If you’re wondering why the camera industry churns out so many homogeneous black cameras with the same specs and price, look no further than the reception the different ones get in the camera dweeb community.
We should all be encouraging the Japanese manufacturers to try different things and think outside the box.
Invariably these more ‘experimental’ cameras are more fun to shoot with.
Take for example the Fujifilm GFX 100, the original one. Yes the smaller and cheaper GFX 100S was more popular but the original broke the mould of what a medium format camera could do especially for cinema.
Take the Fujifilm X-Pro3 as well, another example of a special design that encourages a more creative approach to getting the shot.
Those weirdos who only own one camera probably wouldn’t brave it out with an GFX 100 and Leica M lens adapter. Manual focus isn’t for everyone, and the native GFX mount medium format lenses are slow, sterile and expensive. But the results I get with a cheap Minolta 50mm lens on the GFX 100 are 10x more artistic than the ‘default option’ of a high-end full frame mirrorless camera and brand new 24-70mm F2.8 that the average rich brat has just spent $6000+ on.
Granted the 3 cameras Chris and Jordan mention are not without issues. The Sigma Bf has an absolutely baffling UI when you first pick it up and some unsettlingly sharp edges. The Fuji X-Half has a rather soft JPEG-only output that you don’t want to pixel peep and a cheap lens that isn’t as fast (or even as sharp) as what you’d find on a smartphone costing the same price. But this camera is simply not about pixel peeping or specs.
The Sony FX2 meanwhile – I get it. It would have been nice if Sony had waited a year and put the newer sensor of the a7v in it. I know it’s neither an FX3 or an a7v and therefore appeals to nobody that are interested in the latter two, which is most people.
But the FX2 is criticised as if no camera has ever been followed-up by a faster one later. It’s completely normal, and the price of the FX2 reflects it as well.
You can quantify the specs all day long but with these cameras it’s the intangibles that matter. The X-Half is a pure creative tool to bring out the pleasure of shooting.
And that experience of walking the streets with it is made even more enjoyable by the fact it’s a trendy fashion item which brings out the pleasure of using it even more. I know it seems shallow to say, but you do look less like a dork with a camera that looks like a camera, rather than something that looks like a cross between a leaf blower and an office photocopier.
It’s the same with the Sigma Bf except that’s a full frame image quality powerhouse, one of the smallest full frame cameras, that in many ways is better than the $4800 Sony RX1R III but half the price and with the benefits of a choice of small primes rather than only one Zeiss 35mm F2 with dodgy AF that hasn’t been updated for 11 years.
And as for the Sony FX2, it doesn’t in fact have the same sensor as the a7 IV, but the newer a7c II and all the latest class leading AI and image processing that Sony is currently leading the market with, plus a pimped out video monitoring feature-set that the Sony Alpha cameras don’t have.
It’s cheaper than the FX3 yet has a proper EVF (it’s even articulating) which is rare for a cinema camera and unlike the Nikon Zr it has a proper mechanical shutter as well. That makes the FX2 completely unique and different to all the other hybrid cameras in that it’s a cinema-first design but doesn’t throw the baby out of the bathwater when it comes to key stills features like a lot of the other hybrid cinema cameras.
Yet the signals the average customer, and by extension the ultimate Canadian camera store salesmen are sending to Japan has me a bit worried.
The concept of a true stills-cinema hybrid camera has been rejected. The conclusion from the Sony FX2’s low sales is that nobody gives a damn about having a lovely EVF and mechanical shutter in a filmmaker focused camera. What a shame! For me, I really value that.
The idea of a film-compact shooting experience fairs far better with the general audience of camera buyers. The Fuji X-Half is not designed to replace your EOS R6 Mark III for sports and fucking bird photography. Worst camera of the year it is, then?
And the Sigma Bf is the affordable full frame alternative to a Contax T2, made in small quantities by a family owned business in Aizu, Japan.
I just don’t accept that you can throw so much shade so publicly at such creatively brave concepts as these.
Save the shade for the broadest shoulders, the boring mainstream cameras that you can’t tell one from another.
