Invested In 3 Different Systems

[JohnDizzo15]

So I was recently presented with the opportunity to trade out my seldom used 24-70II for a Fuji Xt-1 w/ kit lens and 56/1.2.

I am now officially invested in systems with Canon (6D and EOS M), Sony (A7r), and Fuji (xt-1 and x100s).

As ridiculous as the initial thought of being bought into all these systems was, I am now finding that they all have their respective uses for what I do. While I understand that it is not necessary to have all of it to get the job done, it is nice to have the option of choosing the best tool for the job when needed.

An unexpected side effect of getting the xt-1.....I'm once again reminded that I really can't stand the shooting experience of the Sony (even more so now).

 

[NancyP]

Canon DSLRs (60D and 6D), with modern Canon, Sigma, and Samyang lenses, and (via adapters) film-era all-manual pre-AI/AI/AI-s Nikkor lenses (inherited) and my own M42-mount (various brands) lenses.
Sigma DP Merrill fixed-lens compacts.
Film gear.

Interesting to hear that you don't like the Sony shooting experience. I have toyed with the thought of the Sony A7r. Not going to happen soon.

 

[MARKOE PHOTOE]

Hi John,

We run in similar circles. I've been a Canon shooter for many years and love my 1DX/5D3/1D4 for sports and landscape. I'm also heavily invested in Fuji's mirrorless system and I can confirm that the XT1 and 56mm f1.2 is the best combination Fuji offers. Their 10-24 wide angle lens is also a consideration if you're considering going wide.

While the Fuji's are light and getting faster at 8FPS, they still will not replace a DSLR designed for sports. I've tried to shoot sports with my Fuji XT1 w/55-200 zoom lens and while the lens length was acceptable, the XT1 simply could not lock on as quickly or maintain AF for fast moving subjects. The images from the XT1 were 'just about' as good as the 1DX from the same venue but I missed so many more shots with the Fuji. Agreed too that the smaller Fuji's are not designed to be at the edge of a football field or a racetrack but they really do a great job at portraits and landscapes. Their built-in intervalometer is also a nice feature for timelapse.

Welcome to the 'circle of confusion'. Which system do I take?

Regarding Sony, I too have considered the A7R or S but at this point, and based on some others comments, its not for me.

Best of luck!

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I used my D800 alongside my Canon bodies, a 1D MK IV at the time. The D800 was fine, my Nikon lenses suffered a lot of CA. Since I do high ISO, and the huge amount of noise at ISO 12800 in D800 images took NR a long long time to run, I realized that the D800 was impractical for my use and sold it (for more than I paid new).

If I were only using ISO 100-400, its a fantastic tool, but at ISO 800, noise creeps in.

 

[JohnDizzo15]

Canon DSLRs (60D and 6D), with modern Canon, Sigma, and Samyang lenses, and (via adapters) film-era all-manual pre-AI/AI/AI-s Nikkor lenses (inherited) and my own M42-mount (various brands) lenses.
Sigma DP Merrill fixed-lens compacts.
Film gear.

Interesting to hear that you don't like the Sony shooting experience. I have toyed with the thought of the Sony A7r. Not going to happen soon.

The Sony just has a lot of issues for me with regard to UI, ergonomics, the shutter, and lack of some features. The biggest knock against it now for me is the softness that I get in the majority of my shots (including tripod mounted work) with some adapted lenses. I realized it this week when I started using some of my vintage lenses on the Fuji. I found that the images were signicantly sharper and cleaner with equal to or less shutter speed than the Sony. One of the things I thought to myself initially was that the Fuji is a crop sensor thus only using the center of the image circle. But comparing subjects at the center of the frame, the Fuji just blows the Sony out of the water.

The A7r is pretty good when paired with the 55/1.8 (the only native lens I have for it). If it weren't for the fact that it is capable of electronic communication with my EF lenses, it would have already been returned or sold by now. Honestly, if a company like Metabones were able to produce a speedbooster for EF to X mount (that allowed aperture control), or even just a straight up electronic adapter, that would also prompt the dumping of the A7r. The Sony, with all those pixels, basically gives me 36mp of softness vs the 16mp of sheer sharpness with the xt-1 when using adapted lenses (the main draw for me).

The Xt-1 has a significantly better viewfinder (especially for manual focus) than the A7r. It also has a much better shutter mechanism, better ergonomics, and just better overall photographic user experience.

 

[JohnDizzo15]

Hi John,

We run in similar circles. I've been a Canon shooter for many years and love my 1DX/5D3/1D4 for sports and landscape. I'm also heavily invested in Fuji's mirrorless system and I can confirm that the XT1 and 56mm f1.2 is the best combination Fuji offers. Their 10-24 wide angle lens is also a consideration if you're considering going wide.

While the Fuji's are light and getting faster at 8FPS, they still will not replace a DSLR designed for sports. I've tried to shoot sports with my Fuji XT1 w/55-200 zoom lens and while the lens length was acceptable, the XT1 simply could not lock on as quickly or maintain AF for fast moving subjects. The images from the XT1 were 'just about' as good as the 1DX from the same venue but I missed so many more shots with the Fuji. Agreed too that the smaller Fuji's are not designed to be at the edge of a football field or a racetrack but they really do a great job at portraits and landscapes. Their built-in intervalometer is also a nice feature for timelapse.

Welcome to the 'circle of confusion'. Which system do I take?

Regarding Sony, I too have considered the A7R or S but at this point, and based on some others comments, its not for me.

Best of luck!

As far as respective uses, the Canon is what I reach for when needing telephoto. The X100s is my go to for daily random shooting (family, or just quick captures, etc) and the xt-1 will now be used for all of my vintage glass (or when I need compact with the native lenses). The Sony will still be in the stable for usage with TSE lenses as they do not have aperture control when adapted to the fuji. Starting to wonder whether I should bother keeping the zeiss 55mm.

I haven't been able to do any torturous testing with the xt-1 as far as shooting action with native glass. But I am certain it will not be on par with a DSLR. Though so far, with the 56 at least, I have gotten a pretty high rate of keepers with my kids. Not quite sports, but still some action involved. The low light focusing ability is also rather surprisingly good on the Fuji.

 

[JohnDizzo15]

I used my D800 alongside my Canon bodies, a 1D MK IV at the time. The D800 was fine, my Nikon lenses suffered a lot of CA. Since I do high ISO, and the huge amount of noise at ISO 12800 in D800 images took NR a long long time to run, I realized that the D800 was impractical for my use and sold it (for more than I paid new).

If I were only using ISO 100-400, its a fantastic tool, but at ISO 800, noise creeps in.

That's what I've found with the Sony. Anything past ISO 400, and I just assume use any of my other rigs as the experience of making images is much easier and enjoyable with every other system. Starting to get the feeling that the Sony is going to have to go at some point when there is a better solution for my TSE lenses and shooting high resolution.

 

[dr croubie]

Only 3 systems?

My 7D with 70-300L is great for birds and wildlife when I'm out and about, and with Sigma 8-16 it's still the widest I can get. EOS 3 with 40mm is good for street, and with 85/1.8 or 100/2.0 for stage portraits, or lately with RokiBowYang 35/1.4 for ultra-sharp landscapes (but the weight gets annoying).
Bessa L with 21mm Skopar is an ultra lightweight hiking kit. R3A with 40/1.4 and 50/2 are great for street and general photography.
Mamiya 645AF with 45mm is my not-so-lightweight hiking kit, but better IQ than the small-format Bessa, even if it's not as wide. With 80/1.9 it's the king of low-light.
Hasselbladski with WLF is great for square street, with 180/2.8 Sonnar it makes a great portrait machine.
Toyo 45G is a bit heavy to drag too far from the car, but with the DaYi 6x17 back and Fujinon 90mm SWD I'm getting great panos in a single shot without the innacuracy/overlap/parallax and time-consuming-annoyance of digital stitching.
Cambo SCX 8x10 is a new one, and I haven't used it much yet, but at only $4 a sheet it's still proving great value-for money.
And there's a whole lot of other crap in my cupboards, but honestly one of my most used cameras over the last year is the half-frame Agat 18K, not much bigger than my wallet so it goes everywhere.

 

[Dylan777]

I used my D800 alongside my Canon bodies, a 1D MK IV at the time. The D800 was fine, my Nikon lenses suffered a lot of CA. Since I do high ISO, and the huge amount of noise at ISO 12800 in D800 images took NR a long long time to run, I realized that the D800 was impractical for my use and sold it (for more than I paid new).

If I were only using ISO 100-400, its a fantastic tool, but at ISO 800, noise creeps in.

Give A7s a try

 

[zlatko]

I used my D800 alongside my Canon bodies, a 1D MK IV at the time. The D800 was fine, my Nikon lenses suffered a lot of CA. Since I do high ISO, and the huge amount of noise at ISO 12800 in D800 images took NR a long long time to run, I realized that the D800 was impractical for my use and sold it (for more than I paid new).

If I were only using ISO 100-400, its a fantastic tool, but at ISO 800, noise creeps in.

Give A7s a try

I wonder how the A7S compares to the XT1. Anybody have both?

 

[Dylan777]

I used my D800 alongside my Canon bodies, a 1D MK IV at the time. The D800 was fine, my Nikon lenses suffered a lot of CA. Since I do high ISO, and the huge amount of noise at ISO 12800 in D800 images took NR a long long time to run, I realized that the D800 was impractical for my use and sold it (for more than I paid new).

If I were only using ISO 100-400, its a fantastic tool, but at ISO 800, noise creeps in.

Give A7s a try

I wonder how the A7S compares to the XT1. Anybody have both?

in high iso department 12800 looks cleaner than my 5d3 at 6400.

 

[Aglet]

..I am now finding that they all have their respective uses for what I do. While I understand that it is not necessary to have all of it to get the job done, it is nice to have the option of choosing the best tool for the job when needed..

They're all similar, but different and each have their uses.
sez the guy using Nikon F, Canon EF/S, Pentax K & Q, Fuji X, MFT + a pile of fixed lens compacts. No MF, Sony or Samsung for me yet.

 

[mrsfotografie]

So I was recently presented with the opportunity to trade out my seldom used 24-70II for a Fuji Xt-1 w/ kit lens and 56/1.2.

I am now officially invested in systems with Canon (6D and EOS M), Sony (A7r), and Fuji (xt-1 and x100s).

...

Congratulations on the XT-1, it's a very nice camera and talking about investing in systems, there are a lot of good but pricey lenses for that one too, that's where most of the hit will come from if you want to expand your systems.

Despite liking the Fuji system very much, I've decided to stick with Sony and recently went from a NEX-6 to the a6000 and the 16-70 Zeiss. If I had the opportunity to switch systems before, that lens is expensive enough to commit me fully both from a cost and convenience point of view (selling and buying lenses to change systems is such a hassle too).

 

[alexanderferdinand]

I am glad to read hiw many of you/us have more then one system.
The Fuji Xs are very tempting for trips- I already have the X100s- and I see this little piece of joy as a "standalone".
Like the Sony RX100 III......
And I use and love them all!