What camera do I buy? / general gear talk

I still have a Ricoh grd 2 (?) the slow wide angle one.
Bought gr3x two weeks ago. Its everything the old one isn't. Quicker, perfect ratio, still pocket size. Hope it will stay dust free a while, as it has some cleaning mode.
Didn't save a load of pictures with a fast card which was incredibly frustrating, bought the slowest card I could find and now it's ok. Still going to have a serious chat with the shop I bought it from.
No idea if I should have gone for an iPhone 14 pro instead, but in my opinion there is no alternative in this size.

anyone interested in cheap D5200 kit? Couple of lenses (I think 3, will confirm). Will also check the shutter count. Can post. About £200.

Would buy in a heartbeat if they fixed the dust issue. Weatherproofing and a small optical viewfinder would be the icing on the cake.

^^what lenses?

let me unbox and take some pics today, will post here before making an ad

Can you do a video of the unboxing?

Still tempted, but for now have ordered the E-P7, along with the little 17mm f1.8. I’ll see how that works out as it’s pretty close to the form factor of the Trip 35 I had a lot of fun with a few years back.

Weatherproof of course would be great, let's see if I manage to kill it.
@withered_preacher those are also very nice, but was scared of going 4/3!

Yeah, we’ll see, likely any disappointment I feel in the system will stem from user error.

Fuji X mount lenses (own brand or third party), are there any that are considered excellent, or best avoided? The aim is to replace a Canon 6D dslr with something much more portable, but with the convenience of always having a phone.

I’ve really liked my canon prime pancake lens (24mm) and prime 50mm but all the X mount primes seem pretty chunky vs the body size and definitely won’t be fitting in a jacket pocket.

Purpose is street/landscape/real life photos whilst out and about. For dedicated photog trips I’d still use the 6D.

Before anyone says look at a compact etc, I’ve got an XT3 body already…

I thought I’d never buy a zoom or kit lens again but I have to say the 18-55 2.8-4 Fujifilm lens is very good, and has stabilisation too. Paired with a decent prime at your preferred focal length images for a decent setup.

So small too.

Interesting, thanks. I’d seen the signal 18-55 f2.8 which I liked the look of as it has constant aperture and seems decently reviewed. It’s not what I’d hoped for as “small” at 60mm long although a lot smaller than my canon glass! OIS is nice though, the sigma doesn’t have that

You can get small if you’re happy to not have the fastest glass. The F2 ‘Fujicrons’ are all great - reasonably priced, weather sealed and fast-focusing, and tiny relative to the f1.4 glass they make.

The 27mm f2.8 pancake they make is also very good.

If you want speed and small size then the Voigtlander manual focus lenses are excellent, but not cheap. I’ve used the f1.2 Noktons and the 27mm f2 Ultron and they’re lovely, and a lot cheaper than a Leica if you want to scratch the MF itch.

The TTArtisans lenses get good reviews but have never used any myself.

I’d seen TT artisans but never heard of them before so wasn’t sure if they were legit or a bit gimmicky. I’d have loved the 27mm f2 WR pancake but it seems to be out of stock everywhere for at least the next month :(

I’d seen a Fuji 18mm F2 but reviews were mixed, some say really soft stopped down and some say it’s ok just don’t be silly post processing with your cropping.

Not sure about MF for the purpose of this camera right now where it’s more likely to be used in the move, but maybe one to look into

Yeah it was a toss up for me between the Fuji and the Sigma but I heard a few horror stories about the Sigma build quality and focus speed, plus it didn’t have the stabilisation which I wanted with my X-E4.

Also the Fuji can be got for less than 300€ on MPB which is a lot cheaper than the Sigma is available for.

Oh yes. Had good fun with the GR but could be improved a lot if I read the manual...

Interesting, will take a look. I’ve generally been happy with sigma lenses on my 6D, and I don’t use the IS function in the lenses I have for that which do have IS so probably not a deal breaker but if it has it plus it’s cheaper then why not!

I never really got on with the 18mm, it’s slow and noisy to focus and hunts quite a bit. The Fuji 27mm’s focusing is nowhere near as good as the 23 or 35 (which are both quick and silent), but it is reasonably quiet and doesn’t hunt too much which massively reduces the noise it makes compared with the 18mm.

I’m enjoying zone focusing the manual lenses for street photography - ‘f8 and be there’, basically. But that may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Somehow I find it quite freeing not even worrying about autofocus.

Posted this a while back, might come in handy again;

33mm 1.4

I'm using this on the X-H2 and have used it on the X-H1 in the past. Even on those camera's it's quite present. Beautiful lens, excellent build quality and equally impressive in terms of output. I wouldn't get it as a daily lens due to the size / weight.

35mm F2

I've used this on both the X-T2 and the X-H1. Really enjoyed this lens and at F2 WR, in my opinion really a steal. Focal length wise probably my go-to allrounder in the Fuji line-up together with the 33mm. It's a small lens and therefore really good for everyday use imo.

Not wide enough for landscape imo.

16-55 2.8

I've used this on the X-H1 and X-T2. Image quality is impressive but so is the weight and size of the lens. It's heavy and I prefer internal zoom instead of external. Performance wise one of the best zoom lenses you can get. I prefer my 50-140 though in terms of focal length and overall performance. Can't compare to the 16-80 in terms of sharpness and overall build quality imo.

16-80 F4

Got this lens together with my X-H2. Tried it for a few hours but similar to the 16-55, I didn't like the external zoom and I'm not a fan of any F number exceeding 2.8. The 16-55 is sharper but also heavier / more expensive etc.

As an all-purpose lens that's mostly used outdoors, I'd recommend based on the price. For indoor use I wouldn't go for this lens.

23mm F2

I've not actually owned this lens but have used it for a few weeks on my X-T2. Very similar to the 35mm F2 in overall experience, great bang for your buck if the focal length is for you. For me it's fine for landscape but too wide for overall use. In that case I prefer the 33 / 35mm on the Fuji or even better, the 28mm on the Leica.

Small, super easy as an everyday lens.

New addition and revised opinion on 23mm focal length

23mm F1.4 WR

Fantastic lens, period. I've forced myself to appreciate this focal length during my recent holidays as I only took this lens with me. It ticked all the boxes. If the 1.4 is too big, opt for the F2 version which is tiny.

This is fantastic, thanks! Always appreciated your bike/landscape pictures in the various threads so this is super handy. As the XT3 as aps-c I was thinking of going as wide as possible to get a bit more in frame (city skyscrapers, landscapes type of thing) where you can’t always move further away but it sounds like the 23mm may be a good option. I’ve been very happy with both a prime 50mm and 24mm previously, and it looks like many of the zoom lenses recommended go down to 16mm or 18mm so that could do the job there if picking up a better general use prime at 23mm is a good option.

If you like 24mm FF then Fuji’s 16mm f2.8 and f1.4 lenses are amazing. I had both, kept the f2.8 because the tiny size means I actually use it, but the rendering of the f1.4 was beautiful and I slightly miss it. But I don’t miss the weight of it!

16mm F1.4 is amazing in both presence and performance indeed! Had that one too but sold it as it's a bit too wide for my regular use.

Sample shot taken with the 23mm 1.4 (reduced quality - JPG transmitted directly from camera - then edited on the phone for the family app haha)

Looking for some advice for a newbie photographer. I'm about to embark on a 6 month trip and I want to spend some of the time teaching myself photography after flirting with it as a teenager and never really getting any good.

So, I want a compact set up where I can edit photos on the move and store them in the cloud.

I have a Panasonic GX-80 with the kit lens that I inherited from my grandfather. I also have a couple of massive telephoto lenses from him that I am going to sell and use to fund something to edit photos (at the moment I have no laptop) and possibly a better more compact lens.

From reading here I think an iPad pro with lightroom would do well for editing and storing photos. Also considering getting the 20mm f1.7 pancake lens to slim down the camera (and I seem to recall learning on a prime lens is a good idea).

I guess I'll be doing a mixture of "street" and landscape photography given I'll be in SE Asia, NZ and then further east (Japan, Korea, Taiwan).

Before I take the plunge - has anyone got any tips?

That’s stunning, love the FoV on that.

Not sure the 1.4mm fits into the “small and lightweight” criteria I have but maybe the 2.0/2.8 is a good option (I don’t need the low light performance as much I don’t think)

Thanks @h2o, good to know :)

40mm FF equivalent is a perfect normal, which is a nice halfway house between the slightly wide 35mm and the slightly tele 50mm - plus as a pancake lens it’s very easy to carry around. So I think it’s a great starting point, but you’ll find that your photos feel a bit flat until you learn to compose them better with a normal lens - it doesn’t have any of the automatic interest that a wide or tele give.

I do all my editing on an iPad Pro with Lightroom - it works great, to the extent I hardly use my PC any more. But it does tie you into a subscription for the service and the storage (although that also solves your ‘where to back things up’ problem)