#165

thanks for all of the suggestions! my initial response to the tilt screen was concern about more moving parts— i realize that this was a gut reaction having not held any of these in person— which upthread is correctly stated as a strong parameter in choosing the correct hand-feel etc.

side note— i regret there’s not a way for people to “hold” monome stuff before ordering (though pre-covid this was a nice way to find new local friends)

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#166

I love my fuji camera.

I use Sony A7 series stuff for my studio work but the Fuji’s are wonderful for travel and outdoor

#167

so besides certain specs that sony aps-c had that i needed professionally, a big deciding factor was going to a shop and picking up cameras and saying “yeah i’ll carry this everywhere”

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#168

I will add that the ricoh has a image stabilization on the sensor, which is awesome, but that when the camera is off, and therefore the active system suspending the sensor is inactive, the stabilization system moves inside the camera in a most disconcerting way.

it feels sort of but not quite like there’s something rattling around inside the camera and takes some getting used to.

#169

I’ve put myself in a camera conundrum so I’m going to voice my thoughts in hopes that y’all (my Texas is showing) can do some group therapy for me.

My digital camera is an A7III with the 24-105mm G OSS lens that is great, but when I bought into the system hoping that the compactness would enable me to just grab the camera more, I find myself bummed out that the FE lenses sort of counteract the small size of the camera body so it stays home more often than I’d like. This is, of course, a super nit-picky and privileged problem to have considering the A7III is an incredible camera. Though, it makes me wonder if I’d be happier with something smaller to go along with my film quiver. Does the Fuji XT4 offer a more compact system overall? I like the idea of the X Pro 3 but I shoot video enough that makes me lean XT4 anywho.

What are y’all’s thoughts on a smaller crop sensor setup rather than lugging around larger ful-frame stuff?

#170

I don’t think a XT4 setup is going to be much smaller:


even with a slightly smaller lens.

How about switching to a small prime lens? Manual focus even better.
Or a truly pocket sized camera like a GR?

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#171

Thanks for the link! I see. I wonder if the lenses trend any smaller b/c APS-C?

I’ve rented a handful of Sony primes but didn’t gel with them so much. I shoot 35mm on a Minolta X-570 and got an MD adapter for the A7III which I enjoy, but I do like to take advantage of the good auto focus.

#172

Looks like the XF 18-155 is about an inch shorter than your lens and 100g lighter. So yes but not much.

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#173

Just to throw another option in there (as you mention “smaller crop sensor setup”) if you consider micro four thirds, an Olympus OMD EM5 mk iii with one of the 1.8 primes (I could live with either the 25mm or 17mm) could be the start of a small and powerful system or a viable lightweight fun standalone camera.

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#174

Thanks for y’all’s input! I’m pretty sure I’m just being a princess about the situation haha but I’m used to shooting tiny film cameras or large format film, not much in-between so I don’t know what to do with myself. I think maybe some rentals are in order

#175

yeah i’d say if you can rent some lenses or bodies that’s the right idea. i’ve always liked the zeiss 35/2.8 for full frame E-mount which is about as small as those lenses get without getting to “plastic…fantastic?” zones, but there are a couple of those available too.

definitely the X mount primes seem to have a lower profile than the E-mount.

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#176

In general I think you’d find the fuji-branded lenses to be lighter than their typical sony counterparts, but not necessarily much smaller (at equivalent focal lengths) in volume. I shoot a fuji x-t3 and really really like it; the colors I find to be more pleasing, hit rate is pretty high (despite inferior autofocus, but I’m a manual focus person in general anyways), and (I know this is horribly subjective) I appreciate that it feels like a camera that was designed for people who want to explore the artistic/creative aspects of photography, rather than a gadget designed by a tech firm. There’s not a bad fuji lens in the whole lineup, too (although as with most companies there’s a bit of quality variability in the zooms I’ve heard—mine have been just fine).

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#177

Jumping on this – Micro Four Thirds has a slew of super compact, light, tiny lenses.

If you want a standard zoom, I love the silly pancake-like Panasonic 12-32mm f3.5-5.6 kit zoom. Even though it lacks a focus ring, and is slow, it is tiny, and a superbly fun set of focal lengths for someone coming from decade old point-and-shoots. It weighs 70 grams and retracts to virtually nothing when not in use.

And there are other small lenses as well, the Olympus 45mm f1.8 is a shockingly diminutive portrait lens with nifty bokeh, and the manual focus only Laowa 7.5mm f2 is probably one of the smallest rectilinear ultrawide angels you can get.

(It’s fun over here!)

3 Likes
#178

Exactly what I do w/ my Sony A7’s.
I got a Leica M to Sony adapter so I can use my tiny primes with it. They make adapters for everything now. You can find beautiful old Minolta lenses that are super sharp, fast and really inexpensive.

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#179

i’m a big cheerleader for manual primes on my sony, especially the vintage route (which at the more affordable level requires a more sizeable adapter -Leica adapter is much smaller) but there are also some E-mount native lenses from Voigtlander that I really really really would love some time with

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#180

Yeah old Russian LTM primes or other rangefinder lenses are amazing on the Sony’s.
So small and can make some really dreamy images.

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#181

ya, the voigtlanders are fun. Most of the camera systems we’ve discussed have workable adapters, tho - I have a m39 adapter for the fuji and use some very old leica glass on it sometimes (from my uncle’s 1950s-era leica system), gives a lovely dreamy quality to the image!

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#182

I have m42, K, and MD adapters (the <$20 kind) and they add enough depth to the lens that the lens+mount are not significantly smaller than my APS-C E-mount primes. smaller than the 24-105mm G OSS in @jdrew’s situation, but not nearly pocketable.

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#183

Just for a brief update, I rented an XT4 and X100v for a period of time, and found the system to be quite enjoyable. Full Frame vs. APS-C arguments aside, there really is something to be said about Fuji color rendering. While the size of the XT4 vs the A7III bodies is pretty similar, I found that the XF primes are pretty compact though it’s definitely still a commitment to carry either around.

Still not sure if a trade would be worth it – the grass is always greener of course – but it’s worth thinking about. Also the X100v is super enjoyable, I wish it wasn’t as expensive as it is.

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#185

I’ve often read that Fujis are optimized for taking pictures of people, leading to pictures of other things lacking color and detail. Does that track with people here’s experiences?