Fuji X-100

Finally dried up my Sony NEX-7 SEL 18200 (18 mm -200 mm)-lens

Last year I ditched with my Sony NEX-7 into a lake in Cambridge. The camera body dried up during the night, but the SEL 18200 (18 mm -200 mm)-lens was struggling even after all fog was gone with the communication to the camera. I was still using the camera with the 18 mm - 55 mm lens. But today, without really knowing what I am looking for, I took the long lens with a screw driver to pieces, cleaned everything, and put it together again. And guess - it works. Excellent!

I am not using heavy SLR gear any more, as I find it not just too heavy to carry, but also too intrusive when you want to shoot in real life and not in a studio. So, I am happy now my Sony is back and I have a bit of longer focus length again.

Currently my cameras are:

  1. Fuji X-100 (with mounted 23 mm fixed lens)
  2. Fuji X-E2 with 18 mm - 55 mm zoom
  3. Sony NEX-7 with 18 mm - 55 mm zoom and 18 mm - 200 mm zoom
  4. Sony RX 100

The flash I use is a Nikon Speedlight SB-800.

As these cameras are all quite light and compact, I only need a Gitzo G1097 tripod. 

Camera Obscura

Recently I went into a Leica store in Beijing. Sure, the brand has revived. But it looks like it is more about special editions than about special cameras. I am waiting for the Hello Kitty Leica. Please don't ask for it! They will make one! Don't get me wrong: the M9 is a wonderful camera. So are others. But first of all, I don't think many professional photographers can afford them. And secondly there are quite a few compacts in the range which are surprisingly close to some Panasonic models. The staff in the shop was by the way incompetent and unfriendly. But this might not be Leica. It's China.

Now I just discovered that Hasselblad seems under the same urge of entering the "mass market" of the new rich. The Hasselblad Stellar is nothing but an overpriced Sony RX 100 , both with the same Zeiss lens. No difference except three times the price and a bit of design makeover. The Hasselblad Lunar is the excellent Sony NEX-7 (have one) with a nicer design and a leather case making it five times the price. If I would be a Private Equity company, I would probably do the same thing. As a professional manager also. Shareholder value, I know. But as I always looked up to the great cameras of Leica and Hasselblad for their technical abilities, I feel I will rather stay with my Fuji X-100 and Sony NEX-7 and read the specs more carefully before being impressed by legends.