gdanmitchell
Online
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
|
 p.8 #19 · Why am I using the X-Pro3 more than the a7cR???? | |
Jack Flesher wrote:
That Ghent graffiti "alley" was one of my favorite strolls in all of the Netherlands! I have an entire series of images from it. At the time, I was schlepping a Nikon Z9 with 24-105 or 14-30 as my "travel" camera  It was ironically that trip now just two years ago that convinced me to go smaller, hence the Fuji X kit.
But yes, over the past month or so, I've come to realize the gear is all just a simple pleasure that isn't really necessary anymore. For me it's about the memories, and the iPhone can generate totally adequate reminders...
Me in that alley. My daughter took this shot on her iPhone (14?) and literally just had it printed out to 4x6 and gave it to me last week for my birthday. I just scanned the print on my old flatbed to post here, so it's about as bad a 3rd generation copy as you can get; and while it isn't perfect, it's definitely is a "great memory" for me!  ...Show more →
I did not know about that alley when we took a one-day side trip to Ghent from Brussels this past spring. In fact, we might have missed it if we hadn’t more or less accidentally done a particular walking loop after looking for lunch. I think I spent more time photographing in that alley than anywhere else in the city — though I was obsessed with one particular shot from a bridge that had the potential to include more spires that I have ever squeezed into one shot.
As is probably obvious from a lot of my posts here, I’ve seriously downsized my travel photography gear, though with my preference still (usually*) bieing to use primes and more than one of them, and my intention to make photos that I might print or even sell, I still stick to the APS-C format. On the trip to Belgium (which was a brief “final movement” of a trip that was mostly in Spain and Portugal) I was carrying the 14mm f/2.8, the 27mm f/2.8, and the 50mm f/2.
That’s not exactly “pocketable,” but the camera with just the 27mm fits into a very small PacSafe shoulder bag that I like to carry for urban travel, and I can even squeeze one of the other two lenses in with it. I have a slighlty larger shoulder bag that I use if I need to carry all three.
For me, that’s turned out to be a pretty workable compromise for the way I shoot street and travel photography. It really doesn’t weigh me down at all, and it produces excellent image quality. It isn’t the only possible solution, and I recognize that others may prefer something different.
But I still carry the smartphone and occasionally pull it out — specifically to grab “people pictures” of us and people we meet and travel with, to get quick shots of place and events that will mostly be of personal interest, and sometimes to do some shots that are just plain easier on the phone, such as night panoramas, etc.
Your note about using a 24-105 takes me back a bit. I had a 24-105 early on with my larger Canon system, and it was a great travel lens when I used that larger system — there wasn’t much that I couldn’t shoot with it, at least if I was willing to push ISO a bit.
Dan
*Aobut that “usually…” In May 2024 we walked the Great Glen Way in Scotland. While I prefer primes for street photography, I definitely prefer the compositional control of zooms for landscape, so on that trip I packed the 16-55mm f/2.8 plus a few primes. (I know I carried the 27mm f/2.8 and the 90mm f/2 — I like longer focal lengths for landscapes sometimes — and I might have also brought the 14mm f/2.8 for use in cities.) The zoom was on the camera by default on the walk. Since I had it with me, I did use it a few times for city photography, too.
|
