Due to a couple of extreme snow storms hit here , the train stopped running between Fukagawa and Nayoro area of JR Soya line. I originally planned to leave there on Feb 8th, a couple of days before this, but I had to stay extra 2 nights in Wakkanai city area. It was really cold this time, I think it was minus 13c at the time I was leaving here. Minus 13c does not sound very cold but it felt really cold like Minus 20c or around there as it was also extremely windy.
The actual temp of this area of Wakkanai is not really very cold even in this season, usually in between minus 5 and minus 14c, but it feels really really cold here.
Maybe because of the strong sea wind coming from the north sea or Okhotsk is something to do with the strange weather climate in this area of Wakkanai.
A huge industry shakeout is coming soon 4:
After the COVID-19 break, I really decided to simplify my camera system and spend more money on home Gym equipment such as serious Leg Curl machine , better squat rack,etc. I also bought a good Leg Press machine from a local gym that went under due to the COVID-19 economic crisis.
I also bought a few pair of new workout shoes , running shoes, walking shoes and many boots.
I also renewed my phone, a couple of lenses , but sold most of my cameras.......now I only have just a couple of simple A7R2 cameras , nothing else. I have sold my A7R3, R4 , A9MK2 and A6400. I also sold a few lenses.....that I never use in the last 6 months or so. I realized that regardless of quality I never use any of my 135mm primes and 70-200mm zooms, so I sold them.
I think what this long COVID-19 break did to me was give me a serious week or two to honestly re-think or reevaluate about my camera kit system -do I really need as many lenses or cameras as I own? Are cameras as important as my personal Gym? Etc.........or Pizza baking place.
And I realized that I do not need as many lenses as I have been keeping in my camera room. I've usually owned 7 or 8 cameras plus 14 to 16 lenses and I realized that I have just used only a few of these lenses.
Owning or keeping too many unused expensive lenses in my bag now seems very impractical for the current situation here.
Maybe all what I really need is just A7R2 or A7R4 and a several lenses. The FE20mm f1.8G , the 28mm f1.4 Art, the FE35mm f1.4 GM or the Batis 40mm f2CF and the FE85mm f1.8E or the Sigma 85mm f1.4 Dn. Maybe that's all, nothing more or less I really need. For travel light I may keep my FE16-35mm f2.8GM and FE24-105mm f4GOSS too, but for normal daily photography where I can change lenses often, I do not really need these zooms often.
For me a couple of primes on a couple of A7R2 bodies are more than enough most of times. I mean if you have two bodies all the time you do not often need to swap lenses.
A good 28 or 35mm prime on one body , a great 85mm on the other, or a sharp compact 20mm G on one body and a great 35mm GM or a 40mm Batis on the other body.....that is a great kit.
That simple kit seems to do every thing what I have been actually asked to do for a couple of universities I've worked for, and my private outings. I think in this case the simpler the better..........and the more efficient.
I used to think rendering, look and highest possible resolution at any given FL at any given time extremely important.....and so I always preferred my Loxia primes most of time...
In an ideal world , I actually still prefer these tiny but super sharp manual focus primes over my current Sony AF primes ,but I realize that the best set of MF primes that provide all of these qualities I used to think really important to me do not make me enjoy the moment or time I am sharing with some one I think important to me.........as shooting with a set of many manual focus primes force me to change lenses every couple of blocks...........and that makes me more obsessed with gear that I carry with me even for casual walks with my friends.
So I decided to make my kit a lot simpler. Selling all Loxia, Voigtlander and some adapted Milvus......those are really not needed any more for my part time weather documentary photography work.....as my main work is not photography related any way.
I like the Loxias for my personal shooting but I have no time doing that now. Also changing lenses all the time outside now is extremely risky and increase my chance to meet or contact with other people who might have COVID-19.
After all , slightly sharper lenses or newer cameras won't let me produce better images. In fact, it may be opposite, it may work against me producing my best images, as I get too obsessive about my gear( especially lenses), not how I shoot.
If you take a serious look at images posted at FM forums , which seem to be the most gear obsessed forums in the world, their images are honestly nothing great..........sure some of these are technically good, but not really great.....
DPR forum seems to be a lot better, they are much more honest and much more tech focused than FM guys.
Many times I find some outstanding images at here Flickr or DPR or other similar sites and often times these are made with a lowly 5DMK2 or D800.......or A7R2 or R....
I even find many outstanding images created with a lowly Canon Rebel or EOS M6. And many of these images are clearly better than some of FM images produced with most expensive latest Sony or Nikon or Leica with their best prime.
And honestly many many images posted at Fuji forums with their best GFX100S are really shitty. Of course, there are many great images too, but do you really want to carry that kind of weight just to get a tiny bit better resolution than your typical Sony R series camera? I think it just makes our shooting situation more dangerous, as it increases the change of being robbed.
I think many people realizing that as they get time to slow down and rethink about what they use, or how they photograph in general.......
So sorry for the gear manufactures , but I've moved on, and now seriously decided to buy only REAL PRACTICAL lenses that actually suit my personal shootings.
I have no luxury of changing lenses all the time as I live in a dusty polluted city area most of time of any year. So I get cheap zooms and practical AF primes from cheap lens makers (as PRACTICAL image quality of those are just as good as the IQ of Zeiss or Leica or any premium lens brand like Canon L)such as Sony, Samyang, Sigma, Voigtlander and Tamron..
I mean for me just a couple of lenses on a couple of bodies work great. Right now I am debating selling 3 lenses (the FE135mm f1.8GM, the Batis 135mm f2.8APO and the 24mm f1.4GM) to get FE35mm f1.4GM plus FE85mm f1.8E.
I think these two simple lens set up works great for me, I really do not need any thing longer than 85mm prime in my kit.
And the tiny Sony 85mm prime is actually quite sharp at f8 , in fact it may be the sharpest 85mm prime at f8 if we believe in what Immatest says about these lenses.
Now a lot of gearheads and lens snobs dismiss portability or practicality of any lens , they just mock those of us who prefer practical small kit over some huge GFX 100S plus a several primes kind of set up, but if your gear is too heavy or too impractical , you may not get the place you actually need to go , or you may just leave it at your studio or house....
I think portability and real life practicality is always one of the most important lens feature/ quality that many gear snob ignore......and the camera makers are designing all their gear for those gear snobs , so normal people do not get interested in their camera systems.
They really need to change their design goals and target market , other wise , all camera makers will go under.
Just a few years ago, who could guess Nikon would go under as soon as they did. Nikon's parent company may shut down the camera division if they cannot break even by the Q3 of 2021.
They need to go smaller , not bigger , no rational people carry the weight of any decent modern FF system.
They do not need FF , just need a bit better sensor than the current best m43 level of a sensor to be able to match the IQ of the best FF system if they fully utilize the best Google level of computational image manipulation/enhancing tech in their 43 or APS-C body.
Why do they have to go all Optical route ? There are many other ways to improve overall or end IQ of their system.....
After having used the A7R4 for more than 3 years, now I must question any expensive cameras really worth the money?
I mean none of the expensive FF cameras or even MF cameras released after the A7R2 produce practically better IQ or PQ or VQ than that of the original A7R2. The sensor tech is in total stagnation , not moving forward , unless you are talking about industrial quality or scientific sensors used for many scientific or industrial apps. The A7R4, R3, R2 , the Z7, the Z7 MK2 and Fuji GFX50/100 all have the boring similar Bayer based CMOS tech and all of these sensor even the Original A7R sensor have approximately identical QE and read noise level. Nothing really changed.
I think that until these company use serious Google level of sophisticated computational IQ enhancing tech in camera, all the future cameras will be just as good as the current A7R2/R3 and R4 in terms of sensor level IQ.
So I've decided to not upgrade my cameras until I see some really new level of sensor tech is introduced in a new camera.
And I am sure we will not see it very soon , maybe before the new real game changing sensor tech becomes available the industry may die as no rational people buy another boring over 3K US FF camera without any real serious new tech.....(I mean not the gimmick like eye AF or animal AF or such a crap feature that only a very few people actually need).
Unless they really give us a new level of sensor tech, I will never upgrade my camera body. I thought about buy the Z7MK2 but I realized that the sensor tech used in that camera is basically identical to that of my A7R3 and R2.
I do not need that , it is 2015 tech, not 2021 tech.
The camera industry really needs to wake up and smell the great Spanish coffee.....
