The Fuji street shooter: June 2013

When it comes to camera gear or any digital items there is often allot of feelings involved. Many people grow a personal relation to their “things” and put them or even the company that makes the product on a pedestal. There is a word for this kind of obsessiveness; a “fanboy” or “fangirl”. I find it remarkable how people get devoted for a brand to that extent that even if a better technology is developed and used by a competitor, the user still fight for his/her brand as it was a matter of life and death. Even though I like most of my cameras and some other technical stuff I use in my daily life, I don’t have to defend why brand “a” is better than “b”, in the sense that it matters to me personally. Cameras are just tools to be used for capturing the images we see with our eyes; a tool no matter what the brand name written on the camera, it is built to create an image onto an analogue film or a digital sensor. I am currently using cameras from three different camera makers, Canon, Pentax and Fujifilm, and I enjoy each of the cameras for their unique style of performance. There is always coming out new and better cameras, all the time, but the thing is your old camera doesn’t get worse just because a new and better one is being released. It is still the same great camera as yesterday.

My Canon 40D broke down a while ago, it got the famous shutter button disease, where the shutter is not firing when the button is pressed or there is a huge delay. I got too many missed shots, so I decided to upgrade to a similar camera. Because I am heavily invested into the Canon lens system I wanted a Canon body to replace the 40D. I looked around on the web to check out what was similar in performance regarding colour depth, dynamic range and ISO performance, and I found that the 600D was about the same as the 40D in this respect. It also had a low price and a rotatable screen and a movie mode, which my 40D was lacking, so I got some new features with my new buy. Sure I missed out of some specs too, like the aperture wheel, the penta prism and a slower burst mode, but these were things I was willing to work around, because I wasn’t impressed what I saw in the higher line of the Canon cameras so I decided to settle down with the 600D for now.

I also got into the Pentax DSLR system recently. I picked up the K-5 just before it was put off the shelves and I got it for a very nice price. I got into the Pentax system because it offered very much value for the money, with specs that Canon users only can dream of. Some of these specs were the weather sealing and 100% viewfinder, and the compact sturdy build quality. If you then add some small Limited lenses to the system you have a very competent and compact system that is the same in size as a Canon Rebel (xxxD series) but performs like a Canon 5D MkII (or even MkIII in some regards).

This is how I use my seven cameras in my current lineup:

Canon 30D: this one is almost retired but I still use it sometimes and usually together with my Sigma 150/2.8 macro.

Canon 40D: this camera I exclusively use with portrait lenses like the 85/1.8 or 70-200/4. I have the battery grip mounted permanently on the 40D, since the main shutter button is dead, so I only use it in portrait mode.

Canon 600D: my new Canon all-around camera that I use mostly together with my longer tele lenses but also together with my latest Canon lens (the 40mm/2.8 SDM).

Pentax K-5: this is my choice when I want to bring a compact DSLR to catch high dynamic range scenes or just want to bring a small and competent DSLR in my messenger bag.

Pentax Q: my fun time camera, when I just want to grab something and go out shooting for fun, or when I want a small camera that delivers good enough b/w images of my children playing etc.

Canon PS S100: well it creates for most parts good enough images for a camera that I always can bring with me wherever I go, but of course there are better alternatives out there today (like the Sony RX 100).

Fujifilm X100: for my street photography but I also use it for some landscape shooting and other stuff, my most used camera in my bag.

My most used cameras at the moment.

Back row from the left: Canon 600D+40/2.8 STM, Canon 40D+85/1.8, Canon 30D+Sigma 150/2.8 macro.

Middle row: Pentax K-5+40/2.8 Limited.
Front row: Canon PS S100, Pentax Q+01 standard prime, Fujifilm X100 (Black limited ed)

To answer this we must break down the question to the level of the elements. Street photography, so we have street and photography, well it should be easy then, it’s about photography on the streets. Wrong! Street photography is a broad label of any photography done in the public space or more specific the urban public space. So to further define street photography, we can say it’s the opposite pole to landscape photography (although there is sometimes an urban view even in landscape photography, so it’s complicated). Well I guess one shouldn’t define a genre by what it’s not, but I hope the message is clear. To summarize:

1. Photography in an urban environment (not up on an unpopulated mountain peak). But! If you make a photograph in the small village down in the valley from that same mountain peak, it could be considered as street photography.

2. People don’t have to be the main subject of a street photograph or even present in the frame, but for many street photographers people ARE the main interest.

3. A street photograph is showing a public space (or is made from a position that is on public space, hence a photograph of your children created in your living room is not considered a street photograph, because it is not a public space).

Some other topics I will write about this summer is: