Ground control to Major Tuck. Can you hear me Major Tuck? ... Oh the heck with Photoshop silliness, let's swim. Some thoughts about Fuji X100V versus Q2 in the bottom half of the post.

 

I started with a blank slate and asked Photoshop's "generative fill" to construct an outer space scene and then to create and drop in a wholly fictional photograph of a brilliant, creative and very serious photographer to the mix. This is what came out. I tried the other options but the ones where the human subject had octopus tentacles were just a bit creepy for me. 

Dear readers, I know that I can use generative fill to extend the edges of the canvas with more space, filled with details that are amazingly indistinguishable from the existing backgrounds. And that there are many other uses for G.F. that could enhance production efficiency. I'd rather dwell on the nonsense aspect which I feel will become the future of most imaging. Your mileage will vary with your personal degree of seriousness. 

It's been an interesting week or so. I've given away about 60% of my lighting equipment to photographers who are just exiting schools and starting down their own paths into imaging. I find myself still in possession of more than enough equipment to do the kinds of jobs I have routinely done through the years.  But the good feelings that come from helping someone on the same journey are nice. They take the sting out of winding down my more vigorous schedule into something that's more a blend of work and play than "all work." The realization though that I still have enough gear to keep working is unsettling since it means I was way overstocked.

I feel like I've survived the cycle of the Leica Q3 product introduction without succumbing to yet another impulsive purchase. In the process I've discovered the stages of product intoxification. One moves from discovery to rampant research to figuring out where in one's personal gear mix the product will best fit, followed by a plan to get rid of older stuff to make room for the newer stuff, followed by the rationalization of just how great the new product will make all of your photographic experiences going forward, followed by the search for reviews, followed by the search for vendors and then the final realization that, if you have not pre-ordered by now you can probably give up any thought of acquiring the product before next year.... 

At which point you de-escalate the whole process, going in reverse until you end up convincing yourself that you are perfectly happy with all the stuff you already have and you start to ignore the 200th breathless YouTube pre-pre-pre review from someone who brushed up against the camera purely by chance, decided a quick video would get some clicks, and who will never in this life time actually come out of pocket and purchase one.

At this point you calm down and realize that all your gear is so much better than most of your ideas for photographs that adding any new or old tools wouldn't matter to the end results in the least. And you become resigned (for now) to the stasis in your gear cabinet. Maybe assuaging your need to buy by picking up yet another (much less expensive) lens that you know you don't really need and probably won't get much use from. 

At this point, if you are at all wise, you shut down the computer, turn off the smart phone and head to the pool to swim laps until the avaricious impulses recede and finally dissipate. And you start thinking about shopping for new swim goggles (about $25....).

And, speaking of pool time, we had a special Monday swim practice this morning to celebrate Memorial Day. Coach Coleman wrote some great sets and most people dribbled in late to join those more compulsive of us who arrived early and jumped in to start swimming just as the clocks hit the top of the hour. I won't bore you with the details but I will say that I truly feel as though I earned that post swim cup of single origin Columbian coffee and that huge, warm, sybaritic chocolate croissant. Or Petit Pain au  Chocolat. Damn, it was good. Forgot to bring one home for B. I hope she skips reading this post. Oh, who am I kidding? She gave up reading the blog a decade ago.... She has to live with the author. She already gets her ration of silly ideas.

Today was my first day to show off my new swimming pool shoes. My Summer Crocs. Love them or hate them, I don't care. They are perfect for getting to the car from the house, the car to the pool, and back again. And the colors are superb. Here! Just look!!! You know you want some. These are the "all terrain" version. Stronger soles on the bottom. 

Superb, yes? Can't wait to see how good they look with a conservative business suit... 

Someone left me a comment yesterday asking "Why the Leica Q2 instead of the Fuji X100V?" and I thought I'd take a few minutes to answer. It's a sensible question. 

I bought two of the Fuji X100V cameras back in late 2020. Seems like a dream now since no one is able to get the cameras from any of the usual vendors, and that's been the case for at least a year now. I bought one in black and one in chrome and thought I'd really love them. The idea of the camera is right on target but there are a few little niggles that bugged me. The shutter sounds a bit tinny when it goes off. The overall quality of the materials the camera is constructed of is pedestrian. Not worse than most cameras but the body feels light, inconsequential, almost bendable with too much finger pressure. I also felt the EVF view was subpar. And the controls finicky.

I had not used a Q camera before buying the X100v but can now say that they represent two entirely different levels of build quality. That being said, neither of them is particularly comfortable to hold and use unless you festoon each of them with thumb grips that fit into the hot shoes and, at least with the Q2, also a front hand grip. Equal "con" points for unadorned use directly out of their respective boxes. 

The Jpeg and raw files out of each are very nice but the Leica's near doubling of resolution shows up. Especially in conjunction with its much better lens. But again, there too is a bit of a trade off since I'd rather have the 35mm angle of view be the base than a 28mm. 

A win for the Fuji is the depth of image customization provided in Jpeg. The film modes that come with the camera are good and some from external sources are even better. Love the Tri-X look. But head to head the combination of a better lens and a higher res sensor, coupled with the full frame look, makes the Q2 a better choice if you mostly work with raw files and have spent a few moments to create your own set of image profiles or "looks." They are just "deeper" files.

Is the  Q2 worth the extra money? No. You can do gorgeous images with an X100V if you have a modicum of talent and you aren't overly concerned with subjective stuff like the "feel" of a camera or the complexity of its software. If you have to crop a Leica image to match the focal length look of the Fuji you are close to parity in terms of resolution. So if you are a 35mm shooter you are ending up paying a lot more for the same basic angles of view. But, if you absolutely love the 28mm (because you can't decide what you want in the frame at the time of exposure) and you find yourself shooting with it all the time then you'll want the 28mm. And, if so, you'll enjoy the Leica more.

One area in which the Leica spanks the Fuji is when working out in the street with the camera using manual focusing and using hyperfocal distance techniques. Or "zone" focusing. The Leica manual focusing feature is nicely calibrated, repeatable and has wonderful hand feel on the focusing ring. You can set an aperture (f8 anyone?), set a focus distance (10 feet anyone?) and teach yourself quickly how to get sharp images without spending a lot of time worrying and fussing over exact focus. Or where the AF focusing points are set.  With the Fuji.... not so much. You get a shitty little distance scale in the finder or on the LCD but it's vague and slow to use. It would be one of my last choices for a workflow based around manual focusing.

If I had all the money in the world, no kids to put through school, no pension fund failures, no remaining mortgage and no car payments, I wouldn't hesitate to buy the Leica. If any of those pre-conditions were existing I would never be able to justify the expense ---- which is probably why it was just last year that I finally bought my first Leica Q camera --- even though I wanted one since the original was launched in 2015. It's all relative. If you're having trouble making the monthly nut then spending $6000 on a discretionary/hobby purchase is imprudent at best. If you're no longer flying commercial and you are on a first name basis with the pilot of your Gulfstream it's a completely different calculation. Buy a couple in case you lose one somewhere along the line. Or you used one to tip your pizza delivery guy. (made your personal chef grimace there, right?).

It's a bit of a moot point right now as the Fujis seem unattainable while the Q2s show "in stock" at several merchant sites. Depends also on what your intended use is. For me either of the cameras would be secondary cameras used for fun and walking around with. Neither of them are flexible enough to be "only" cameras for someone who is used to a wide range of focal lengths and capabilities. Bravo to you if you are an artist and can hone in on a single lens camera for your primary tool --- I'm jealous.

And that's my two cents worth.