprise while shooting, which was related to the DR expansion feature. I was shooting RAW only, and aside from configuring ISO Auto (min ISO 200 max 6400, 1/60 minimum shutter) and enabling it was just using the default settings. But I kept getting ISO400 at shutter speeds in the 1/300-1/400 range. I eventually figured out that the Dynamic range expansion feature remains active in RAW and was bumping the ISO up by one stop to allow that feature to function. If you don't want this, set the DR setting to 100 and it will not happen.

The files from the X-A1 look excellent, although it's clear that LR's default profile is well off the Standard JPEG settings from the camera (and not in a good way, the camera's rending is superior). Given all the talk about the Fuji's awesome JPEG's, I'm going to give them a shot. Who knows, I might end up a JPEG shooter.

Light(weight) Matters

OM-D E-M5, DG Summilux 25/1.4

System carry weight matters a great deal to me, for a few reasons.

The first reason, and one essentially unique to me, is that last June I injured my right elbow and now can't walk around for long periods carrying a heavy camera. I hadn't really noticed the issue until I acquired the D600 and got a chance to shoot it in my normal fashion (my first outing with it was car-based so weight wasn't an issue). This was something of a surprise to me, I'd thought my elbow was pretty much fully recovered and it's clear that it isn't. That also seriously affects my gear choices. I was ambivalent about the D600 prior to my last outing with it, but once I realized the effect it had on my elbow it was clear I had to make the switch. Non-ideal gear is one thing, but gear that causes physical problems is a whole different story. I'd been wondering why my elbow was acting up in the evenings, since I quit carrying the D600 it's not been an issue.

The second one is similar, but more generalized. A larger, heavier camera with larger, heavier lenses means more weight out in the field for the same shooting kit and also needs a heavier tripod. Also SLR's need eye-height tripods (always an issue at 6'3") for reasonable composition through the viewfinder, while Mirrorless cameras, especially those with articulated LCD's, can get away with a far smaller tripod. My SLR tripod is a Manfrotto 055XPROB, while for mirrorless I normally carry a 290 series (at about half the weight, albeit also a much shorter tripod). That means I can either carry non-photo items (lunch, hiking gear) or just go lightweight and not get tired.

The third is straps. I like wrist-straps, I dislike neck straps. Not sure about slings, but they seem awkward to me, I don't like things bumping about my waist. Wrist straps only work with a lightweight camera/lens combo. The D600+Sigma 105 OS wouldn't work with a wrist strap, the X-A1 with the 60/2.4 will.

The wild card here is camera bags. I've got one well suited to ultra-light carry, the Crumpler 5 Million Dollar Home (new style), which surprisingly (just) fit the D600 and 3 lenses, but does very well with 3-4 lenses and a mirrorless body. But I do need an everyday bag, which can carry my MacBook Air 13", mouse & AC adapter, plus my basic shooting kit to work and elsewhere. There's plenty of small carry bags out there, but it seems almost all fit either a 10" tablet/netbook + cameras, or a 15" laptop and an acre of gear. I want something comfortably in the middle. Right now I'm using a crappy laptop bag, but I really do need to replace it with something better suited to my shooting. No idea what though, all the options look either too big or too small.

I also need a good hiking backpack. I've got my eye on the rotation180 Panoramic from MindShift gear, it looks pretty much ideal, while it's designed for an SLR plus a couple lenses, the marketing material shows an E-M5 kit fitting perfectly, and plenty of storage for non-camera gear without being too huge.