Category: Blog

From Canon DSLR to Sony Mirrorless

Posted on by david.kennedy

Navigating the transition: Is it right for you?

While I have been active as a photographer in the Raleigh-Durham area for several years, I’ve allowed this blog to languish. I’ve jotted down several ideas over the years, but few have turned into writing. I’m keenly aware that in the interim, YouTube has become one of the dominant forces in communicating ideas. And I may begin creating content for that platform, but first I had to actually sit down and write something that wasn’t just another e-mail, quote for a job, or some other administrative task that all too often becomes the “main” reason for sitting in front of a screen. Sure, editing through photos happens, too, in-between sessions with Quickbooks! Also, life happens.

I can be a very technical photographer. I like to know about the latest tools. Some call what I do “gear acquisition syndrome” however I am also fanatic about selling gear that hasn’t worked for me / I no longer use to friends, on Craigslist, and on eBay.
This is something I began to write in September 2018. More than a year later, I think there are things that will help those trying to make decisions regarding the equipment they will take them on their own paths forward. Spoiler alert: I switched to Sony in March 2019. Furthermore, I do use affiliate links to certain gear. If you find my articles helpful, please consider making purchases via these links.

My greatest fault, and my strength, is that I am a passionate generalist. It’s a very expensive career path to be equipped for nature photography (wildlife and landscape), travel photography, wedding and event photography, studio portrait photography, and studio-on-location photography. It’s a tangled web, and it has made some of my equipment choices really difficult.  Oh, and I did I mention I’ve shot Canon since the age of 10? I’m heavily invested in that system and currently debating abandoning some of these tools in favor of different ones. While I never spoke formal vows, the idea of leaving behind the system that ushered me into this crazy world of image-making feels like a trial separation that could lead to divorce all the same.

Alaskan coastal brown bear at Lake Clark National Park. Photographed with a Canon 1DX and 400mm DO IS with 2X III extender
Alaskan coastal brown bear at Lake Clark National Park. Canon 1DX and 400mm DO IS with 2X III extender
Continue reading “From Canon DSLR to Sony Mirrorless” →

Fuji X-E1 Firmware 1.06 improves handling!

Posted on by david.kennedy

Fuji X-E1 rear button layout after firmware 1.06
Fuji X-E1 rear button layout after firmware 1.06

One thing that has been very nice to see from  Fujifilm is that the company seems responsive to user’s wants and observations.  The Fuji X-E1 shipped with essentially the same button layout as the X-Pro 1.  This places the AF point selection button on the extreme lower left of the camera.  To me, this is incredibly awkward both when holding the camera to my eye and when holding the camera out and using the rear screen to compose.  My approach has been to keep the camera in manual focus mode, and use the AF-Lock button to activate the central AF point as needed, and then recompose.  Up to this point, this has been an acceptable, although not terrific solution.

By comparison, the newer X-100S, which cannot accept interchangeable lenses (but does have a leaf shutter!) has a much improved location for the AF point selection button: the “up” arrow button of the four-way controller.  On the X-E1, this button controls macro focusing on some lenses.  But the “down” arrow wasn’t doing anything, other than scrolling in menus, of course.

So, with the release of firmware 1.06, available at http://www.fujifilm.com/support/digital_cameras/software/firmware/x/xe1/index.html, Fuji gave the “down” button something to do: it can call up the AF point selection.  This makes the ergonomics of actually selecting a focusing point something that is comfortable to do!  Thank you, Fuji, for transforming an annoyance into something that is simply a “quirk.”  Now, if the dedicated AF button on the lower-left was also made user-programmable in the process, I would have been able to eat cake and have it, too.  Maybe on the next go-round!

Oh, and if interested, the screen protector I am using on my X-E1 is the Giottos SP-8300, the strap is from UpStrap, and the plate on the bottom of the camera is from Really Right Stuff.  More about that after next week, where I’ll be in Asheville and running up and down the Blue Ridge Highway once again…with the X-E1 in addition to my standard Canon kit!