typeronin

I was at a camera swap meet on the weekend, mostly looking for lenses and backs for my 'new' Bronica SQ-A that just arrived. Normally the sort of stuff that is at these shows is either in either expensive, in terrible condition or a lot of gear that no one has any use for anymore. Just as I was about to leave, I noticed a table that just got setup. He had a number of nice mint-ish lenses on the table but nothing terribly interesting until I saw a big heavy Vivitar Series 1 on the table. I had been looking for Vivitar/Tokina 90mm F2.5's on eBay but they're quite expensive for one in excellent condition and most didn't come with the matched 1:1 adapter. Seeing some for $250-400 without the adapter. But all this guy wanted was $199! Canadian dollars, too... ($200CAD = ~$155USD). I even got him down to $120US as some other dude came to the table and remarked at how good of a find this was. There's a few scratches here and there but no dents. Rubber on the rings is fresh. No dust, no fungus, no haze in the optics. About as good as a 40+ year old lens can look. Went home and ordered a Nikon to Fuji adapter. Fit it to my Nikon FE just to take a look through it. It's probably one of the best made lenses from that era short of Leicas and Zeiss lenses that I've handled. Absolute tank in terms of build quality, all metal construction. Focus ring is very well dampened. Long focus throw of roughly 270 degrees.

You can pretty clearly see the difference between the two in the image above. Look at how much longer that curved piece where you thumb goes is on the top picture (which is a photo of the Lensmate unit, BTW, not the "Fitttest"). That tells me the Fittest one would end just above the AE-L button rather than reaching to the exposure comp dial like on the Lensmate. I can't be the only one that sees this. Yes, it isn't a real life pic but I'd rather just buy the Lensmate one for $70 rather than a $20 piece of metal I won't use because it doesn't fit properly. I realized the one I mentioned in the other thread is the same as the one you're looking at except it doesn't have the branding on top.

Well the hotshoe part should be the same size so if you use that as reference, then the curve part where your thumb goes is about half as long as the Lensmate. This is not a direct copy of the Lensmate...it's something they designed themselves.

Problem is it doesn't look long enough. If you look at the Lensmate, the curved section is much longer. This one looks like your thumb would have to be much further left.

I bought a Gura Gear Uintas + medium compact module. Great quality pack...and it helped that I picked it up on clearance for about $50.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CNC-Hot-shoe-hotshoe-Hand-Thumb-Grip-For-Fujifilm-Fuji-XT1-X-T1-ILDC-camera-Gray-/400999801074?hash=item5d5d7360f2 Anyone tried one of these? Yes, they're from China but it's also $60 less than the LensMate thumb up. My concern is that it doesn't look long enough to reach far enough to the right where my thumb is...

I have Canon TX-560 and 560IV. Works great on the X-T1. Snug fit in the hotshoe, though.

I thought about buying the tilt-shift adapter but...nearly $300, I wanted to see some results first and as you found out, there aren't too many of these things in the wild...at least not in the hands of people that write reviews on message boards.

I like the Peak Design too. If they made a smaller one, it would be awesome and probably at a great price point too. Vanguard still looks too camera bag. Co-worker actually has that Up Rise bag. Even the smallest one is pretty big and they're also bags with inserts, albeit quite a nice insert. I dislike the look of Billingham. I looked at the Hadley Pro but not a fan. I'd rather buy a Prince Street than any Billingham.

Oh the problem isn't the leather. If I'm buying an Ona bag, it will be the leather rather than the canvas. If you're spending $300, you might as well spend $400. The problem is the Prince Street still isn't "perfect" but I can't find anything better that fits my exact specs.

Yes, I was so close to backing and they would have my money already if the bag was closer to 14" rather than 17-18. That bag is designed with DSLRs in mind and after 10 years of carrying heavy ass DSLR gear around, I want a much more portable system and the Prince Street is the correct size. It also has a lot to do with depth and width. It's 4.5" thick while most camera messengers are between 5-7". Walking around with something nearly flat against your back is a lot more convenient and comfortable. I want it to fit a mirrorless system, not a DSLR. In truth, if you look up Tenba P211 Classic, that's actually my ideal camera bag because it fits mirrorless and has a cool compartment on the bottom for lenses. Why hasn't anyone else done this? It just seems like a much more efficient use of space. Even the Peak Design bag recognizes that we're wasting space in bags on top of our stuff. Problem with that bag is...it's so damned ugly.

I've sort of come to the conclusion, after extensive research...that there is no better camera bag for me than the Ona Prince Street. And I'm sort of disappointed because I don't really want to buy it. Don't get me wrong...I really want one because they're great bags but it's expensive and it still isn't the "perfect" bag. There aren't very many bells and whistles and did I mention it's expensive? This is because I can't find another camera bag in that size, that looks that good, and is built from the ground up as a camera bag. I've looked a few others like Wotancraft, Zkin, Copper River, etc but most of them are more expensive (I can get Ona's with my employee discount, actually...and being Canadian, the 1:1.3 to the US dollar doesn't help). The Prince Street is my ideal size at 12x10x4.5 and unlike a lot of other bags I looked at, they aren't just pretty bags with a camera insert in them. They're made to be camera bags. This disqualified a lot of brands like Copper River, Artisan and Artist, and lots more. Wotancraft makes some of the best quality inserts I've seen but since the Scout is $299, I might as well get a Ona Prince Street in dark truffle since it's pretty much the same price. Dammit...I wanted to buy something more unique but I just can't find a better bag than the Ona. Seriously, I've looked everywhere. Oberwerth is twice as expensive and not as good looking, for example.

Fuji already pretty much makes all the lenses I want since I usually don't use zooms. Actually, that's not true. Above 90/135mm, then zooms make more sense but otherwise, Fuji has now established their baseline. Next will probably be a premium line (35mm F0.95? 56mm F0.7?) and also a budget line (35mm F2 is a good start). Coming from a Canon system where there's a budget line, a mid-level line and then the L-series, I figure that's what everyone should do so there's a good choice of lenses to fit every budget.

http://www.amazon.com/DOT-01-Replacement-Fujifilm-NP-W126-Batteries/dp/B00XIMOISC/ Anyone seen these? They're apparently 1800mAH (regular NP-W126 is 1200). I have Wasabi and ChiliPower batteries and they work great.

So I remember a little while ago the front page of Fuji Rumors had a thing about a travel replacement for the battery charger 1-15P to C7 power cord and I was looking for it on Amazon when I realized, I already had plenty of these things lying around. Yes, if you have pretty much any Apple charger, the little elbow adapter totally works.

Cool. Pretty much all good power banks are 2.1A output now. Guess I'll buy one and report back.

Anyone use something to charge their batteries with a USB power bank? I'm looking at this: http://www.amazon.com/OAproda%C2%AE-NP-W126-Portable-FUJIFILM-Camcorder/dp/B00QLHDMX8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1435683932&sr=8-4&keywords=usb+np-w126 Well, the worst that can happen is I waste $9 and maybe a $10 battery.

I still find the 35mm has room to improve. Still a bit of hunting, especially at close range. Continuous tracking is amazing, though.

I think this is more because you can't set the entire range of shutter speeds with the mechanical dial? Why not just use the aperture ring? I think that's one of my favorite things about Fuji cameras...that lenses have a aperture ring rather than fiddling with dials on the back like on my 5D3.

I disagree, sort of. I hate brand loyalty when it isn't because of something quantifiable. Nothing annoys me more than the idiots that realize I'm a photographer and want to talk brands. I hate that conversation. "I SHOOT NIKON BECAUSE IT'S THE BEST!" But what I like about Fuji is that they give photographers that use their stuff a good reason to stick around...because Kaizen improves the cameras beyond what they were already happy with. Yes, maybe that person won't buy a new X-T10 because their X-E2 is improved to that level...but then they'll take that money and spend it on new lenses instead because they're invested in Fuji. I also have Canon gear and I don't have nearly the same optimism with my 5D3, which is probably why I'm downsizing all my Canon gear and swapping to Fuji and possibly a Sony/GH4 for video.

How do you find shooting street photography where you live? I don't find Vancouver interesting enough to do much street photography but I love doing it when I visit other cities.

These are amazing. Love the composition. Find the frame and wait for the right person (or...bird) to walk through?

I'm in the same boat. I'm thinking about how I can sell my 5D Mark III. Unfortunately, I do need a body that can do video but I could sell my 5D3, buy a GH4 and still have enough left over for a lens. ...the more I think about this, the more logical it gets. Am I really going to miss full frame?

Where's this video?

I have a 560-TX and YN560 IV combo that work great on my X-T1.