Gear

My kit:

My cameras:

Redmi 9T: I bought this because I needed a new phone and it has a macro camera. I make stupid baseless decisions like this all the time. The macro lens sucks, it's a blurry 2mb shooter where you can't control any settings. The wide angle lens, which is equivalent to a 26mm, on the other hand takes decent photos. Makes for a useful emergency camera, but I hardly use it. A 26mm field of view is a bit too wide for me, and I end up not being able to compose my images properly. Not too fond of how it renders greens, which tend to come out a little too vibrant to the point where the trees look a bit radioactive. I've never used the portrait mode.

Fujifilm X-A2: This is still my go to camera for most stuff. I honestly think that the Fujifilm A-series is underated. Yes, it's plasticky and light, plus it doesn't have a viewfinder. But as far as a mirrorless camera striped down to the bare essentials goes, it is adequate and yet still an enjoyable camera. The 16 megapixel Bayer sensor is more than enough for most day to day applications, the controls are comfortable, the screen swivels and it's generally a good sandbox for learning the basics of photography. It has decent retro styling too. I also prefer the buttons on the X-A2 compared to the touch screen interface of the later models. This is not a impartial review, I've been using this camera for almost half a decade and I've taken most of my favourite pictures on it. It's a tool that gets the job done, and that's why I appreciate it.

Fujifilm X-T100: I decided to upgrade to slightly better camera earlier this year. It was old stock, this camera has been around since 2018. I had a choice between this and the newer X-T200, but I chose this for the d-pad because I like buttons better than touchscreens. In terms of still photo taking ability the performance is neglieable. Better to save on a body and put the money towards a good lens. Overall it's a slight improvement over my old set up, with a viewfinder, one more dial and better 24 megapixel sensor. It's a satisfying clicky experience to use. I mostly use it for telephoto work, but I sometimes slap the 7artisans 25mm lens on it for street photography. I shot some decent photos with this set up, but nothing to be proud of.

Lenses:

7artisans 25mm lens: This was an impulse buy, it's a really cheap manual lens. I wanted a cheap lens for street photography. It's not a sharp lens. I keep knocking the apeture ring (which isn't clicky) and moving it when I try to focus. It doesn't have much room to focus for anything more than 3m away. It has vignetting around the corners. It's a 38mm equivalent lens that captures an area close to my field of view. It's a challenge to use, but there is some fun in struggling with your lens instead of pressing a button and getting a perfect focus.

I have a few more lenses in my arsenal, but those are 'working lenses', so probably nothing that I take with those is going to end up on this website, which is for goofing around, taking terrible street photography and other weird experiments.

The XC16-50mm kit lens is good enough and produces some sharp photos with good colors. It's definitely not the best lens, but as with the whole set up it is comfortable adequacy. It comes out when I need more flexibility and I don't want to carry anything heavier. I combine it with a 10mm extension tube for macro shots. Actually I mostly use it for macro shots these days.

*I have tried the newer XC15-45mm lens, and I didn't like it as much. The XC16-50mm is more likea proper zoom lens with focal length measurements on it, which you don't get that with the XC15-45mm. One of the reasons why I've avoided cameras bundled with that lens. It would be more worth it to spend a bit more and get the excellent XF16-55mm instead.

XF70-300mm lens: This is the first good lens that I've ever gotten. It's a really good lens. Sharp, fast, I have no complaints about its performance. This is my 'work' lens, it produces really professional and clean looking photos, so probably no photos taken with it will appear on this website.