The Online Photographer

New: Leica SL2

Leitz Leicaflex SL2, 1974: built like a Tiger I. This one's for sale.

First of all, the new Leica SL2 full-frame mirrorless (FFM) camera has an excellent name. I've often enough been a critic (or at least a lampooner) of absurd, obtuse, opaque camera names, so this should be acknowledged. The original Leicaflex SL2 was a beautiful, big, heavy, over-engineered, over-spec'ed SLR that Leitz made, late and grudgingly, as a response to the overwhelming popularity of the SLR. It was built like a Tiger tank. The name of today's SL2 FFM pays homage to that proud heritage product while at the same time remaining distinct from it by virtue of the fact that the earlier product has the tag "Leicaflex" attached to it whereas the new one is called merely by the current company name, Leica. So you can still search for the older SL2 on the Internet and not be swamped by results for the new camera.

Second, the second iteration of a camera is usually a promising and exciting event. It means that the original product was popular—otherwise there would be little reason to publish a new edition, as it were—and, also usually, the second generation corrects most of the niggles and glitches of the first, after the first has been thoroughly tried, sorted, used and discussed by its purchasers and, um, others. (It also sort of turns early adopters into de facto beta-testers, but that's neither here nor there.)

As befits the faster pace of evolution in digital, the SL2 offers some serious upgrades from the earlier SL (Type 601) from 2015. Most notably, it has in-body image stabilization (IBIS) almost certainly compliments of Panasonic, also most likely the source of the SL2's new OLED EVF—already one of the great features of the original. Although Panasonic has not been a leader with IBIS, and played catch-up for a long time, its most recent cameras seem finally to have caught up with longtime leaders and developers such as Olympus and Sony (née Konica-Minolta). The SL2 uses a new sensor of 47-megapixel resolution (same as the one in the Q2) and a new processor, called Maestro III. It is said to offer 14 stops of DR. It features a revised body design in response to complaints about the original, and revisions in the controls and menus. The rear viewing screen is bigger and has better resolution, although it's still not articulated in any way. It's a choice. The camera has a nice status panel on the top plate and the big, beautiful diopter control looks awesome (inset). The camera will cost $5,995.

Leica SL2. This one's for sale too.

Real-world tests to follow, out on the wilds of the Internet.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Jeff: "Plus even better weather sealing (IP-54), better video capabilities, and now with even more lens options through Leica (including SL, TL and adapted M, S and R lenses) and through the L mount alliance (Panasonic Lumix and Sigma). The sensor is also better optimized for M lens use (especially wide angle) than the Lumix S1/S1R, somewhat offsetting the significant price disparity."

Kenneth Tanaka: "I rented an SL about a year ago to test it out. My experience was similar to Aaron’s; it was a miserable experience. The SL was heavy, awkward to hold, awkward to control. The experience was made all the worse because the project I was shooting required me to hold the camera away from my face and pointed downward most of the time. After 40 minutes my arms burned, my eyes were aching (trying to see the non-articulating screen), and the 10-lbs. battery (exaggeration) was nearly dry. There is absolutely nothing about the SL2 that seems as it would help facilitate me making better images. I don’t care about their IBIS or their newly rounded edges. The sensor may be lovely (same as in my Q2), but so what? I’ll stick to my infinitely more capable and versatile Sony A7R, Fuji GFX, and Canon systems, thank you."

Mike replies: That sounds like my reaction to the R8 and Leicaflex SL2 film cameras. I had an immediate strong aversion to the R8, which a friend loaned to me at Photo East one year. (He loved it. Rumor had it that it sold very poorly.) An idea of the tanklike build of the Leicaflex SL2 can be seen here. Nothing wrong with that if it's what one prefers, but it's not to my taste.

For that matter both those film cameras reminded me of the Zeiss Contarex, a candidate for the best-built, least user-friendly camera ever made:

CC by 2.0

Gordon Lewis: "My grandfather was the proud owner of a Zeiss Contarex, which he let me use for a few days so that I could experience what it was like to shoot with the pinnacle of German design and engineering. Excitement transformed into disappointment as soon as I discovered that not only was the Contarex as heavy as a brick, the selenium cell exposure meter (the "eye" above the lens) was prone to underexposure caused by light reflecting into the meter from the brushed chrome lens barrel. I've had an antipathy towards heavy, over-engineered cameras and lenses ever since."

Chuck Albertson: "Mark Meyer (cf. Mike Plews's comment) survived an ejection from an F4 Phantom while shooting an assignment in the 1980s over the Mojave Desert (engine flameout). The strap on his Leicaflex SL2 snapped when his 'chute opened, and the camera dropped several miles. It was found by some hikers about a year later. The film was recovered, and the camera was repairable (the lens was a write-off). His camera used to be in the museum at Leica in Wetzlar, but had disappeared the last time I visited. The digital SL is robust enough to have been OK'ed by NASA to ride on its sounding rockets; the first one didn't go so well, as the 'chute malfunctioned. The SL has been my day-to-day camera for a couple of years. The image quality is superb, especially with a SL prime attached to it, and it's incredibly durable. You could win a bar fight with it, and then use it to photograph the losers—wasn't that Marty Forscher's working definition of a professional-grade camera?"

Coming Revolutions in Storage and Memory

We were talking about SD cards yesterday, and whether 95 MB/s (megabytes per second) is enough download speed or whether you need to pay the premium for 300 MB/s cards. Yes, of course, some people do need the latter—pros, videographers, heavy shooters, anyone on a deadline, etc.

As far as storage and memory are concerned, though, you need to know about two things, both of which were mentioned in the Comments. The first is called CFexpress, a possible new standard in portable removable media that's a big leap from what we've had up till now. The other is some even more exciting news in archive storage, an issue which has been a real headache in digital (and for certain analog media, such as the originals of movies) for decades now. It's called Project Silica, and it's just in the proof-of-concept stage now. But the concept is fascinating indeed. As are the concepts behind the concept.

CFexpress
Think your measly 300 MB/s SD card is the sh*ts? Well, yes, it is, but maybe not for long. CFexpress cards use Sony's XQD form factor and will be back-compatible with XQD devices, and can potentially deliver four lanes of 1GB throughput per lane. Upcoming examples of the Type B version of the 38.5×29.8×3.8mm cards can hold half a terabyte of data with read speeds up to 1,750 MB/s and write speeds of 1,000 MB/s, and the potential is for even more than that.

This is better tech. But as Kishore Sawh writes on SLRGear, "we’ve seen 'better' tech come and go in various fields before simply because they weren’t broadly adopted, and this was a concern for photographers and manufacturers. Make no mistake, adoption rates and market share can make or break a 'superior product.'" Truer words were never spoken. But that, in case you were wondering, is why the Nikon Z6 and Z7 and other Nikons use XQD cards—Nikon has already announced upcoming firmware updates to enable the Z6, Z7, D5, D850 and D500 cameras to use CFexpress Type B. Nikon is only waiting for the cards to become available before releasing the firmware that will enable them. (I don't know how many other current, or imminent, pro cameras use or will use XQD, but I'm guessing there are and will be more.)

Photo courtesy Lexar

A Lexar CFexpress card fits in the XQD slot of the Nikon Z7

More generally, it remains to be seen if CFexpress will be the storage media of the future, because it depends on adoption and acceptance. For now, though, I can't see how companies making cameras for professionals could fail to keep up with each other and transition to CFexpress—it's just so much mo' bettah. In the more distant future, it's certainly possible that cameras will involve a paradigm shift away from traditional handheld interchangable-lens standalone cameras—already, many amateur cameras are index-card-sized, quarter-inch-thick wafers (that is, smartphones) that can send their pictures wirelessly to the cloud for storage. Who knows if professional digital imaging will go that way too, or some other way? But assuming there remains a need for portable removable storage and a need for improvement in that area, CFexpress may be on the cusp of creating a decisive leap in the existing state of the art.

Microsoft Azure's Project Silica

Photo courtesy Microsoft

And speaking of the cloud, check this out. What you're looking at here are, on the left, the four reels of the 1978 movie Superman on celluloid, and, on the right, the same movie encoded on a palm-sized piece of hard silica glass. It's a technology developed by a sprawling Microsoft division known as Project Red Dog (2008) > Windows Azure (2010) > Microsoft Azure (2014). It's called "Project Silica." The successful transfer in the picture above is the proof of concept.

It's astonishing. Microsoft says "the hard silica glass can withstand being boiled in hot water, baked in an oven, microwaved, flooded, scoured, demagnetized and other environmental threats." Awesome/brilliant as all that is, it's not even the new technology's neatest trick. An absolutely huge problem in data storage, and one that looms even larger for the future, is that vast amounts of labor—and hence, expense—are needed to keep ahead of entropy, a.k.a. decay. In this case, for instance, "Warner Bros. proactively migrates content every three years to stay ahead of degradation issues." Just imagine having to do all that work just to keep Superman in shape! Then multiply it over all the movies Warner Bros. has ever made, then to all the movies anyone else has ever made, then to all the other kinds of information humanity thinks is as deathless and eternal and essential to culture as Superman....

Anyway, what's sorely needed is storage media that is "write once, read always" (WORA), so when you put something away you don't have to tend to it. Ant Rowstron, partner deputy lab director of Microsoft Research Cambridge in the United Kingdom, says, "one big thing we wanted to eliminate is this expensive cycle of moving and rewriting data to the next generation. We really want something you can put on the shelf for 50 or 100 or 1,000 years and forget about until you need it."

'Zackly. Here's a picture of my former WORA technology:

I haven't touched it in better than 20 years and all the image information is right there  awaiting potential excavation. This method isn't practical any more—once it reaches this stage it's stable, but it takes too much work and cost to get to this stage.

The piece of glass in the picture above contains 75.6 gigabytes of data plus error redundancy codes. How much work will it take to get that information to that stage? For the piece of glass pictured, probably a whole lot. I presume the eventual answer to that question is that the answer will evolve. Project Silica isn't currently intended for home storage or computing (or for your Lightroom catalog)—it's for the cloud. But if it turns out to be practical—and see those comments above about adoption and acceptance—it could eliminate the eternal headache of "write once, then back up over and over and over again at regular intervals until you run out of money or until some idiot drops the ball, at which point everything goes to hell pretty damned quickly," i.e., the current state of digital archiving.

If you want to know how it's done, you'll have to read Microsoft's article, released just a few days ago, because it's over my head. (I'm guessing you already know whether you want to read it!)

Mike
(Big thanks to Speed)

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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New Olympus E-M5 Mark III Will Ship in Late November

At first glance, it looks like the latest iteration of the very capable mid-line Olympus Micro 4/3 camera, the E-M5 Mark III, will be significantly different from its predecessor. From browsing various "pre-reviews" and announcements on other websites, it appears that Olympus is doing two things with the new camera: 1.) positioning it to be a backup to the E-M1 II with many of the more expensive camera's features and capabilities, even rearranging the controls to bring them more in line with the E-M1 II's controls; and 2.) emphasizing small size and light weight, probably to better differentiate it from full-frame mirrorless (FFM) cameras. (This doesn't take a genius to figure out: the new tagline is "Empowering You to Break Free of Heavy Gear.")

As far as the "smallening and lightening" is concerned, Olympus is known for class-leading IBIS (in-body image stabilization), and the press release reserves a whole section for the new (smaller and lighter) mechanism in the E-M5 III.

It's commendable that Olympus looks like it is making no move to intentionally cripple the new camera to protect higher-end models. It appears to be giving the E-M5 III all the capability it can.

The new camera is expensive, though, considering the competition.

It will be available in silver and black.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Eolake Stobblehouse: "I have watched several preview videos about it today, and I’m quite impressed. This camera is right up my alley. It can do everything I want and more, it is lightweight, and the image stabilisation is astounding. And of course I already love the Micro 4/3 system."

Nigel: "After handling a Nikon Z7, I am starting to have some doubts about the viability of the Micro 4/3 system. One by one the reasons for using this system are falling away. Only the size advantage when you use long lenses remains as a clear reason to use Micro 4/3.

"The 20-MP sensor is starting to be a little long in the tooth in a camera which must compete with cameras with much the same characteristics but with larger sensors which also cost less. At my local dealers an E-M1 Mark II is bundled with a 'free' 60mm Macro. Removing the cost of the Macro with what I could sell it for on eBay, the E-M5 III costs more than the flagship. Something is very wrong with Olympus’s pricing.

"This camera I feel suffers from the D300/D500 syndrome. When the long-awaited upgrade to the best selling D300 arrived, it was too late. I, like many others, had gone elsewhere. I jumped over to Micro 4/3 and the then-evolutionary E-M5 Mark I. Technically it produced better pictures than my old D300. Now the Micro 4/3 sensor is lagging behind the latest APS sensors.

"Once the Z system has some more lenses and the equipment becomes available more readily secondhand, I am convinced I will be returning to Nikon. The Z system gear is quite lightweight enough for me to hike in the mountains with; the very reason I fell in love with the Micro 4/3 system, but with all the advantages of the 24x36 sensor."

Nikon Z50

Mighty Nikon has announced its very first DX (APS-C) mirrorless camera. The new Nikon Z50 is a simpler, smaller, lighter, handier variant of the company's full-frame Z6 and Z7 mirrorless models.

As you can see from the picture above, the throat diameter—generously sized for full-frame—is proportionately large for the smaller sensor. That's not necessarily a problem from a lens design perspective, though, and at least Nikon's APS-C and FF mirrorless cameras will share the same lensmount, in contrast to Canon's R (FF) and M (APS-C) camera lines.

The smaller Nikon mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera (MILC) system, called Z DX in keeping with Nikon's longtime nomenclature for crop-sensor products, might turn out to be strongly biased toward consumer zooms in terms of dedicated lenses for the format. Two new such lenses were announced with the Z50—a compact 16–50mm (24–75mm-e) ƒ/3.5–6.3 VR standard zoom, and a 50–250mm (75–375mm-e) ƒ/4.5–6.3 VR telephoto zoom.

Hunka hunka
This is merely speculative and might turn out to be wrong, but, historically, Nikon's interest in producing dedicated format-specific lenses for APS-C has been about zero, at least since it abandoned its early fealty to the crop sensor and went with FF. Sort of the opposite of Fuji in that respect. So you might need to be happy with the "lenses as an afterthought" school of thought to be happy and at home here...

...Unless you want to buy something like, oh, I don't know, the just-announced four-and-a-half pound, eight-thousand-dollar Z 58mm ƒ0.95 NOCT and use it as a 87mm-angle-of-view equivalent on your new Z50. Then again, a whole lot of "camera consumers" just buy a body with a two-zoom kit and never think about lenses again, so, hey, could work.

Don't worry about how you'll carry your new NOCT
—it comes with its own case

Note that a life-sized block diagram of the lens elements is impressed in the foam of the case! This one's mainly for the collectors, "in case" (no pun intended) you're in any doubt about the target market.

The Z50's 20-MP sensor appears to be the same as the one in the D500, which gets high marks from users. Seems a perfect fit.

Each of us would have to handle one to be sure, but it looks like Nikon hasn't made this camera too small. I'm all for the Goldilocks principle when it comes to hand-fit; I'd rather have a nice built-in grip already there than have to add one like I did with my Fuji X-T1.

The prices will be ~$860 for the body, ~$1k for the body and the normal zoom, and ~$1,350 for the body and both lenses. Looks reasonable from here. Available for preorder; ships November 27th.

When you're ahead, don't give your competitors time to catch up
If you can tolerate a little meta-rumination, the biggest problem with Z DX might be "the Model T trap." Henry Ford honestly believed the Model T was the perfect car for Americans for perpetuity, so when it reached the end of its remarkable product run and sales slowed to a trickle, Ford not only had nothing ready to replace it, but Henry still believed no replacement was necessary. His beleaguered son, the much (and unfairly) maligned Edsel, beat his brains against the wall trying to get his cantankerous Dad to budge and allow him to bring the Model A to market; in the meantime, Ford Motor Company basically had no mainstream car to sell...for six years. That lapse was critical to Chevrolet, which used the opportunity to step into the breach. Had Ford worked vigorously to maintain its huge advantage, Chevy might be about as well known today as Handley Motorcars or LaSalle. Anyway, I don't know offhand how many years Sony and Fuji have been selling crop-sensor MILCs, but it's been a while now (I'd be interested to see a head-to-head with this and the similar but less-than-half-as-expensive Sony A6000, which now goes for $389[!]). Nikon might be too late to this game.

Still might be a swell camera, though. Nikons are almost always nice, even the ones that don't sell too well. I'll look forward to real-world reviews.

Mike
(for my friend Jerry L.)

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

Modern Color

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Canon EOS RP Review

Words and photos by James Leynse

The right-priced Canon
The introduction of a new Canon camera is often received with a burst of excitement, rapidly followed by a Bronx cheer of deflation as the camera is picked apart by Internet reviewers. If you follow camera news on the Web, and I admit to this guilty pleasure, it’s easy to be left with the impression that, once again, Canon has abandoned the needs of photographers to the demands of market segmentation and the goal of generating maximum profit.

Despite the disappointment expressed so loudly by the cognoscenti, the product in mention usually goes on to enjoy strong sales and Canon retains its top position among camera brands.

It's no accident that most of the photographers I know still shoot with Canon. Some have switched to Sony. Some still use their Canon lenses on a Sony body. Most just carry on with Canon. It takes a lot to get a photographer to change systems, and Canon is well aware of this. In my case, I shoot primarily commercial architecture and corporate portraits. I already have all of the lenses I need. There would have to be a compelling reason (and by that I mean both visually and financially) for me to switch brands. I have been tempted by the smaller, EVF-sporting cameras offered by Sony and Fuji. I even spent a few years playing with the A6000 and then the A6300 cropped-sensor cameras. In the end, I decided to wait and see what Canon would introduce when it entered the mirrorless market. I was intrigued by the EOS R but it seemed like a lateral move for me. The R has essentially the same sensor as the 5D Mark IV; I couldn’t justify the expense of switching just to get the EVF. However, the RP is a different story. At its current price of $1,299 with the EF-to-R adapter, the EOS RP is a tempting, somewhat easy-on-the-wallet addition to my arsenal. I decided to give it a try and have been actively using it for the last month.

In an effort to dispel some misconceptions, I am going to ennumerate and try to answer the three most common criticisms of the RP and the EOS R system in general, then talk about some of the RP's other features.

Where are the RP's Lenses? This complaint is partly true. If you are new to Canon or interchangeable lens cameras in general, then the EOS R system seems to lack some basic lenses, especially the more basic ones that would be a better fit for the RP. There is a very exotic (and expensive) RF 28–70 ƒ/2 zoom and some equally pricey ƒ/1.2 primes including the RF 50mm ƒ/1.2. The RF "kit" zooms include a slow, amateur variable-aperture RF 24–240mm 10X zoom and the all-purpose, stabilized RF 24–105mm ƒ/4 L IS USM, which is probably the first lens most buyers would get with the RP. Most of the better RF lenses retail for over $2,000. They look like amazing lenses but are probably not what most people buying the RP are looking to acquire. The closest thing to a reasonably priced standard lens that would "match" the RP is the stabilized $499 RF 35mm ƒ/1.8 Macro IS STM lens. While it’s an excellent performer, it’s not a zoom and probably wouldn’t satisfy if it were your only lens. A sharp, small pancake lens for the RP would be a great addition to the RF lineup.

Things are different if you have already bought into the EOS system and have some older lenses. The RP, which usually comes bundled with an adapter, can use just about any Canon EF or EF-S lens (full framed or crop-sensor) even if they are decades old. The only exception I know of are EOS M lenses.

I have used the RP with an array of autofocusing zooms and manually focusing tilt and shift lenses and have found both the AF and MF to be superior to what I am used to working with on my 5D Mark IV. The eye-AF/face tracking on the RP is pretty amazing. Whether using it to track my high school cross country runner or to keep focus locked on the eye of a portrait subject, the system works very well. It also works well while shooting video but, unfortunately, not in 4K mode. Proof of market segmentation? With my manual focusing lenses, having an EVF means being able to punch in 10X magnification while holding the camera to my eye. This has vastly increased my rate of well-focused pictures.

No IBIS! I know this is a contentious issue at TOP. At the risk of making myself a target, I think its absence from Canons has been overblown. Most of the Canon lenses that could benefit from image stabilization have IS built into the lens and clean, high ISOs mean that it’s easier than ever to use a reasonably fast shutter speed without undue grain. Would I like IBIS? Yes, but I don’t really need it. It’s rumored to be coming to future Canons but, for me, it's not a deciding factor.

Cropped/Crippled 4K video. After having launched the DSLR video revolution with the 5D Mark II, Canon has continually disappointed its fans by limiting the video performance of their still cameras. What do we have to do to get good 4K, full-frame video?  Canon’s answer: buy a Cinema camera. The RP does not deviate in this regard. It is primarily a still camera.

It’s definitely annoying that the RP doesn’t have better 4K and especially annoying that they eliminated the 24p (23.98 frames per/second) frame rate when shooting in full HD mode. The RP can operate in full HD mode at either 60p (59.94 frames per second) or 30p (29.97 FPS). For some reason 24p (23.98 FPS) is not available in HD (this is the frame rate that is most commonly used in North America for movies and gives that "cinematic" effect of blurred motion).

4K on the RP is cropped and suffers from bad rolling shutter which makes it almost unusable unless the camera is kept stationary. 4K mode also loses dual pixel AF relying on the older and slower contrast only AF. In the NTSC region of North America, The RP only shoots 4k at 24p (23.98 frames per/second).

Other features:

Dynamic Range: This has become another version of the megapixel race. For the most part, I find this to be more of an issue on paper than pixels. It is true that the RP (and Canon sensors in general) capture less dynamic range than their Nikon or Sony competitors. More is usually better but sometimes enough is enough. Most photographers (Canon shooters included) throw away most of their sensor’s dynamic range by either saving their files as JPEGs or just boosting contrast. There are situations which require a wide range of captured exposure: the classic example being an interior where one needs to see both the inside space and the bright view out the window. The solution is either to light the interior to balance with the light from the window or use a tripod and combine a series of bracketed exposures that capture the full range of interior and exterior light. Both are better solutions than to rely on a single frame, even if that frame comes from a sensor with 14+ stops of dynamic range.

For me, what’s more important than dynamic range is the sensor’s overall rendering of the image. The RP produces a similar looking file to most current Canons. To my eye, that’s a good thing and makes it easy to pair with my other cameras.

Battery Life: The battery on the RP is only rated for 250 shots. I always carry a spare which, conveniently, was included with the kit.

Silent mode/electronic shutter: One of the great benefits of mirrorless cameras is their ability to operate completely silently by bypassing the mechanical shutter. While there can be issues with banding and rolling shutter, there are also many times where having a completely silent camera lets you take pictures that wouldn’t otherwise be allowed. The RP does have this feature but, unfortunately, its is crippled by being accessible only as a fully auto "scene" mode. No manual exposure with silent shutter. For that (market segmentation again?) one needs to splurge for the more expensive EOS R.

Ergonomics: This is where RP really shines. The camera is quite small and light yet it manages to have a comfortable grip and a mostly logical and customizable layout of buttons. From the way it wakes up to the placement of the AF and shutter buttons, it’s a pleasure to use. It is also one of the rare cameras whose buttons tend not to get accidentally knocked when being transported. It even has a customizable switch allowing the photographer to lock all controls except the shutter. The record button can also be set to work only in video mode. No more interminable movies of the interior of my camera bag.

Flippy touch screen: not sure why every camera doesn’t have one of these. It makes shooting either horizontals or verticals from overhead or from the ground much easier. It makes shooting video much easier. Touch the screen and it focuses where you placed your finger. Look through the finder and you can control the focus point by moving your finger on the screen. Don’t want to be distracted by the screen? Just flip it around and fold it against the camera. Some people hate them (not sure why) but I think flippy screens add a lot of functionality.

Right Price: this brings us to the final reason (maybe should have been the first reason) to get an RP. While by no means cheap, a full frame camera that retails for just under $1,300 and comes with a spare battery and EF adapter is a pretty good deal—and a very good deal if you are already invested in the Canon system.

Overall, I have been more than satisfied with the RP. I am enjoying the advantages of a small, lightweight mirrorless camera and getting it in a package that smoothly integrates into my existing Canon DSLR system. If you can live with its limited video capabilities, the full frame EOS RP is worth strong consideration.

James

James Leynse is a photographer specializing in commercial architectural and corporate photography. His work can be found at www.leynse.com and on Instagram @leynsephoto.

Original contents copyright 2019 by James Leynse. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to TOP's affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Hugh: "I love my RP. It's hard to explain quite what a perfect combination it makes with the 35mm ƒ/1.8 RF lens—rather like the M2 and 35mm Summicron was—more than the sum of its parts. Add the EF 85mm ƒ/1.8 with the adapter, and you've got a nice light two-lens travel kit. The 50mm ƒ/1.8 STM works like it was designed for the camera as well. Works beautifully with the heavy stuff like the Canon 35mm ƒ/1.4L, 85mm ƒ/1.2L and the 24mm TS-E lenses as well. Best of all, it's just another Canon—no need to read the instruction book, and you can swap seamlessly to and from a 5D body without thinking."

Mark Kinsman: "As an ex Canon shooter, I still follow the news regarding Canon and keep up on all the new gear from all brands. But for me, Canon’s offerings are just too late. I had the full compliment of L glass lenses, including the Tilt Shift lenses, 5D Mark XX bodies, etc. I moved back to APS-C and Micro 4/3 when the Fujifilm X-T1 and Olympus OM-D E-M1 were released. Most photographers I know that were using Canon switched to Sony or Fujifilm. While I’m glad to see Canon join the mirrorless world, their offerings leave me cold. Nikon and Sony offer FF solutions that I think outpace Canon in full frame. However, the need for FF no longer offers any appeal to me, regardless of the brand. I don't need more megapixels past 24–30, it's more than enough for 24x36" prints I have hanging on walls...and for social media, please, we have way more than necessary. Canon still seems to be practicing feature crippling as incentive to buy more expensive models, while their competitors do not. I do hope they change that practice."

Trecento: "I have a problem with Canon's strategic feature-crippling. The most egregious example isn't directly with this camera: it's that they have two incompatible mirrorless mounts! This is very confusing! The 'consumer mount,' their 'M' mount, is more of a problem for the unwary, because you can't buy into one system and port your lenses to the other. Unless, of course, you just want to stick with adapted EF mount lenses. Lots of choices, but only ones that are good for Canon.

"Additional confusion follows from their 'R' mount nomenclature. I attempted to make a list of what's going on:

'R System with an RF mount' (Full frame only.)
EOS R
EOS RP

'M System with an M mount' (APS-C only.)
M5
M50
M6 MkII
M200

"So, things to keep track of: R (camera), R (system), RF (mount), RP (camera), M (system), M (mount), M (cameras, numbered), EF (mount), EF-S (mount), EF-to-R adapter, and an EF-to-M adapter. [R, R, RF, RP, M, M, M5, M50, M6MkII, M200, EF, EF-S, EF-R, EF-M.]

"There's a lot to be said about this, but the one that jumps out at me is that marketing and product selection is no longer being done via knowledgeable camera sales guys at retail counters. There's no coherent, compact story to tell a customer. This strategy is perfect for the Internet-based research-before-buying crowd, and the do-no-research-but-buy-what's-on-sale-at-Best-Buy-in-December crowd."

Kenneth Tanaka: "Thank you for your practical comments on the RP, James. Until several years ago I, too, was principally a Canon shooter and literally have drawers of fine Canon lenses to prove it. So I appreciate your comment regarding the force required to force someone to switch. It took some very persuasive evidence for me to switch away from Canon.

"Although I’ve largely switched to Sony for most of my 'serious'” work I’ve not given up the Canon ghost quite yet. Sony has soundly and indisputably kicked Canon’s butt technically. And honestly I have little desire to return to using my 5D Mark IV's dark, uninformative optical viewfinder. But I do still prefer the warmish look of Canon’s images. And I also still trust the durability of Canon’s bodies and lenses more than those of anyone else. Canon’s proven durability and its historically excellent professional support system are the factors that keep the 1D and 5D bodies in such wide pro news use today.

"However a tool has to feel comfortable if it’s to be used to greatest advantage each day. That the economical RP feels good to your hands and eyes is the only endorsement needed. I really do hope Canon is able to extend this line to remain competitive. I look forward to again using at least some of those Canon lenses more regularly."

Nic M: "Canon will be adding 24p/23.98 FPS to the EOS 90D and EOS RP at the end of October, and for the following models later: 'The PowerShot G7X Mark III and G5X Mark II will follow at the end of 2019 and the EOS M6 Mark II during the first half of 2020,' reads Canon's email to DPReview. Once the firmware is released for the cameras, each supported model will be able to shoot 24p (23.98 fps) in 4K and Full HD."

James Leynse replies to everyone who commented: Thanks to all who read and have commented so far. I will try to answer some of your points. Mark and Thomas, you are right that cameras have reached a point of sufficiency. APS-C or Micro 4/3 cameras are both excellent choices and offer many benefits. From my perspective (no pun intended), the main advantage of full frame is that it allows the full field of view when using lenses like Canon's TS-E optics. Trecento, couldn't agree more about Canon's naming system. What's worse is that the R stands for 'revolution'! What ever happened to descriptive and iterative names like Leica M2, M3, M4.... Benjamin, I wouldn't worry too much that cameras will disappear. Even as smart phones have proliferated, we seem to be in a golden age of cameras. As photographers, we have never had it so good. Now if only that were true for the business of photography ;-) Nic, thank you for the information. I am glad to hear that 24p HD will be coming back to the RP. Couldn't understand why it wasn't there.

toto: "The thing I hate most about the Canon RP is its name. In all seriousness, every time I see it, I see 'Canon RIP' instead."

c.d.embrey: "Canon has a 24 FPS (29.93) 4K update on the way. By the way, what percentage of interchangeable-lens camera users actually shoot video at 24 FPS? A Canon RP weighs less than a full-frame rangefinder Leica. An RF Leica doesn't have IBIS, either. Unfortunately Canon only has one small/light prime.

"Something not mentioned is that the RP can focus-stack. In many ways focus stacking is better than tilt and shift for increased depth-of-field.

"If you shoot a lot at ground level, like I do, a flippy-screen is a plus."

iPhone Takeaway

I’m reminded of a story my father told me years ago. He was visiting an engineering firm and the owner was showing him around. They came to a large room with men sitting at drafting tables (this was in the 1940s) but not seeming to be doing much. The owner commented “I hope to God they’re thinking because they’re costing me money!”

—Rip Smith

Okay, had a little fun yesterday (some people love that, some people don't like it), and threw a little water on the merry iPhone 11 marketing bonfires, like it matters to anyone but people who read me. But the bottom line from my point of view: if you're waiting to upgrade your iPhone for the sake of the camera, wait another year or two...

...They're still thinking.

Mike

P.S. I'll be keeping my iPhone 7+ until then. I'll post my latest iPhone shot I like in the next day or two.

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Moar Lens

I wanted to post a brief announcement about the three-lens camera in the new iPhone 11 Pro, but as I wrote I found myself being a wise-ass...which as we know, usually means I'm being an ass and not wise. According to an interview with CBS in 2015, Apple executives claimed there are 800 engineers working exclusively on the camera in the iPhone. My wise-ass question is, has someone been keeping track of what they've all been doing? Did they have to wait until Apple Park was completed in order to get started? Was there a giant company-wide intramural round-robin of Words with Friends going on? Or have they been working on the Penske file all week?

Because at a superficial glance it seems like the biggest change is that they added an ultra-wide lens...which would fall under the category of market poaching, since clip-on wide-angle attachments are one of the semi-popular aftermarket accessories for iPhones. But poaching an idea from the aftermarket to capitalize on what customers are already buying is kind of an ordinary move, not to mention rather anti-Jobsian in spirit, isn't it? Do you really need 800 people for that?

Okay, there are other things. There's a night mode (already common on Android competitors). Portrait Mode fake bokeh is now available on the middle focal length as well as the longest (a video reviewer said that formerly having Portrait Mode only on the "telephoto" lens was a quote-unquote "limitation." There are so many problems with that statement that it sends my wise-ass mode into overload, starting with the fact that a 52mm-equivalent lens is not a telephoto in fact or in deed). And the 800 engineers are reportedly working on exposure stacking, for which a sententious name has already been chosen and which will get done as soon as they finish the Penske file. (See? I can't stop.) And the selfie camera module on the front has been improved to the standard of the camera modules on the back, because as everybody knows "pros" need to make higher-quality selfies.

Anyway, I guess the primary thing to mention is that I've always said you should never really comment on a camera until you actually hold it in your hand and use it, because there are things you can't know from descriptions and feature lists. And I have not done that. But I have to say I'm a little mystified, and more than a little disappointed. Maybe the stories I've been hearing for years about computational phone-ography, something that seemed to be so imminent when the iPhone 7 with its two lenses came out, are not going to come to pass.

Still, I'd still like to know what all those engineers do all day. I don't want to rat on anybody or get them in trouble with their boss, but I'm getting a little suspicious.

Mike

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hugh crawford: "I was hoping that the Time-of-Flight camera would make it into the iPhone 11 but fortunately for me it did not so I don’t have to buy a new phone right away."

Mike replies: I had to look that up.

hugh crawford adds: "Oh, I thought everyone (don’t ask me anything about sports or celebrities) was following 3D and computational photography. Here is a link that explains what I’m talking about as it relates to the iPhone."

Mike: It always makes me smile when the following happens. These two comments came in within minutes of each other:

beuler: "The best 'hands off' camera preview. Ever. The biggest camera improvement on the iPhone 11, as far as I can tell, is in the viewfinder. By that I mean the large palm sized screen that is used for framing. It's very bright and accurate, according to other previews. Now, back to that Penske file."

Jeff: "Step one. Immature rant about Apple or Leica. Step two. Watch the page views and comments flood in. Very disappointing post."

I think the relevant quote is, "You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the times, but you cannot please all the people all the time."

I looked it up on Quote Investigator, and this deserves to be called a folk saying. The original version uses fool, not please, and the earliest verified citation is by a politician named William J. Groo, who said something like it in September of 1885, 20 years after Lincoln's death. Groo's maxim might have been based on a French saying by one Jacques Abbadie that made its way into Diderot's famous Encyclopédie. After Groo said it, it was ascribed to Abraham Lincoln, and sometimes to P.T. Barnum, but there is no record that Lincoln ever said it.

In my defense, I can only say, somewhat ruefully, that if I actually knew what made the page views and comments flood in, you can be sure I would be doing more of it, and would not be shamed into doing less. It's not actually easy.

Viktor: "Mike, you just made my day! And with references to Costanza as well, hilarious."

Mike replies: Has anyone looked for the 800 engineers under their desks?

I should stop.

spot: "Do. Not. Stop.  ;-)  "

Mark Jennings: "Maybe good stuff gets slow walked until the 5G phone."

Jim Arthur: "Um...I'm pretty sure the image you posted is the new KitchenAid Triple Burner Induction Cooktop with downdraft venting and the new celebrity chef catchlight."

JG: "I laughed at this...."

Michael Perini: "I thought Apple’s announcement was significant. Of all the possible features that Apple could have spent resources on to insure sales, they chose to improve photography. If that is not a message heard by camera companies I cannot imagine what could be clearer. It says 'There's a big market there, and we're going after it.'"

Sunday Support Group: Use It Up!

[This post is a ramble. Which is okay with me—I like rambles, sometimes. Ken T. doesn't like rambles, though, and other readers might not. So, up front: All it's going to say is something I've said before, that you shouldn't baby your camera gear, you should "use it up." That's the tl;dnr (too long, did not read) summary. There, now you don't have to read this and you can go cut your grass or watch football.  :-)  —Staff Writer Mike]

Saw a video about a car the other day. A guy—not just any guy but a talented and knowledgeable guy—spent eight years, and Lord only knows how many dollars and pounds and hours, hand-building an exquisite modified replica of a very rare Jaguar. The detailing is superlative and the car is gorgeous. If you like that kind of thing.

There was one thing that bugged me a little, though. In making the video they put three miles on the car, which quadrupled the mileage on the odometer. The car had one mile on the odometer when they started. One.

After the video, the car was off to the Concours d'Elegance at Pebble Beach, the top auto show in the USA. Trailered, obviously.

If I owned that Jaguar Low Drag Coupe, much less built it, I probably wouldn't drive it either. How could you? What a horrible fate. You'd spoil your work of art.

Some people have a thing about perfection. Other people have OCD (mild or worse) and really have a thing about perfection. (One of my many favorite book titles: Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect.) Many people are just "particular"—I like the hillbilly word persnickety. They like things a certain way. I have no problem with that at all. I have a buddy who was buying a new shaft for his pool cue and he wanted one that has a decorative ring that matches the decorative ring on the other part of his cue. Totally understandable. I have another buddy who buys a lot of guitars, and some of them he never touches because he doesn't like the idea of getting fingerprints on them. So? He owns more than enough of them. He has guitars he plays. If he has one he doesn't want to touch, that's up to him. It's his guitar. Again, zero problem with that.

But for me, just speaking personally, guitars would be for playing, and cars would be for driving, as cameras are for taking pictures with.

(I know, I take too long to get to the point sometimes. I get interested in the intros, know what I mean?)

Many months back I watched a series of videos by Tom of Tom's Turbo Garage, a guy who is both an expert professional mechanic and also a passionate amateur geek mechanic. Tom tore down a Mazda Miata and built it back up again according to plans and ideas he'd been developing in his head for years. There are some updates at the end that show him happily tooling around the back roads in his V8 Miata build. He tells us he's put many miles on the car since he finished it.

I keep my cars a long time, but the thing is, I like the status quo, where cars are considered slow-motion disposable. Buy one new or lightly used, drive it for a bunch of years until it's getting shabby and the repair bills start to hurt, then rinse and repeat. Well, let me modify that. I dislike it when cars are either too shabbily built to last a decent amount of time, or when they're so stupid-overcomplicated that they break easily and then are hellishly expensive to fix. Those are examples of the wrong kind of "disposable."

What I mean is, cars are meant to be used up. 

"Using stuff up" is a concept that's a little difficult for people with OCD. I'll speak for myself, at least. That guy Tom is probably a little OCD, but he channels it positively. I'm probably a little OCD too—you have to be, to edit a blog for 47 years.

It's easy to get a little persnickety about camera gear. Many people love to shop, and "build the perfect outfit," and choose the perfect lens set, and find the perfect bag, and get all that just right. And I have no problem with that.

But then you can get into this uncomfortable zone...the Keep It Perfect Zone. Probably everybody understands that thing about the "first ding"—when you get a new car, you keep it washed and waxed and you do things like get down on the ground to clean off every spot of tar from the rocker panels. Then comes that day. You know the day I mean. You get that first parking-lot ding or chip in the windshield or scratch in the paint, which you can't fix yourself yet just isn't worth taking it to a body shop for, and from then on it's downhill.

The same thing happens to me with cameras. When they're new, I don't want them to get...well, fingerprints. Okay, not fingerprints—I'm not that bad. But I have this urge to baby them and keep them new-looking. I actually make it a point to get to that first ding, or its equivalent. I consider it kind of, I don't know, healthy.

I only have a little wear on my 5-year-old
X-T1. It's not for lack of trying.

Oddly, digital cameras come across as much more fragile than old-timey metal-manual-mechanical film cameras, and I guess things do fall off some of them or stop working, but, if the ones I've owned are any indication, they're actually not that easy to put much wear on. My old X-T1 has been battered and banged and wetted and dried and dirtied and cleaned and tossed and toted, but it hardly looks it. It's not even close to being used up.

Of course, I do have a couple of cameras that are for show, for decor, like my friend's untouched guitar or that Low-Drag Jaguar car. "Use it up" is a helpful attitude, I guess. An approach, a mindset. Get to grips with the stuff—wring it out—especially, don't baby it. For cameras that are "users," it just seems like a more useful attitude to have.

Mike

P.S. Usually, when I ramble, I'm talking half at myself. Stop babying that X-H1! might be another way of summarizing this post.

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Bob Gary: "Funny! Good one. As usual, right on the money. Use it up, wear it out, make it last. Buy good, well-made stuff to begin with, and take care of it, my parents said. And when you’re done, move them along, with thanks for their help. When I get the tools out to work on a home project, I’ve told people sometimes that I had some of my relatives helping me on it, because of their tools I used that were handed down to me. I have my grandfather’s Kodak to shoot with sometimes, and I can almost hear him giving me advice...."

Alex Buisse: "I am with you on this. I take great pride on having well-worn camera gear. Babying my equipment is often not an option at all while shooting in the mountains or in a refugee camp. I have gotten lenses and bodies (including a Nikon D4) to stop working quite right, though never to totally fail, except for the one I literally dropped off the side of the mountain."

David Evans: "Re 'Of course, I do have a couple of cameras that are for show.' Of course? You must be rather rich by my standards. I have a longish list of cameras (probably starting with a Lumix S1R) that I would buy, and use, rather than have a camera just for show."

Mike replies: You can see my main "show camera" in this post. The camera was a gift from a friend.

Richard Parkin: "That’s one of the advantages of buying used, it’s already got its first ding and you don’t need to worry about it."

Peter Williams: "My favourite photography quote is, 'A camera is a tool, not a jewel.' I read it somewhere in the 1970s and cannot remember who said/wrote it, but it's perfect."

John: "With cars, I’ve learned to relax. Stuff will happen, so I take it for granted that it will and deal with it when necessary. With film cameras, I didn’t care much, but since I tend to sell my digital cameras after a while, I don’t really pamper them, but I put gaffer tape in places where they may otherwise easily get damaged. Same for expensive lenses.

"My pain point is fountain pens. I’m not a collector, so I use them, but I have way too many to actually use each a reasonable amount of time. So, I’m caught between admitting I’m like that guy with his Jaguar or get rid of the stuff that sees no use. And I don’t want to be like that guy...."

Huw Morgan: "Tomorrow morning, I'm going to get in my 1987 Jaguar with over 200 thousand kilometers on the clock and drive it from its summer home near Haliburton Ontario back to the city where it will be garaged over the winter. She's a beautiful car with a V12 engine that still purrs. Driving it is pure pleasure. Years ago, I parked it in a classic car show and a guy wandered up to admire my car. He had the same year and model, but with nearly zero kilometers on the odometer. He admitted to envy because I got to drive my car whenever and wherever I wanted to. He could only look at his car. My Jag is nearly worthless in the market, but it is priceless to me."

John: "There was a line from I think the head camera technician who worked at Life Magazine. 'The Nikon F is a hammer that takes pictures.' I remember taking one of my malfunctioning F's into the local Nikon repair shop and Rolf, the senior technician, came back to the waiting room to see me within minutes, the camera apart in his hands, 'There’s mud everywhere inside this camera.' Well there would be. It had been hot and dusty for a few weeks and then it rained, hard."

Darin Boville: "One important difference in 'use it up!' between old-timey mechanical cameras and today's is that the old-timey cameras are used up slowly, and eventually stop working and can't be economically repaired. Modern cameras can look beautiful but then suddenly be worthless if the electronics go. Used up all at once with no warning. (But, to be honest my Nikon D800E never failed me nor has my current camera, the Fuji X-T3.)"

Gary Nylander: "When I worked as a newspaper photographer you would not believe how fast I could wear a camera out, especially working on a daily. My first Nikon was a beautiful black painted F model. Aer a couple of years of daily newspaper work it was pretty well dinged up and brassed around the edges. A few years later I thought nothing of trading it in on a Nikon F2."

Ludwig Heinrich: "My Citroën C5 has over 350,000 kilometers on the clock (220,000 miles?) and the lettering has won off most of the buttons on my Sony A6000—I'm with you on this one.  :-)  "

Big Fuji X-H1 Deal Reaches the UK

...Within the limits of currency exchange: Here it is from Amazon UK (£999).

Don't forget the X-T2 is still an excellent choice in this range for stills; most of the updates for the X-T3 were for video. The X-T2 is currently £599. (It's curious that although the absolute latest and greatest often costs more now, good cameras are getting cheaper—if you have some personal discipline and can make a judicious choice.)

Mike
(Thanks to Salvador Moreno)

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Fujifilm X-H1 Current Impressions

["How's your new camera?" —Michael Perini, yesterday]

-

Someone said here the other day that each generation of new cameras is less interesting than the last. There's something to that.

But as Exhibit One for the rebuttal, let me propose the Fujifilm X-H1. Yes, it's true, the wild-and-woolly "frontier market" of pell-mell growth is over. The camera industry is in steep decline (adjustment?) lately. Smartphones have cut the guts out of the popular mass market for digital point-and-shoots, which barely exist now. And we're paying more for cameras than ever before, or at least we are while they're glistening with newness. (But not for the X-H1, which, at $999 for the body, the battery grip, and three batteries is currently the best bargain out there. They're not giving them away literally, but figuratively they sure are. I'll link to the kit, which I usually don't do, because it looks like B&H is going to fulfill those orders first. Order, then cross your fingers and hope you actually get one.) (Oh, and FujiRumors is now saying there will be no X-H2 in 2019...or maybe even 2020.)

I love cameras, but not all cameras
This thing is a joy to use. I've been neglecting my work because I keep going out and shooting so much. I find myself shooting even when I don't have anything to take pictures of. Any excuse to go out. I love this thing. I love the shutter feel; I love the shutter sound (I use mine set on "SOUND 1"); I love the viewfinder; the control configuration is close to ideal; the IBIS is amazing; the handgrip feels great. I'm very comfortable shooting with it*.

I even like the strap that comes with it, fer Pete's sake. (And you think I'm hard to please with cameras...I'm really hard to please about straps.)

As much as I loved my Konica-Minolta 7D in 2006, as much as I was delighted by the Sony F-707 during its brief window, as much as I was over the moon about the Big Dragoon (Nikon D800) when I first got my hands on it—I still think the X-H1 might be my favorite of all the digital cameras I've ever owned or tried**. It makes the top five of all cameras, all-time. Maybe top three.

Or maybe I should wait to say that. Could be I'm just over the moon like I was with the Dragoon. Anyway right now, I love this.

That's me. Am I just projecting when I speculate that more and more of us have the cameras we're happy with now? Seems like I hear a lot of people saying that. Not all the same cameras, of course. But I think there are lots of people out there who like their current cameras as much as I like mine—am I wrong about that?

Could be the X-H1 is going to end up a footnote, effectively a test-bed for IBIS in future Fujis. If there was IBIS in an X-T4, would I choose that? At this point I don't think so. I believe the superlative precision and lack of vibration of the X-H1 is integral to my impression of it and my feelings about it when I'm using it.

Yeah but
So anyway, back to the point: maybe cameras are less exciting now; maybe we're not all jumping all over the latest and greatest any more; maybe the market as a whole has a lot of model refreshes and "Mark [x]" iterations. Maybe that reader is right. Maybe each new generation of cameras is less exciting than the last.

But when I get to have a camera I like as much as I like the X-H1, all of that is forgiven.

Mike

*It's possible there is some brand familiarity going on, given that my main camera has been the X-T1 since 2014.

**Although I still suspect my absolute favorite would be the GX8 Mark II. But shhh, I'm not going to gripe more about that now.

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Leon Droby: "You are correct, the X-H1 is a great camera. After using an X-Pro1 for years, I started flirting with 'greatness.' I left Fuji and spent some time with a D810, OM-1D Mark II, another D810 and an A7RIII. After all that, I missed using my Fuji but knew I wanted IBIS. Local shop got a clean X-H1 in and the rest is history. It fits me perfectly and does everything I need a camera to do. It's the first camera in years that I have no desire to upgrade."

Mike replies: I feel even more strongly than that. I'm very antsy to get a second one while I can, not to use concurrently but so I'll have another when the first one wears out. I know I should not do that, but I'm feeling that itch....  :-)

kirktuck@kirktuck.com: "Easily the best camera I have ever used. And it was additionally very easy to justify getting three of them because—what if no one ever makes such a well produced camera ever again??? Mike, you better buy a couple more—just to be sure."

John Krumm (partial comment): That made me smile, because I've been feeling the same way. I take it everywhere with me the way I took my first DSLR, the Olympus 420. I ordered a fancy strap, then realized the original was better. Anyway, I was starting to think that mirrorless cameras couldn't really produce that feeling of satisfaction that good DSLRs do, but this one does."

SteveW: "As a Nikon guy, you capture how I feel about the D7500, which is on sale for $896.95. (An amazing price in my opinion). Thom Hogan describes this kind of thinking as 'last camera syndrome.' The comparison between the X-H1 and the D7500 is not apples to apples though. Besides the obvious mirror, the D7500 is the result of a pretty mature DSLR line that began with the D7000. Nikon has pretty much nailed it, and for me anyway the features hit a sweet spot. The size and weight of the two cameras is similar though. I've never been much of a zoom lens guy, but I bought the D7500 with the 16–80mm...and it's been a fun set up. That's the key really these days. We can all tell you're having fun with the X-H1, it checks all your boxes! I also have considered buying a second D7500, but am having a hard time pulling the trigger on that. I probably won't, since Nikon DSLRs are much more ubiquitous. The X-H1 seems more like a unicorn, ha ha. In Nikon World that would be the Dƒ."

Fuji Fire Sale

Here I was, contemplating the notion of writing a post about the Fuji X-H1 possibly being my favorite camera of any kind, ever, and now this. From a fire sale price of $1,299 that I kept harping on and on about as a great whopping bargain—which it was—the Fuji X-H1 and the battery back / vertical grip is suddenly an unbelievable $999.95. (Here it is on Amazon, and at Adorama.)

For a camera/grip combination that debuted at $2,199 a year and a half ago!

Granted, this could well mean that an X-H2 is sitting on the runway waiting to launch. Always a risk.

Regardless of what it means, purely on a "lotta camera for little dollars" basis this is tough to top.

Mike
(Thanks to Dennis Mook)

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Use What You Like

By the way, just because we tend to have Fuji discussions here once in a while, please don't think I'm advocating for any particular kind of camera for anyone else. I have a friend who shoots an EOS R, a friend who shoots 4x5 film, several friends who shoot Canon DSLRs, and a friend who treated himself a few years back to a Sony A7RIII. I know a guy who has lately been doing everything with a Leica Q2, a guy who adapts tripod cameras with movements to digital bodies, and a woman who bought one of the Fuji medium-format cameras. I also know lots of people who shoot all kinds of things. Some people buy a new camera every year and some are shooting with digital cameras from 2009. Some people love film and hang around on film forums as well. Some pros rent what they need when they need it. It's all good. It's true that I tend to talk more about the kinds of cameras that appeal to me, but the last thing I want to do is run a site where anyone feels that have to shoot some particular brand or type of gear to be welcome.

Just thought I'd mention that one more time. Lest any newcomer (or recent-comer) think otherwise. We are camera brand and type agnostic at TOP!

Mike

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I'm a Fuji Man Again

It's not really important what camera system I use. Everyone here is capable of making his or her own choices, and it shouldn't matter to anyone what anyone else happens to choose. I don't care what you use, as long as you like it. I'm not even a working photographer any more (I worked as a full-time professional for seven years, but that was a long time ago).

But I thought you might be interested to know that I've gone back to Fuji.

The decision was made for me, after a manner of speaking. TOP reader Jay Burleson, who was making a cross-country trip and stopped in Penn Yan to say hello a few weeks ago, shot Leica M for 34 years before switching to digital—Fuji—a while back. More recently, however, he made the decision to go back to Leica for digital, and is now happily using an SL kit and a Q2. Rather than sell his newly jettisoned Fuji X-H1 and lenses, though, he very kindly passed them on to me.

The Fuji X-H1 I tested late last year

This is interesting in one way, which is that I will soon find myself with two Fuji bodies and a generous selection of additional lenses to add to the three I already own.

Owning a full kit is something that has seldom happened with me before. In the 1980s, I briefly possessed a relatively full Mamiya RZ67 system. One problem with being impecunious, however, is that when you own an asset that's out of proportion to your general level of prosperity, you can be forced to sell it when you need cash. So unfortunately I wasn't able to hold on to that Mamiya RZ stuff very long. Then, in the '90s, I had an Olympus OM-4T, and I experienced in succession a number of the OM Zuiko lenses, although I don't think I ever owned very many of them at once—I tended to buy 'em, try 'em, and then move on. But I used a lot of them during the churn. I adored that system. A bow of the head to the memory of Maitani-san.

But that's it. I've been writing about and reviewing cameras and lenses since 1988, so what was much more typical for me is that I'd buy a camera and a lens or two, use it for a while, write about it, then sell it on and get something else. I've been accused of all sorts of things over the years, as you might imagine, but in reality I never had much brand loyalty or brand prejudice. I like cameras, not brand X cameras. With film I shot Contax and Nikon and Canon and Leica and Rollei and Bronica and Pentax and a Minolta CLE (loved that camera), and several view cameras. And my Exakta 66, my first and most serious foray into medium-format film. (I still have one.) In digital I've owned Olympus and Sony and Konica-Minolta and Pentax and Panasonic and Nikon and Fuji. One hole in my digital education—oddly, I think—is that I've never owned a Canon DSLR.

I'm sure I'm omitting a few.

This kind of nomadic brand-agnosticism* is good for getting perspective on the options, which is a good thing when you're writing about gear. But one thing it's always militated against is building up a complete system in any one lensmount. I've never owned anything close to a complete kit in digital.

Well, now I'll have that, thanks to Jay**—I'll have lenses from 12mm (18mm-e) to 400mm (600mm-e). From never being able to afford a Fuji portrait lens, now I'll have two, the 56mm and the 90mm. And I've been saying for several years that I wanted a telephoto zoom for the particular visual conditions up here in the Finger Lakes, and thanks to Jay I'll have the 100–400mm, which, in all honesty, I never, ever would have bought for myself. I plan to keep that and my older X-T1 in the car. (The lens is stabilized.)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the experience. I'm sure I'll learn something from it.

I usually do.

Mike
(Thanks to JB)

*You can probably think of more pejorative terms for it, but quiet in the back!

**I loved this story when I heard it, and don't worry, Jay gave me his blessing to pass it along to you: Jay wasn't an investor in the stock market. But he did buy some stock once—just once, one single, solitary time. He invested for his retirement by buying a lot of Amazon stock. In 2001. For $11 a share. 

Now why can't I be half that smart?  :-)

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Dave Jenkins: "Mike, I'm really happy for you that you got the camera you wanted all along, and amazed at Jay's generosity."

Is This the First 'VII'? (Sony RX100 Mark VII)

The Sony RX100 Mark VII. The little editorial comment in the
upper right is B&H's. My comment on that: they wish.

This view of the new Sony RX100 Mark VII reminds me of those onion-ring volcanos the chefs like to make at Japanese hibachi restaurants. Zooms like this always strike me as funny. And a little unstable.

With most digicams having gone the way of the Dodo, this camera has been enduringly popular. I really liked the Mark I version of it, which was the last one I tried. That was no less than six iterations ago. Does everything have to make me feel old these days?

Is this the first "Mark VII" version of any camera? By the way, I'd be in favor of calling the next one the RX108. Here's my reasoning: the RX100 came out in June, 2012, so the rate of updates is one per year. At this rate, Sony will have to call 2052's camera the "RX100 Mark XL," and I'm sorry, but this camera just isn't extra-large. This isn't an immediate problem, but I'm looking ahead on Sony's behalf.

For non-photo-writer civilians, it might be really tempting to ditch everything and use this as one's only camera. And you can put it in your pocket.

Shopping ninjas, take the challenge!
As a shopping problem, there would be two major dilemmas. First, would you rather have this or the Micro 4/3 Panasonic LX100 Mark II? (There, I don't feel old—the LX100 is only on version II.) There are distinguishing differences, but I think I'd really have to do a hands-on shootout to decide which one is the better option.

Second, there are those down-market comps...the (shudder) smartphone cameras. These days, it's getting to be that the first question you have to ask about any new camera is, "is it really that much better than a smartphone?" Insolent, disruptive little buggers! You want to swat them like flies. Honestly, I'm starting to like full-frame mirrorless (FFM) more and more, because it makes the most sense as a complement to a phone. I know I'd rather have a phone camera and a Sony A7R IV (FFM über alles) than a phone camera and this.

A few of the advantages of this series in general and this little guy in particular:

• Pocketable, like I said—it could be carried in the front pocket of a pair of men's pants.
• One-inch (1") sensors (it's just a name—nothing to do with an "inch" as a measurement) are getting better and better. You'd need to do some direct comparisons to know for sure, but they're probably as good now as Micro 4/3 sensors were in 2012.
• Generous zoom range for a camera with a sensor this size (although it doesn't match "bridge" AKA superzoom cameras with smaller sensors): 24–200mm-e ("-e," in TOP-speak, means "angle-of-view equivalent." The Mark VI—not yet marked down in price at B&H—had this lens too).
• Zeiss-labeled lens
• Pop-up 2.36m-dot OLED electronic viewfinder for eye-level viewing or three-inch (this one is a measurement) 921.6k-dot LCD touchscreen
• 100% EVF with diopter adjustment
• Fast operation. Very fast.
• Flippy touchscreen, with selfie position for narcissists
• Photo capture function in video mode
• Wi-Fi connectivity for instantly transferring pictures to mobile devices
• Silent electronic shutter option
• Selectable aspect ratios
• RAW files available
• 10.65 oz./302g

Downsides:

• It's bigger than a pack of cigarettes
• No GPS
• Way too expensive at $1,200—like on the order of double what it should be at this point
• Way, way, way too complex for any sensible conception of its target market
• Won't respond to vocal commands in realtime like Alexa, clip your toenails for you, or go get you a beer from the fridge (DPReview chorus shout-sings: "dealbreaker!!!")

THHHWACK!!
Should anyone update from a Mark VI? No way; they're not identical, but way too close to justify parting with another $1,200. I'd personally prefer a Mark VA, which was the last version that had the much shorter (24–70mm-e) but faster (ƒ/1.8–2.8 vs. ƒ/2.8–4.5) lens. (And for the same bucks and ~lens specs as the VA, don't forget that Panasonic with its usefully larger sensor.)

But we have to admit that this new Sony will pretty much do it all, for any sane definition of "all." It's not as good as an interchangeable-lens (ILC) full-frame camera, no. But on that score, it reminds me of an old cartoon I saw in a car magazine in study hall in the '70s. I had good grades in high school so I got to spend study halls on my own in the library, where, typically, I put my time to good use (?) reading every word of all the car magazines. Anyway, in the multi-panel cartoon, a giant, preening Blower Bentley is lording it over a tiny car that looks like a cross between a Fiat 500, a VW Bug, and an early, tiny Civic. The bug-car is depicted as smiling and eager. Determinedly, the Bentley sets about outrunning the chipper little fellow, and careens around furiously this way and that. But the little car clings to the big car's back bumper no matter where it goes or what it does. Finally, the cartoon Bentley pulls up exhausted, panting, while the little guy is still smiling cheerily...and still right there behind him. At which point the Bentley's trunk opens, a giant fly swatter emerges, and thhhwack! slaps the little car flat.

Heh. Order in the world, restored.

'Kay now...I really am going to take tomorrow off to work on my book and catch up on my other responsibilities. Rather than, you know, engage in the current equivalent of reading car magazines in study hall....

Hope you have a very nice midsummer weekend. I might have some new camera news soon myself.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Featured Comments from:

John Camp: "I have an RX100 from a couple of iterations ago. One of my all-time favorite cameras, I have to say, both for quality of the images and for physical size. I've actually put two Panny GX8's and three lenses in a friggin' Dopp kit, which you'd think would allay concerns about camera size, but sometimes, you just don't want to carry anything and GX8's still have to be carried. The RX100 is functionally nothing (and also easy to forget you have, so you gawk at great photos, instead of taking them. At least, I do.) $1,200 is too much, but I'm interested."

Moose (partial comment): "A quick check shows that less than 60% of the photos in my galleries over the last year from Bhutan, southern Utah, and Ireland could have been made with this camera."

Kenneth Tanaka (partial comment): " Honestly, I might never have made perhaps 20%–25% of my favorite images over the past seven or so years if not for having an RX100 at the ready."

[You can read the full texts of "partial comments" in the Comments Section. Here I just thought it was interesting that Moose and Ken were saying such opposite things. —Ed.]

Kristine Hinrichs: "I purchased the RX100 VI right after it came out last fall. Every time I 'popped up' the EVF I had to readjust the diopter, so I sent it back. I waited a month and bought another; same issue. I could have solved the problem with a little electrical tape, but figured that for $1,200 I shouldn’t have to do that. I bought the Panasonic LX100 II and I’m very happy with it, even though I don’t come close to using all the cool features."

Bruce Hedge: "Well, you've set the cat among the pigeons again...any discussion on sensor size will get blood boiling all round. Here's my tuppence worth. At the beginning of the 'drone' revolution in 2013, I bought a DJI Phantom 1. No camera was included—you could sling your own GoPro underneath, but the still photos weren't high quality. I saw the possibility of using the unit for my real estate business, taking aerial views of larger properties. After much research, I decided to plunge forth and bought a Nikon J1 with 10mm lens (28mm equivalent). Three hundred grams, a 1" sensor, and, most importantly, a time lapse function, which allowed me to set it going so it would take a photo every five seconds. I rigged up a Heath Robinson light platform underneath, with the camera angled down at about 15 degrees. After a bit of practice, I was able to send it up, point it in more-or-less the right direction by eye (no telemetry back to phone then!), and bring it back four minutes later with one or two decent pix out of the forty or so taken.The extra weight of the camera drastically reduced the already short flight time of those early DJIs.

"Clients loved the photos. I even used it at a wedding, where it created quite a sensation back then—I took possibly the first-ever high-quality drone pic of a wedding in Australia. November 2013. The 1"sensor was more than adequate for high-end brochures, and we even made a billboard with one image which was more than OK when viewed from normal viewing distance.

"Suffice to say, I loved that Nikon. Still do. Solid, rugged, reliable quality. I never upgraded, but bought two more cheap J1's when Nikon dumped the range. I took the camera with the 10mm lens on a trek to Mount Everest Base Camp in 2016. Porters carried my Olympus E-M1 with three small primes, but I carried that light little Nikon, with three extra batteries on me the whole way, and got some absolutely wonderful photos, because it was immediately available in my top pocket. I have a one-metre wide panorama taken at Gorak Shep which is a stitch of five vertical shots taken with my beloved 1"sensor, which is rather impressive!

"So, my take is this.... if the 1" sensors were that good back then, I can't imagine why we need any more quality today for general everyday photography.My oldest one has now done over 80K clicks and is still chugging along. My E-M1 does give slightly superior results, but I don't need a Ferrari when a Lexus will get me there just as well at a third the price. (My real car is a fifteen year old Mitsubishi Magna which also continues to do the job.)

"Oh, and incidentally, you're back to your best—the break did you good, and the posts during your recuperation were wonderful!"

Mike Plews: "My beloved Canon S95 perfected but at three times the price. Love it but can't put a house payment in my pocket right now."

Shaun: "You can find a very nice used RX100 III for less than $300, and for me it's the best version of this camera. The newer sensor loses something. I tried the IV and V and went back to the III for image quality. And I prefer the faster lens to the longer reach of the VI and VII. In a pinch, I could use it for all my work, it's that good."

Honey, We Need to Talk (Sony A7R IV)

The new 61-MP Sony A7R IV

...Now then: the new Sony costs $3,500.

I know price sensitivity is individual and varies wildly. To those living penuriously on a Social Security check, such a purchase would be like me wanting to buy a private jet. Yet I personally know readers to whom $3,500 is well within the bounds of consequence-free discretionary spending—for some, at the lower end of that category. Not something that would be done absolutely thoughtlessly, maybe, but not a big deal if it was something they really wanted.

If you're the hypothetical "normal" person, however, the chief downside is that $3,500 is approximately one-tenth of the average price of a new "light vehicle" in the United States. (Formerly we would have said "...of a new car," but Americans don't buy cars any more—they buy pickup trucks and SUVs for personal transportation, a fashion I hope dies soon and dies hard. But ignore that and let's proceed.) The bigger problem is that, like your light vehicle, it's a fast-depreciating asset rather than an investment. That is, it's ultimately a method of divesting yourself of your own money. Not exactly flushing it down the toidy, because there's usefulness to be gotten out of it before it dwindles to a fraction of its shiny new self; still, the chipper couple at Two Cents would never approve, and, unless your financial house is in very good order indeed, it would make Dave Ramsey splutter and spew.

On the other hand—taking the other side of the argument—consider a few factoids provided by various readers yesterday:

• Speed noted that a Canon 5D Mark IV is selling for $92 per megapixel at B&H. The Sony is only $57 per megapixel.
• David Dyer-Bennet pointed out that the Olympus M1X (with its much smaller Micro 4/3 sensor) is $3,000, the Nikon D5 is $6,000, and the Fuji GFX 100 is $10,000.
• Larry Gebhard tells us that $3,500 for the A7R IV is only about $200 more than the price of the A7R III when it came out. (That newly deposed former King, having not yet been exiled, is currently selling for $2,500.)
• Steve Higgins and Trevor Johnson report that the A7R IV is approximately the same price in the UK as the new Leica M-E (240). (Not here, though; here the M-E is $500 more expensive.)

I'll just add that the Nikon Z7 costs $3,000 and the Panasonic S1R costs more than the new Sony, although a trade-in offer currently pertains.

Maniacs and idiots
I'm sorely tempted to slag off the new Sony with acerbic fusillades (fun to write) for its high pricetag. Really, a tenth of the cost of a nice new car? But I have to face the conclusion that much of my own griping about prices is sour grapes. I couldn't even afford the X-H1 I wanted when it cost $1,600 or whatever it was. Who knew it was going to plummet in price mere days after I was committed to the G9? (Okay, I'm still smarting over that.) It's like the old George Carlin joke—everyone who drives faster than you is a "maniac," and everyone who drives slower than you is an "idiot." We all like the speed we're comfortable driving, and we all think that what we can afford is the price range that's reasonable.

If I'm being honest, though, if I could easily afford it I'd buy a A7R IV as soon as I could click the buy tab. Twenty-six MP in crop mode, for that tele zoom I keep saying I want? Fifteen stops of dynamic range? Eye AF for portraits? No doubt beautiful color and awesome in low light? And, it's the perfect complement to an iPhone camera—to do everything the iPhone can't.

Sold.

I just can't afford it, is all. But I can't see why the discussion should revolve around my price sensitivity. It's completely irrelevant what I can and cannot afford. Except to me.

The objective conclusion is this: Given all its features, and its lens range, and given all the comps, the Sony A7R IV is reasonably priced and likely to be a good buy for those who buy it. Wouldn't you agree?

Mike

P.S. Still, I can't quite believe I just said that! What's this world coming to? My "cheap gene" is screaming at me in my head.  :-)  I also continue to think the Fuji X-H1 with the "free" vertical grip battery pack for $1,300 is the best buy among new cameras right now, at least if you have any use for the vertical grip.

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Featured Comments from:

Ken Bennett: "$3,500 is peanuts for a working photog. Compared to other pro-level full-frame cameras it’s not that expensive, even. Also, I’ve seen the Eye-AF demo and it can track a running back’s eye inside his helmet as he runs erratically down the field. So it’s not just for portraits.

"That said, I just ordered a pair of the Fuji X-H1 kits. They’ll replace my X-T2 bodies for most assignments. I got to use one for a week at a conference last month, and turns out to be the ideal Fuji camera for me. IBIS rocks with small primes, the grip and overall feel just blow away the X-T series, and I got two of them and saved a grand over one Sony. Given my investment in Fuji glass, this is a no-brainer. I think I understand why Fuji had a hard time selling the X-H1—they couldn’t succinctly answer the question of 'who is this for?' But the end result of a half price sale works out for me."

Moose (partial comment): "Re 'the new Sony A7R IV is reasonably priced and likely to be a good buy for those who buy it. Wouldn't you agree?' Uh, OK, if you put it that way. On the other hand, my original A7 does everything I want from a FF mirrorless, so the A7R IV is meaningless to me. Hence, of course, I won't buy it, and your circle of logic is complete."

Kenneth Tanaka (partial comment): "I'm all-in on this, Mike. Yes, I clicked the "Pre-Buy" button this morning. Sony has been my primary system camera since my first A7R (in 2014?). It immediately established its chops with me on a tough-ish time-critical project for which my Canon system was slightly awkward. Each model since has introduced logical, incremental improvements that justified an update for me. In February I finally wrapped a twelve-year project, culling over 6,000 images down to 100 for the book. I used nearly 20 camera models over the course of that effort. The images that stood out best in most dimensions were those I captured with a Sony A7Rx camera body, hands down, followed closely by those from the Fujifilm GFX 50S."

Mike replies: Whoa, what project, and what book? Tell me more, tell me more. You know I've been waiting for "Ken Tanaka's Chicago" for years. And, you did use my link when you clicked that pre-buy button, right? Don't break my heart....

Sony Announces Formidable New Flagship

Flexing its muscles as the class leader in the newly crowded full-frame mirrorless (FFM) category, Sony has announced a fourth generation—designated IV—of its high-resolution A7 model, the A7R.

The biggest news about the A7R IV is the 61-megapixel backside-illumination (BSI) CMOS sensor, which betters (by the numbers, anyway) several so called "medium format" cameras (which are really large format in digital terms. I know, all very confusing). When it ships in September it will be the highest-resolution 24x36mm camera extant.

...Which makes me recall that my 24-MP Sony A900 was the highest-resolution 24x36mm camera extant when it came out in 2008, whereas 24-MP cameras are now about as common as icewater in restaurants. The A7R IV offers more resolution than that in APS-C crop mode. And in case 61 MP isn't enough, the A7R IV also has Pixel-Shift Multi-Shooting mode for full color information at every pixel site, which reportedly results in the equivalent of 240-megapixel images. It's almost like cameras have enough resolution now, or nearly so.

The camera will have 567 phase-detection AF points with 74% frame coverage, offer 10 FPS for up to 68 images, and, significantly, ups the resolution of the UXGA OLED electronic viewfinder to a whopping 5.76m dots, which should set a new standard in viewfinder clarity and, dare I say it, beauty. The world through this viewfinder might well look prettier than, well, the world. The camera has two UHS-II SD card slots and of course offers in-body image stabilization (IBIS) and Sony's lovely Eye AF, which recognizes eyes and locks focus on them, sometimes in a manner that seems close to magic. It's also weather sealed.

Dynamic range is said to be 15 stops.

It's also being said that the design and ergonomics of the body have been further improved over previous A7 models in response to criticisms. And then we're also gonna hafta talk about that $3,500 price tag. But I'll leave those two topics till later.

The camera is not yet available for pre-order.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Roger Overall: "Two hundred and forty megapixel images? I remember writing an article on spec when everyone was marveling over six-megapixel cameras in which I said we'd one day see the likes of cameras that would give us 250-megapixel images. I think the piece was laughed out of the editorial office. I'd like to say, 'Hah! Told you so!', but I can't remember which magazine it was for."

Mike replies: Hate to say it, but whatever magazine it was, it might be out of business today.

A Very Interesting...

...Size comparison.

Mike
(Thanks to John Igel and others)

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Featured Comments from:

Michael: "Heck, why would anyone buy a either the OM-D E-M1X or D5? It would take you five OM-D E-M1X's (about $15K) or five D5's (about $32K) to get the amount of pixels you get for only $10K. Quite a good deal if you ask me 😎 ."

Mike replies: Q: How do you know you're rationalizing? A: When you've convinced yourself that a $10,000 digital camera is a good bargain! Heh. P.S. Please buy it through my links when you buy it!

s.wolters: "Here's a different point of view."

hugh crawford: "A speed graphic is only a bit larger, and probably a bit lighter. Tiny sharp lens too."

Mike replies: But it only shoots at 2 FPM.  :-)

Ilkka: "Maybe they are all the perfect size. There is one famous German maker of kitchen knives that made a full set of knives from a big chefs knife to the smallest paring knife, or whatever. And all of them had same size handles. That was quite unique. The usual practice had always been that a big knife has a big handle and a small knife had a small handle. The manufacturer explained that your hands are the same size whether you use a big knife or a small knife, so why should the handles be different?"

Fuji GFX 100

There's a new and major milestone in the arms race!

As you probably already know unless TOP is the only photo site you hang out at, the Fujifilm GFX 100 has dropped. Long expected, the world's first complete camera body with 100-plus megapixels is here, and will be shipping in about a month.

There's lots of good news about the camera, too. It's only about the size of a professional DSLR, and not excessively heavy at a little over three pounds—a little heftier than the Leica S, but, at $10,000, only half as expensive. The color depth of the stills output is 16 bits. The camera  records 4K video.

The backside-illuminated 102-MP CMOS Bayer sensor is thought to be physically similar to the one in the X-T3, only much larger at 33x44mm. Early reports are that the wide field phase-detect autofocus is considerably quicker than the AF of Fuji's former supercameras, the GFX 50S and GFX 50R. The GFX 100 has autofocus points over the entire sensor.

Fuji has incorporated five-axis IBIS using what was learned from the X-H1. The GFX 100 is the first medium format digital camera to have this feature. Of course, the camera features Fuji's clever two-way tilting viewing screen that debuted on the X-T2, which can be angled up in the vertical as well as the horizontal orientation.

Base ISO is 100, rising to 12,800 before boost kicks in. One quirky feature is that although there are no physical ISO and shutter-speed dials, those dials can be replicated digitally on the top panel, similar to the way some new cars have digital "dials" for the speedometer and tach. (See this article for an illustration of this.)

There are two UHS-II card slots. The 5.76-million-dot OLED electronic viewfinder is modular and removable, while the vertical grip is built in. There's an optional (pricey!) tilt adapter for the viewfinder module. You can use one or two batteries in the camera.

There are eight GF lenses and a 1.4X teleconverter.

The GFX 100 is probably most likely to be adopted by professional studio advertising photographers, and especially fashion shooters, for whom that IBIS might be seductive. Can't get that on your Hasselblad or Phase One medium-format back.

Editorial comment
In a world where more and more photographers are finding that an increasing number of cameras—dipping ever lower into the mid-range of the market hierarchy—are adequate and sufficient for the work they like to do, there's still always a place for professional cameras that aspire to be the world's best. When the flurry of GFX 100 reviews and trials that will surely follow over the Summer months begin to sort out what the GFX 100's strengths and weaknesses are, it will be fascinating to see what consensus emerges. There's always interest in the best of the best, even if only for its own sake.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Featured Comments from:

Kev: "I don't look at any other photo sites (well, occasionally fredmiranda); as we say in Scotland, I mostly come here for the 'banter.' But, my my, I do really fancy a go on one of these.

"As a business, back in the day we of course used to shoot mostly on Hasselblad 500 series and 120 roll film. The demands of digital meant we exclusively now use DSLRs (I prefer Olympus Micro 4/3), but I miss the sense of 'breadth' that medium format lenses/focal length brings to a large print, a quality that you just don't get even with full frame sensors (to be clear, my comment is not about the sensor/film, but about the focal length-DoF-size of sensor/film relationship).

"It was always waaaaay to spendy for us to get into digital MF (we looked hard at adding the digital back to our Hasselblads, but it was too compromised and expensive!). This Fuji kit may make me take a look at digital MF again (perhaps not for megapixels, but because it's going keep driving down the secondhand price of other kit?)"

c.d.embrey (partial comment): "It may be embraced by jack-of-all-trades pros and AdAm [advanced amateur —Ed.] photographers. But I see few/none high-dollar specialists (fashion, commercial, etc.) abandoning their Hasselblad/Leica/Phase One cameras. IBIS doesn't seem to be a requested feature, except by AdAms. Leica has the technology, but they didn't implement IBIS in their recently announced Leica S3 medium format DSLR. The S3 is 64MP, 15 stops dynamic range, and shoots full-sensor DCI 4K video."

Kodachromeguy: "Kewl!! Wait for the predictable howls of protest and long, drawn out polemics from the 'experts' on DPReview who will assure us that no one needs any format larger than 'full frame.'"

Mike replies: Fuji has officially named its 33x44mm size "Super Full Frame." So that battle has been joined.

Is Canon On To Something Here? The Elusive Fun Factor

Canon EOS RP and RF 35mm ƒ/1.8 IS lens.
Photo courtesy Canon Ireland.

In the previous post I asked my old friend Josh Hawkins (former camera store manager, longtime photojournalist) how he likes his new Canon EOS RP (at $1,299, the lowest-priced full-frame camera ever at initial pricing) and this morning he answered:

"I’m really enjoying it. I’m used to using Canon in live view a lot. Focus at ƒ/1.4 is much better in live view, so it’s a really small step for me to use it all the time. I’m a much more flippant photographer with the RP. I think that’s good for me right now. I’m just having a lot of fun with it. I used it for several weekends with the RF 35mm ƒ/1.8 IS ($449), and I was really delighted with that lens. Far more than I should be. It’s got an excellent flavor/mojo/vibe, call it what you will. A lens that cheap shouldn’t feel that good. It is completely oversized for a 35mm ~ƒ/2 though. I’m now trying my 50mm Leica Summicron DR, and other things in my closest, and having a good time with that. I miss focus with the DR constantly but it’s a lens with great mojo that I’ve never gotten comfortable with before. Again, just having fun taking fun pictures for me. It’s a good space to be in."

I spent a few hours last night poking around the Web reading the conclusions of reviews of the RP, and here's my meta-analysis summary report:

It might not technically be the greatest camera with the latest features, but it's a lot of fun to shoot with and the reviewer enjoyed it

That's all the reviews I read in a nutshell.

So my question is, how did strange concepts like being a lot of fun to shoot with and enjoyment somehow get separated from our notions of what a great camera is?

Think about that for a minute.

Shouldn't those things come first? Or at least be equal?

Consider what Tim Bradshaw wrote the other day when I wrote about modern cameras being too complex:

"Thank you for reminding me why I never want to buy another digital camera. Today I took out my Pentax 67 II for the first time in, I think, two years. I think I had to check to see which way the exposure compensation dial worked, but that was it: the rest of it was muscle memory, down to the use-the-self-timer trick to avoid having to carry a shutter release cable. And its not a camera I ever used that much. I have two digital cameras, and every time I swap to the other one I have about a day's worth of nausea trying to work out which of the several hundred parameters I left in some odd state (even though I never do that). At least the menu system on the Ricoh makes sense. I am done with this absurd, useless complexity."

I keep my ear to the ground in this hobby, listening for hoofbeats. And although few people come right out and say it, I think there's a lot of frustration out there with the diminishing fun-factor amongst the evolutionary dead-ends of ultra-competitive geeky specsmanship. Mastering stills/video hybrids has gotten to be like a university course in a subject you don't like, and over every outing looms the possibility of a pop quiz.

I'm sure Canon's engineers aren't paying much attention to the RP any more. It was built to the brief and they've moved on. They're no doubt beavering away building the S1R killer, the upcoming Canon FF mirrorless flagship über monstercam, which will be an insanely complicated camera-like product that, like a Mercedes, will have 87 onboard computers and, like Photoshop or Microsoft Word, will be impossible to fully understand or master. And all the review sites will say it's a "great" camera but it's got 987 features and it needs three more, and this feature is measurably but not noticeably poorer than the Z7 and that feature is measurably but not noticeably poorer than the A9 so it's not perfect, for some angels-dancing-on-a-pinhead forum-disputation value of "perfect."

If Josh is right and the RP is a lot of fun, I wonder how such a thing happened. Canon certainly isn't in the business of providing its customers with fun. Is it possible that they've built a great camera accidentally? As in, they tried to build a small-and-simple "Digital Rebel" version of the new R mount for the much pooh-pooh'd entry level, beginner, price leader, backup-body tier of the perceived market, and they came up with something that's actually fun and satisfying to shoot with? How else did such a thing happen, except inadvertently?

Meanwhile, they've actually built a good camera for once—one about which a longtime camera buff and everyday shooter like Josh can say "I’m just having a lot of fun with it." Could be they're on to something. I just wonder if anyone realizes it.

I want to live in a world where fun to shoot with and I enjoy this is valued more highly than diminishing-returns OCD levels of time-stamped techy perfection that will fade in a few years, if not months, like the bloom on a cut rose.

Do yer research
I want to know what I'm on about, so I'm gettin' my peeps to send along an RP and one of those 35's Josh likes. I'm not a big Canon guy, and FF doesn't hold any allure, but I have a feeling I ought to check this out for myself.

Mike
(Half of this old-fashioned weblog's support now comes from direct voluntary donations from fans via Patreon. If you enjoy the written word and like The Online Photographer, here's how to start a Patreon donation. Thanks to all my Patreon supporters! And thanks as well to all those who have upped their original donation amounts. I notice every one, and I appreciate it. It's very kind of you.)

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

B&H Photo • Adorama

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Bob Keefer: "Fun is essential in any pursuit. I took my most recent job when, as I told the boss, it looked like a fun place to work. The fact she agreed that fun was important sealed the deal. Back to photography: Fun is what has kept me shooting with Pentax DSLRs lo these many years. Their cameras feel good in the hand and are fun to shoot with. I mean, who really needs perfect autofocus?"

robert e: "Yes! Now that you say it, fun really was the thing for me with cameras like the Olympus XA, and the quality missing from so many cameras that passed through my hands. Sadly a headline we never see on those camera-measuring sites: 'The most fun camera you can buy today,' or 'The most fun cameras ever'...."

Josh Hawkins: "It's good to know I can still sell you cameras...kind of. There was actually a point on one of my camping trips where I was shooting with the RF 35mm where I started wondering what your opinion of it would be. I've got experience with lenses but not like yours. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on both items."

Ned Bunnell: "Josh has the right attitude. We’ve definitely lost sight that first and foremost photography should be fun.

"I was very fortunate to attend three workshops with Charles Harbutt in the early '70s. In my opinion he’s underappreciated as one of our great photographers and teachers in the past 50 years. He made a point in each workshop that if you don’t feel a little rush every time you see one of your prints come to life then you probably should find another hobby. He also soundly admonished anyone who asked if the camera made a difference.

"I’m sure if Charles were alive today he’d have a lot to say about how technology has not made us better photographers.

"I could never match Charles’s insights or way with words. However I think the problem with technology today is it has made us far too serious about what’s in our bag. For the vast majority of us, photography should be personal, fun and simple...which can be easy to forget if you’re obsessing over the latest and greatest.

"Sorry for the diatribe, but here’s another example of why the fun or simple joy in photographing is apparently not an accepted attitude if you are 'serious.' I went to a Peter Turnley workshop in Cuba in 2014. I only brought my little Ricoh GR, while the other attendees came loaded for bear with multiple bodies and lenses. Peter instructed everyone they only needed one camera and that if they were going to use a zoom lens, tape it down so you were only shooting at 28mm or 35mm. When he got to me he smiled a little and said I was OK.

"I know most attendees looked at me wondering why this old guy had only brought what looked like a nondescript point-and-shoot camera. I had a blast walking the streets of Havana, the GR hanging unnoticed at my side. I think by the end of the week a few of the attendees realized my little camera wasn’t really a toy. The problem was and still is that many folks don’t take the GR seriously. (Note: this is not a plug for the GR. It could be any camera that allows you to effortlessly get the technology out your way so you can just take pictures.)

"Fortunately, I carry as little gear as possible with me these days and focus instead on maximizing the joy that I still get when I see a photograph and depress the shutter. And if that means you don’t consider me a serious photographer, I couldn’t care less. Thank you, Charles."

[Ned is the former President of Pentax USA and has always been a dyed-in-the-wool photography enthusiast. —Ed.]

Mark Sirota: "I can very much relate to this. We spent spring break this year in your neck of the woods—Watkins Glen, Corning, Ithaca—and all I brought with me was a Nikon FM2N with a 50mm ƒ/1.4. And it was fun in a way I was really not expecting...I loved having only two controls, focusing manually through a bright, effective ground glass, and being selective with my shots. Got nothing exciting out of those two rolls, but I've got dozens more in the freezer that I had been contemplating throwing out, and now I think I'll shoot them. Haven't had that much fun in a long time.

"This isn't the only film camera I shoot with—I do shoot 120 in a pinhole camera more frequently than 35mm. But that doesn't have the same fun factor. My big question is, had the camera been mechanically identical but digital, would it have been that much fun? Hard to say."

Curt Gerston: "Fun has become my top criteria for a number of years now. I figured out ultimate speed or image quality wasn't what I wanted (I chased that for a while, though). So, yeah, pump up the fun factor on our cameras please!"

John Krumm: "For me, fun photography has come down to a wide to normal small prime, and a body set to manual. I use manual so much now it's second nature, and the small primes keep my cameras light enough (though I would welcome a lighter K1). When this Canon system came out I found it appealing immediately, and it was because of that affordable prime lens."

Gerard Kingma: "Re 'Canon certainly isn't in the business of providing its customers with fun'—and yet, I had the exact same experience that Ned Bunnell describes, but with a Canon M2. The whole photographic world p*sses on the Canon M system, and perhaps deservedly so, but I had the honor of attending a week-long workshop with Jay Maisel, together with 15 other enthusiasts loaded with tons of in-your-face DSLRs. When Jay saw me with the Canon M2 and its tiny but excellent 22mm ƒ/2 prime, I saw a glint in his eye but he said nothing. We went to a farmer's fair in rural Maine, I talked to people and matter-of-factly shot the most wonderful portraits one after the other of people who otherwise froze up or skittered away at the sight of the big guns. I've had tons of fun with the M2. Probably because no one takes me seriously with it."

Mike replies: A camera no one takes seriously is a big asset. It's one reason why it's so relaxing to take pictures with a phone.

I first learned this when I was doing portraits in the mezzanine of the art room when I taught high school. My usual lens was a little Carl Zeiss 85mm ƒ/2.8 Sonnar with a small and unimposing front element—a lens I was "slumming" with until I could save up my money for the magnificent Carl Zeiss 85mm ƒ/1.4 Planar I really wanted (below). But a friend loaned me one of the faster Zeisses with its much larger front element, and I noticed that my portrait subjects were noticeably less comfortable in front of it. There was something about that huge front element staring at them like the eye of a giant squid, seeing into the secrets of their hearts, that just made them tense.

It was intimidating to be "looked at" by this giant front element. But they
sure have held their value—this one's for sale on eBay right now.

I went back to the little ƒ/2.8 Sonnar (discussed near the end of this long post) and never bought a Planar.

Tom Burke: "Absolutely. My Canon 5D Mark IV is a much better camera than my Canon 750D [Rebel T6i in the States —Ed.], both in terms of the specifications and the files it produces, but I seem to enjoy using the 750D more—have more fun with it—than the 5D. Possibly just because it's lighter? Easier to handle? Less complex? More in tune with the sort of Canon (D)SLR I've been buying and using for 30 years? I don't know, but I do know I'm a happier bunny with the smaller, simpler, less-good camera."

The Very Best Camera Deal In the Entire Universe Right at This Moment

Beat this

Submitted for your approval: my candidate for the best all-around bang-for-buck bargain in the entire camera universe right now, the Fujifilm X-H1 with battery grip for $1,299.

Big investment
The X-H1 appears to be an example of the "928 paradigm." The Porsche 928 was introduced in 1978 to replace the aging and technologically questionable 911, which had been very popular as a status symbol during the 1960s and early '70s. But sales had declined as the '70s wore on. Flush with cash, Porsche invested heavily in what it imagined would be the 911 successor—a luxury grand touring car with a front-mounted V8 instead of a rear-mounted air-cooled flat 6. I remember reading various superlatives in the car magazines about the large amounts of money that were invested in the development of the new car.

But all that R&D money didn't result in much of a return. Sales weren't miserable, but the Porsche faithful remained loyal to the 911. The 928 lasted till 1995 but only 61,000 cars were sold over its lifespan. And the 911 outlived it.

That big investment / small return thing seems to be what's playing out with the X-H1 too. Unabashedly aimed at pros, it's got shortcomings in a few areas compared to more established professional workhorses, and rumor has it that it's not selling well. But Fuji sunk a lavish amount of R&D into its development, and the X-H1 is built (in Japan) to exceedingly high standards and extremely tight tolerances—not just for any Fuji, but for any camera out there.

Pros might not be flocking to it, and Fuji's advanced-amateur fan base seem to feel it doesn't have quite the right gestalt, but the fact remains: it's a superb machine for stills and an extremely well made camera. At $1,900 it might actually have been underpriced, or at least it might have had less margin than its development costs would naturally have called for. Its smaller APS-C sensor in the face of FF popularity might have constrained Fuji from pricing it at $2,300 or even $2,700.

Gimme a do-over pleez!
When I tried one, it cost $1,650, and I assumed all of the "post introduction" discounts had already taken place. It was still too dear for cheapskate me, so, to replace my aging X-T1, I bought the G9 on sale for $1,213 instead. (That was a brief sale at the time, when the regular price was $1,299. The G9 is now $1,200 every day, with a nice bunch of extras thrown in.)

Then, right after it was too late for me to return the G9, the price of the X-H1 plummeted again. And I immediately got a tenacious case of buyer's remorse that's been hard to shake. On top of that, to add insult to my injury, B&H threw the VPB-XH1 Vertical Power Booster Grip into the mix for a big dose of additional sweetening. The VPB-XH1 sells separately for $329.

Finally—the last straw!—with the new Payboo card, you can even get reimbursed for the tax, which would have saved me another $103.92.

Augh. It's killing me, I tell ya. Killing me.

If anybody feels there is a better deal out there in the camera universe right now, do tell. I can't find one that beats this.

Mike
(Thanks to S.S.)

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

B&H Photo • Adorama

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Kirk Tuck: "Hi Mike, As you know I switched from Panasonic G9s to the Fuji X series. When confronted with the price drop I bought three. I'm not hard on cameras but when I find one I really like I want backups and redundant backups.

"I had the reverse emotion though, I really miss a lot of what is great about the G9 (and the Olympus 12–100mm miracle lens). Some days I wish I had both...."

hugh crawford: "I don’t know but this seems like a pretty good deal to me. The accessory I most want is something that would keep saying 'slow down and don’t screw things up again!', so maybe my point of view is a bit outside the normal distribution, but that’s a lot of camera for $898."

Mike replies: Oh...well...yes...that's definitely a contender for the title. Very definitely. Might even take the crown from the Fuji....

Jim R: "After fondling this camera at B&H I bought it when they ran the same handgrip discount deal. I really like its ergonomics. I’ve had a love/hate relationship with Fuji—I started with the original X100, and then tried the X-E2 and several lenses. Love the lenses, hated the viewfinder size / eye relief and autofocus. The XH-1 finder and eye relief are outstanding, and autofocus is so much better than the other Fujis. I think it’s a better camera than the X-T1/2/3 given its in-body IBIS. Looking forward to trying my hand at some Milky Way landscape photos this summer as the articulating LCD and added batteries in the grip will definitely be a step up from my Canon 6D."

David Goldenberg: "Brett Weston owned a 928, said to be called the Silver Flounder, and his favorite among a huge number of cars that he owned. Maybe if I could see what he saw in the 928, I could have a tiny bit of what he could see in making photographs!"

Christopher Mark Perez: "True 928 story—I knew a fighter pilot who owned a 928 front-engined Porsche. One day he was going a bit too fast (somewhere near flat-out) and he led the police on a chase down the freeway and over sideroads that miraculously led to the airbase. The Porsche blasted by the guards (who obviously knew the pilot) and slid into a hangar. The pilot jumped out of his car and got the hangar doors slid shut just as the police arrived at the front gate. As you might imagine, the guards asked the police, 'Porsche? What Porsche??'"

SteveW: "I like this Nikon deal for $1,400. (Although I paid $1,750 for this in January. Sigh.) The D7500 body only for $800 is a killer deal."

Mike replies: This is just me, but here are the problems with the Sony mentioned by Hugh and SteveW's pick, the Nikon D7500.

Lenses.

I like a ~40mm prime and an ~85mm prime. I'm willing to fudge the focal lengths a bit, but a moderate wide and a moderate tele are basic for me (have been since my second year of photo school in 1983–4). Sony has a very nice 35mm ƒ/2.8, but I don't happen to like its look. And then there's that wonderful Zeiss 40mm, which would be perfect for me—I mean it's like it was made for me—but it costs $1,300, and after you plunk for it you still need to scrounge up an extra $77 for the hood! The matching 85mm, which is also perfect, is only another $1,200.

Gulp. That's $2,577 just for the two basic medium-speed primes, which makes it blatantly obvious I'm swimming in waters too deep for me. They could give me the A7II for free and it would still be too expensive for me. Don't think I don't envy people who can shoot these lenses, though.

Nikon, which has been recalcitrant about making APS-C primes for years—it's obviously corporate policy to ignore the people who want them—doesn't even make an APS-C prime in the vicinity of 24mm (about a 35mm angle-of-view equivalent), nor does it make a purpose-built medium tele. Yes, you can use the 24mm ƒ/1.8G lens, but it's not an elegant solution for the smaller sensor size. It's light enough, but it's huge (72mm filter size—even my medium-format film camera lenses only took 67mm filters!), and don't think you're not paying to have it cover the larger FF sensor. In any case, with the D7500 I'd have to make do with a 50mm, or a full-frame lens, or a micro lens, or a manual-focus lens, or a third-party lens. Granted, there's a truly legendary zoom for Nikon APS-C, one of Nikon's best and almost a reason in and of itself to shoot Nikon. It's very heavy, and very expensive, but it's fantastic. But zooms, although I'll use 'em, aren't where I live.

So, as Oren would say, "bah."

But all that's just me. Your mileage no doubt does vary. But as I always say, first you pick the lenses you want to use, then find a body to go with them.

James: "What does Stephen Scharf think about this X-H1 value?"

Stephen Scharf replies: If the X-H1 and battery grip were at this price when I bought mine in March 2018 for ~$2,300, I would have bought two of them. I may still pick up another one up as a backup, if or when the other body needs to be sent in to be serviced or repaired, or to have another one to shoot with when the first is worn-out from use.

One of the five best cameras I've ever used in 40 years of photography, along with my Olympus OM-1, any Canon 1D-series body, and the Fuji GFX50S and X100F.

That this camera didn't sell as well as expected I attribute not to any shortcomings of the camera (of which there are only a few), but to an ineffective and limited marketing effort as to exactly whom this camera was engineered for and why.

Which is a shame, as it has all the attributes, robustness, and engineering specification cited by Mike above, but most of all, because it has a wondrous and beautiful image quality that I personally prefer and find superior to the X-T1/T2/T3. While photographs don't have the 'technical specs' of files from a medium-format camera, e.g. the GFX, they look much like medium format files.

I am really, really hoping Fujiflm continues the X-H line, with the X-H2 and successors, etc., because it's just a superb professional tool that produces singularly beautiful photographs. My guess is Kirk Tuck would agree.

HSlav: "No offense, but buying based on deals for a camera, in particular, is not wise, in my humble opinion. If you're going to own the camera for, say three years minimum, assuming you get a long with it, then an extra $300 is about $8 and change per month. I'd much rather have the exact camera I want (within my general budget). The same is true, but even more so, for lenses, given that I own them for five to 10 years on average."

James: "Mike, as you have Fujifilm and Porsche related in the same post, we can add snooker—Steve Davis used to drive a 928.

Mike replies: Alas, I can never write about snooker again, because people are now telling me the outcomes of matches before I get a chance to watch them on YouTube. From now on, the fewer people know I like snooker, the better.