TALKING IMAGES 20 – I’VE BOUGHT A NEW CAMERA! (AND IS AN X-T2 COMING SOON?)

 

 

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WHY THE EXCLAMATION MARK?

You might wonder why the first part of this post’s title ends with an exclamation mark.  Well, for quite sometime now, I have been wedded to my full-frame Nikon gear, and before that, in the years 2005-9, I also did quite a lot of Nikon film photography.  And – let’s be very sure about this – my Nikon gear still rings all my bells, I love using it, it is a real pleasure to use, and it produces the goods, even in difficult photographic conditions.

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But – and there’s always a ‘but’, isn’t there – its quite big and heavy gear, but (again!) this is only really a factor when I’m carrying it for hours around cities etc – and even then good Op/Tech neckstraps and cheap rucksacks take most of the strain.  And since I’m not a believer in carrying many lenses around with me, so as to be ready for absolutely any photographic eventuality, I usually carry just one, or at most two, “bits of glass”.

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But I’m not getting any younger so (a) weight of gear might become any issue in the future, and (b) if I’m going to try a completely new camera system, why wait? >>> why don’t I just get on with it?  I do after all have a nerdy side that delights in finding its way through complex camera menus and manuals, and this might be a challenge that even sees me starting (or should that be, trying to start???) to use Adobe Lightroom or Camera Raw!  If nothing else, it will be something of an adventure – and a core feeling of mine is that its always better to have tried something and failed, then not to have tried it at all.

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So, this Thursday, I bought a Fujifilm X-T1 camera, and a lens.
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DOES SIZE MATTER?

The pictures here show one of my full-frame Nikons, the quite large(!) D800, alongside the X-T1.  The Nikon is fitted with the lens that I am absolutely married to, the 70-300, with which I have taken vast numbers of pictures.  The X-T1 has the 55-200 lens, which is (roughly) this format’s equivalent to the 70-300 (of which more below).

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No prizes for guessing which is which.  The D800 is big, its body alone is as heavy as the X-T1 plus its lens.  Total weights, with these equivalent lenses, are 1,630gm as against 1,006gm.  And this is the largest Fuji lens I plan on getting (if I buy any more – again, see below), whereas several of my Nikon’s Nikkors are chunkier / heavier than the 70-300.
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CHANGING FORMAT – THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

During my final few years of shooting film, I was using a Nikon F6, mostly for shooting colour (and some black and white) 35mm transparencies.  And I was not at all enthusiastic about  changing to digital because nothing that I could afford looked like giving me the quality that the F6 – the last of Nikon’s great F Series professional film cameras – almost effortlessly churned out.  But all of that changed with the arrival of Nikon’s D700 – and in the blink of an eye I became a totally committed digital photographer >>> not least because all of my F6’s Nikkor lenses fitted the D700 too >>> AND because since the D700 is full-frame (35mm) frame too, they would behave in exactly the same way on the D700 as they did on the F6 – way to go, man, oh way to go!!!

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However, this is NOT the case with the X-T1, because it has a sensor smaller than full-frame, an APS-C sensor (which Nikon terms DX format), which will have two distinct effects.  First, were I contemplating using my Nikon lenses on the X-T1 (which I have no idea is even possible), the X-T1’s smaller sensor would increase all of my Nikkors’ focal lengths by 1.5 times so that, for example, the 70-300 would become a 105-450 zoom – which is fine if I want longer telephotos, but not so great if I value (and I do!) my very wide angle lenses (eg the 12-24, which would become an 18-36).

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AND, second, because the X-T1’s sensor is smaller than full-frame, it will increase all of my Nikkors’ depths of field (aka depths of focus) >>> which is great if I’m into pics with great depths of focus, but not so great if I’m after only small amounts of my images (eg portraits) in focus, with oodles of great bokeh all around.  Full-frame is really good for shallow depth of focus, and smaller sensors can only reply to it via expensive, heavy, large aperture (eg f1.2, f1.4) lenses, or longer focal lengths.  How I will get on with is an unknown, but its going to interesting trying.

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VIEWS ON THE X-T1 SO FAR?

Its looks good, and I seem to be able to configure it into working in the way that the Nikons do.  Amongst other things, the big electronic viewfinder, the first EVF I’ve used, is excellent.

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I’m impressed by Fujifilm’s attention to detail, both in terms of the camera and its accessories and manuals – it all reminds me of the advent of the diminutive and groundbreaking Olympus OM System, including the sensational OM-1 SLR, all those years ago, and that is praise indeed.  And its also a coincidence that the X-T1 is made by Fujifilm, because they were also the manufacturers of the truly wonderful films (eg Provia 400X and Neopan 1600) that I so loved using during my last film days.

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But the digital world hurtles on, and I would put money on the advent of an X-T2 in the near future.  Why?  Well, first, the X-T1 is bring discounted – there is £100 cashback from Fujifilm.  AND, the X-T1’s stablemate, the X-PRO1 (the design of which doesn’t get to me at all), has just been updated to the X-PRO2, with various advances that include a new sensor that enables RAW shooting up to 51,000 ISO.  I’ll be amazed if an X-T2 doesn’t appear soon – but I’m happy to buy its forerunner more cheaply.

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SO, A SEA CHANGE???

So, what of the future for my happy snapping?  Possible outcomes are (1) stay with Nikon and bin the X-T1; (2) or vice versa; (3) or continue using both of them.  Time will tell.

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CAMERA WARS

I can sense my Nikons’ unease around this smaller newcomer.  And, just now, when I used the D700 to picture the D800 beside the newcomer,  I could also picture the D800 seeing the D700 aiding and abetting my dirty work and murmuring “Et tu, Brute, then fall Caesar!”.  Ah, the benefits of a misspent classical education …

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