I had decided some months ago to downsize my gear and go mirrorless. I'm getting older and slower, the gear is getting heavier, and the images resulting from my hobby are only ever posted online, so I don't need billions of pixels.
The other thing is that I have a bunch of good legacy lenses from my collection of iconic film gear at my disposal, which play nicely with mirrorless. Pentax in particular made some amazing quality glass, compact and lightweight to boot.
So, I started out by selling my Canon 5D Mk II and the EF 24-105 f4 L IS USM, and bought a Sony NEX-6 with the 16-50mm kit lens, which is a fair performer.
The only thing I didn't like about the NEX are the little fiddly wheels and buttons found on compact cameras, and the horrible menu system.
Fortunately the 'quick menu' can be left on screen and most of the common controls can be accessed there.
The Sony felt good in the hand though, it was comfortable, light and compact to hold and did a good job for me. It is a pleasure to use and I really like it's 'Auto Dynamic Range Optimisation' function. It does a great job of calculating correct exposure for shadow and highlight detail in the most extreme shots.
But then the grass on the other side looked a bit greener.....
I saw a review for the Fujifilm X-E1. It was a slightly larger mirrorless camera in the retro style of a blocky rangefinder. It had proper large dedicated knobs and levers, just like the SLRs I was brought up with in the '80s, no poking around in menus to change settings.
No PASM, just ISO, shutter speed, Exposure compensation knobs and an (unmarked) aperture ring, nothing to get in the way of taking pictures.
I read all the reviews and decided this was my main camera from now on. It would be made complete with my old lenses that had real mechanical aperture rings on them.
I used the X-E1 a lot and tried very hard to like it, but I always liked the little NEX more. The X-E1 is a very capable camera, but it didn't live up to the image I had in mind when I bought it.
First of all, the thing is horrible to grip. It does have a finger grip of sorts on the front, but on the rear, the little indent for the thumb also put my giant digit on top of the easily turned exposure compensation dial, and the heel of my thumb would randomly mash other buttons on the direction dial and things would happen that shouldn't happen, like changes to shutter speed and switching to macro mode unintentionally.
I know I always have my current settings visible in the viewfinder, but once I set up my exposure, I don't want to have to recheck it constantly between shots.
I bought a little after market thumb grip thing that slips into the hot shoe to improve handling, but that just got in the way of the shutter speed dial and didn't do much for the grip anyway.
I have since ordered another full body grip (below) which should make the camera easier to hold and may also alleviate the accidental operation of buttons etc, but at the cost of some added size and weight.
The on/off switch takes only the softest touch to turn the camera on, and I'm constantly finding the bloody thing turned on or off when I'm expecting the opposite. Similarly, the exposure compensation knob is also easily moved.
The unmarked and 'wired' electronic aperture ring was also not really satisfying. I wanted to be able to set the aperture ring to an index mark as with the shutter speed, but a peek into the viewfinder or lcd screen was required to determine what the aperture was set to.
The straw that broke the proverbial Camel's back was the poor implementation of assisted manual focus. It has a button to magnify the image, but that isn't always helpful for a quick shot, especially with longer lenses.
It has Fuji's version of 'focus peaking' which outlines the subject edge in (faintly) glowing pixels to indicate focus, but the effect is so difficult to see, it may as well not be there. This was what I hated most, because I really wanted to use my manual lenses with this camera to make the 'totally manual' experience complete.
Ironically, the Sony NEX-6 has absolutely brilliant assisted manual focus, it too can magnify the image, but the focus peaking feature is bright and clear. It was more than just good assisted manual focus, it is also the best depth of field preview I have ever seen.
As the aperture ring is turned, parts of the scene that are in focus are highlighted brightly and it's only a matter turning the ring until you have the exact focus point and depth of field that is required for the shot.
Anyone that has used the old stop down depth of field preview lever on an SLR or DSLR and viewed the dim resulting image in the viewfinder will greatly appreciate the Sony's bright focus peaking DOF preview.
I have no intention of getting rid of the Fujifilm X-E1 just yet and I am getting used to it's foibles. I'll wait until the new grip arrives, and I want another body anyway to save the hassle of changing and juggling lenses while out shooting.
Two mirrorless cameras are still probably lighter than one full frame DSLR and lens.
I'll probably use the Fuji a fair bit, I have an 18-55 and an 18-135 lens for it which cover most of my needs and I'll keep the Sony to carry my manual lenses, like my 8mm fish and a 14mm Samyang.
But the lenses I most want to use on the Sony are my Super Takumar 50mm f4, a wonderful Super Multi - Coated Takumar 1:2.5/135, the Helios-44-2 2/58 and it's brilliant bokeh, along with the renowned Russian portrait lens, the M42 Jupiter 9/85 f2.
Beware of the greener grass, it generally isn't.
I'm also coming to realise that there is no such thing as a 'perfect' camera.
The other thing is that I have a bunch of good legacy lenses from my collection of iconic film gear at my disposal, which play nicely with mirrorless. Pentax in particular made some amazing quality glass, compact and lightweight to boot.
The only thing I didn't like about the NEX are the little fiddly wheels and buttons found on compact cameras, and the horrible menu system.
Fortunately the 'quick menu' can be left on screen and most of the common controls can be accessed there.
The Sony felt good in the hand though, it was comfortable, light and compact to hold and did a good job for me. It is a pleasure to use and I really like it's 'Auto Dynamic Range Optimisation' function. It does a great job of calculating correct exposure for shadow and highlight detail in the most extreme shots.
But then the grass on the other side looked a bit greener.....
No PASM, just ISO, shutter speed, Exposure compensation knobs and an (unmarked) aperture ring, nothing to get in the way of taking pictures.
I read all the reviews and decided this was my main camera from now on. It would be made complete with my old lenses that had real mechanical aperture rings on them.
I used the X-E1 a lot and tried very hard to like it, but I always liked the little NEX more. The X-E1 is a very capable camera, but it didn't live up to the image I had in mind when I bought it.
First of all, the thing is horrible to grip. It does have a finger grip of sorts on the front, but on the rear, the little indent for the thumb also put my giant digit on top of the easily turned exposure compensation dial, and the heel of my thumb would randomly mash other buttons on the direction dial and things would happen that shouldn't happen, like changes to shutter speed and switching to macro mode unintentionally.
I know I always have my current settings visible in the viewfinder, but once I set up my exposure, I don't want to have to recheck it constantly between shots.
I bought a little after market thumb grip thing that slips into the hot shoe to improve handling, but that just got in the way of the shutter speed dial and didn't do much for the grip anyway.
I have since ordered another full body grip (below) which should make the camera easier to hold and may also alleviate the accidental operation of buttons etc, but at the cost of some added size and weight.
The unmarked and 'wired' electronic aperture ring was also not really satisfying. I wanted to be able to set the aperture ring to an index mark as with the shutter speed, but a peek into the viewfinder or lcd screen was required to determine what the aperture was set to.
The straw that broke the proverbial Camel's back was the poor implementation of assisted manual focus. It has a button to magnify the image, but that isn't always helpful for a quick shot, especially with longer lenses.
It has Fuji's version of 'focus peaking' which outlines the subject edge in (faintly) glowing pixels to indicate focus, but the effect is so difficult to see, it may as well not be there. This was what I hated most, because I really wanted to use my manual lenses with this camera to make the 'totally manual' experience complete.
Ironically, the Sony NEX-6 has absolutely brilliant assisted manual focus, it too can magnify the image, but the focus peaking feature is bright and clear. It was more than just good assisted manual focus, it is also the best depth of field preview I have ever seen.
As the aperture ring is turned, parts of the scene that are in focus are highlighted brightly and it's only a matter turning the ring until you have the exact focus point and depth of field that is required for the shot.
Anyone that has used the old stop down depth of field preview lever on an SLR or DSLR and viewed the dim resulting image in the viewfinder will greatly appreciate the Sony's bright focus peaking DOF preview.
I have no intention of getting rid of the Fujifilm X-E1 just yet and I am getting used to it's foibles. I'll wait until the new grip arrives, and I want another body anyway to save the hassle of changing and juggling lenses while out shooting.
Two mirrorless cameras are still probably lighter than one full frame DSLR and lens.
I'll probably use the Fuji a fair bit, I have an 18-55 and an 18-135 lens for it which cover most of my needs and I'll keep the Sony to carry my manual lenses, like my 8mm fish and a 14mm Samyang.
But the lenses I most want to use on the Sony are my Super Takumar 50mm f4, a wonderful Super Multi - Coated Takumar 1:2.5/135, the Helios-44-2 2/58 and it's brilliant bokeh, along with the renowned Russian portrait lens, the M42 Jupiter 9/85 f2.
Beware of the greener grass, it generally isn't.
I'm also coming to realise that there is no such thing as a 'perfect' camera.
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