Sony HX series – the Cybershot DSC-HX60

Until this year, the big Japanese camera makers seemed to have abandoned the “digital compact camera” market almost entirely, retreating to a few niche products such as the Sony RX100 or the OM System Tough TG, and leaving all the space of “casual photography” to smartphones.

The commercial success of a few of the remaining compact cameras (the current versions of Fujifilm X-100 and of the Canon G7x are almost always out of stock), and the prices reached on the second hand market by some high end compact cameras from the past decade are pushing the camera companies to reconsider their product strategy. Canon is widely rumored to be preparing a new range of compacts.

In the meantime, a few lines of cameras of the past decade – the Canon SX700, the Nikon S9000 and the Sony HX series in particular, are getting all the attention and are more expensive than ILCs of the same vintage on eBay.

Sony’s HX line of products

The H in HX stands for HyperZoom – the cameras of the series all have zooms that can reach at least an equivalent of 250mm on a full frame camera. Some of the HX models (the ones with three digits in their name) are shaped like a bridge camera and would not fit in a pocket, while the HX models with one or two digits (HX5 to HX99) are pocketable little bricks that could fit in the pocket of a coat.

The HX pocketable models were developed across 4 generations.

HX5, HX7 and HX9 belong to the first one, with 10 and 16 megapixel image sensors and a reach limited to 384mm. The HX10, HX20 and HX30 form the second generation. They share a 18 mpixel sensor and are pretty close to one another – primarily differentiated by the reach of their zoom and the support of Wifi.

*Sony Cybershot HX60 – size comparison with a Fujifilm Z1000 EXR and a Fujifilm XQ2. The Sony is two to three times thicker than the two Fujifim digicams*

The HX50 and HX60 mark a significant evolution towards the high end, with a 20 Megapixel sensor, an accessory shoe, a bulkier body and longer zoom reach. They share a G series, 25-720 zoom. The main difference between the two models is that the HX60 has NFC in addition to Wifi, and is controlled through the new unified Sony menus.

The last four models (HX90, HX80, HX95 and HX99) all share a 18 mpix sensor and a smaller body with a telescopic viewfinder and a flip up screen. Their lens is a new, more compact, Zeiss labeled, 24-720 zoom. But they lose the accessory shoe of the previous generations and a few physical controls (like the exposure compensation control wheel). The differences between last four models are relatively minor. The HX80 is the simplest, while the HX99 has everything (a touch enabled rear display and a GPS, and it can save RAW files).

The 30x zoom *belongs to the G series (one step above the “normal” Sony lenses, one step below the “Zeiss T*”)*

Lastly, all models whose name ends with a “V” have a GPS chip. The HX60, for instance, was available as a GPS-less HX60, while the HX60V had the GPS chip. Not all combinations were available in all geographies. The HX60, for instance, was not available in the UK or in the US, but the HX60V was.

The different models: a summary.

You will notice that after the HX60 Sony reverted to a 18 Mpixel sensor.

The main differences between the last six models

On paper, the most recent generation with its very compact body, its telescopic viewfinder, its Zeiss labeled lens and its flip up rear screen seems the most interesting. Recent models also benefit, generally, from image sensors and processing engines that produce better pictures (less prone to noise, and therefore more immune to the smearing caused by aggressive noise reduction algorithms). But models of that series are also the most sought after, and cost twice as much as a HX60 on the second hand market, at approx $500.

Shooting with the HX60

The HX60 is not exactly a pocketable camera, unless you wear a coat or an anorak with large pockets. And you will feel its weight – at 272g (9 1/2 ounces) it’s not light either, twice as heavy as a typical compact camera like the Sony W series or the Canon Powershot 170 IS. It does not give the impression of being fragile, but it’s not a rugged camera and its owner will feel compelled to carry it in a soft pouch.

It offers more physical controls than a typical point and shoot and elaborate menus (inherited from Sony’s big mirrorless cameras) which, coupled with the rather succinct documentation, could make it intimidating for beginners.

I left it in Program (“P”) mode most of the time; there are also a “Superior Auto Mode” and an “Intelligent Auto Mode” that detect the scene for you and adjust the settings accordingly – simply adjusting the exposure with the correction dial when needed. I’m not sure there is any benefit in leaving the full automatic modes for Aperture or Shutter Speed priority modes – the largest aperture varies between f/3.5 and f/6.3, and the smallest aperture is always f/8 – your options are limited. And even if a shutter speed of 1/1600 sec is proposed, selecting it it will force the camera into very high ISO territory – to the detriment of image quality.

*The menus belong to Sony’s current generation.*

Compared to the screen of a modern smartphone, the display of the HX60 is not very bright – you have to set it to +2 to be able to compose somehow comfortably when shooting outside. It takes a toll on the battery life, which is limited to one or two hundred pictures in the real life.

The HX60 supports WiFi connections to a smartphone or a tablet using Sony’s current “Imaging Edge Mobile” application. Transferring photos to the mobile device from the camera is not 100% intuitive, but with a bit of trial and error, it can be achieved.

*the exposure compensation dial is useful.*

Image quality

Image quality is surprisingly good for a camera with such a small sensor – as long as the sensitivity remains under 800 ISO. Fortunatelly, if you leave it in auto mode, the camera is programmed to operate when possible at very slow shutter speeds (and in the 80 to 250 ISO range) and thanks to its very efficient optical image stabilization system, it still delivers images free of motion blur at 1/20sec.

Images shot at 1600 ISO or above are best viewed on the small screen of a smartphone, as the noise and the image smearing resulting from the noise reduction algorithm take their toll. The 18 Mpixel sensor of the cameras of the following generation (HX80 and above) is supposed to perform better in those situations, but I had used a Sony WX350 (equipped with the same 18 Mpixel sensor) for night shots in Las Vegas a long time ago and even if the neons looked fantastic, noise severely impacted the poorly lit areas. If there is an improvement, it’s marginal.

*A small portion of the Cirque du Soleil image posted below. At 1600 ISO noise and image smearing become very visible*

As a conclusion

What distinguishes this camera is the very long reach of its zoom. Shooting with wide angle lenses is more natural for me, and with my “normal” cameras most of my pictures are taken at a focal length located somewhere between 28 and 40mm (full frame equivalent). Shooting with a small camera that can reach a focal length of 720mm is a new experience for me, and a sort of eye opener. You look at the world differently when you know you can isolate details far, far away.

The Sony HX60 is a very efficient little camera, using its elaborate technology (a really impressive image stabilization system in particular) to overcome the limitations of its small sensor and deliver very nice pictures. It’s not exactly pocketable and without being fragile, it has to be treated like a small “serious” camera rather than an always available note taker that you will throw in a handbag with your car keys.

Because the camera manufacturers have more or less abandoned the “elaborate, small sensor” compact market, this Cybershot from 2014 is very close to representing the “state of the art” when it comes to “travel zoom” compacts. The HX60 is not for everybody, but if you like long, long zooms in a 270g camera, this one is for you.

This camera belonged to my late father in law, Eric, who passed away recently. In his late years, he was more interested in painting, but he still knew how to use a camera. He shot most of the pictures posted below. They show what a person with a good eye but no particular interest for photography can get out of a HX60.

*Rural landscape in the Grenoble area (France).*

*Ostrich, in a zoo. Shot at a focal lengh of 90mm (approx 550mm full frame equiv.) at 1/250 sec. 125 ISO.*

*The Cirque du soleil. Shot at 1/25sec and 1600 ISO. Not bad for a small sensor camera – as long as the picture is viewed on a smartphone or a tablet.*

*A fellow painter at the workshop – shot at 125 ISO*

More pictures taken with the HX60 in my Flickr album

An update on the online marketplaces: buying an old compact camera in 2025

Call it the Instagram effect, but there seems to be a renewed interest for compact, point and shoot cameras – from the late film and early digital times (roughly 1990-2015).(see * at the bottom of this page)

But where to find them? Resellers of used photo equipment like KEH or MPB don’t seem to carry any – which leaves us with marketplaces and auction sites like eBay, Mercari or Shopgoodwill.

*Minolta AF-C – an ultra compact “premium” camera from 1983.*

For a photographer looking for an old camera, eBay is relatively buyer-friendly – the feedback mechanism gives the cautious user a good tool to evaluate the reliability of the seller, and eBay organizes the shipping and the delivery to ensure that the transaction is satisfactory for the buyer – most of the time. It does not dispense the buyer from being cautious (beware of sellers with no or extremely limited feedback, of succinct item descriptions and of offers too good to be true).

On eBay, buying from the Mecca of old cameras, Japan, is easy – items often get delivered to your doorstep faster than if you bought them from an American vendor. Just be cognizant to the fact that your Japanese seller will probably have a very limited mastery of the English language, and that some of the Japanese camera manufacturers (in fact, most of them) sold specific versions of their cameras on their domestic market, that could only display Japanese menus and could not be reflashed with an “international” firmware. Validate that the camera you want to buy can be configured to the language of your choice, obviously.

*A Canon Photura/Epoca – a very strange bridge camera from 1990.*

I don’t know Mercari that well – I’ve always been discouraged by obvious red flags on the listings of a significant number of sellers, and I’ve never bought anything from them. In my limited experience with the site, I’ve noticed that they’re not as good as eBay at policing their site, and at banning obvious scams (sellers with zero history proposing a very sought after camera at half of the normal price). Which casts a doubt on the reliability of the whole marketplace. (see ** at the bottom of this page).

The red body+lens combo was bought on eBay, and worked. The white combo was bought on Shopgoodwill, and the lenses did not work. I had not followed my own rule – buy equipment described as “tested” by the vendor.

Shopgoodwill is changing. Contrarily to eBay or Mercari, it’s not a marketplace – it’s simply the on-line auction site of the Goodwill organization. It operates on a very decentralized model – and the photographic knowledge of most of those local organizations is still abysmal. Sometimes the work is divided in such a way that the poor soul entering the description of the item on the web site has never had it in hand, and only has a few low res pictures to work from – to comical effects: I recently saw a coffee mug in the shape of a Canon IS USM 24-105 lens described as a lens.

But a few local Goodwill organizations seem to have significantly stepped up their game recently, and now describe the cameras they sell accurately (they even list the tests they performed and their outcome). And it works – I’ve not had a bad surprise with Shopgoodwill recently. It could also be that – with experience – I’ve become better at separating the wheat from the shaff.

Canon “Canonet” QL17 GIII – Antique markets are generally not a place to buy cameras like this one – but there are exceptions – the seller had a good reputation on the place of Atlanta as a camera repair man.

My rules for buying on Shopgoodwill.com:

1 / Only bid on cameras which have been accurately described and tested, with – in the case of digital cameras – a few photos of their rear LCD to confirm they’re in working order.

2/ Only bid on digital cameras that come with a battery – if there is no battery it’s very likely the cameras were not working when they were donated to Shopgoodwill. If the camera’s battery can’t be recharged without an external battery charger, and that charger is not included, walk away. Consider that batteries and chargers for early digital cameras can be extremely difficult to locate, and seriously expensive. And of course, without a charged battery a camera can not be tested, which brings us back to 1/.

3/ Avoid cameras with a known weak point, or a reputation for aging poorly. There are brands or models I would never buy on Goodwill (almost anything Contax and Yashica, many Pentax models or any premium compact film camera from the nineties). If I wanted such a camera, I would go to a specialized reseller, on their website or on their eBay storefront.

4/ Determine the maximum price you’re willing to pay, and stick to it. Logically, cameras should sell on Goodwill for significantly less than what well known and respected specialized stores would ask on their own web sites or on eBay. As a buyer on Shopgoodwill.com your risk of ending with a lemon is much higher, and you have no recourse because you’re buying “a donated item as-is”. I don’t understand why people are entering bidding wars and end up paying more for an untested piece of equipment than they would pay from a reputable seller on eBay.(see *** at the bottom of this page)

‘For parts or not working”

*Nikon D700 – 380,000 actuations the day I bought it on eBay – it hasn’t missed a beat since.*

Generally, when an item is described as “for parts, not working”, it’s true. A seller would not advertise a camera as “not working” if it was working. Right?

Well, not always.

I can think of two situations when a camera is advertised as “non working” but is actually capable of taking pictures:

Canon or Nikon include the expected lifespan of the shutter of their pro cameras in their spec sheets (you know that the shutter of a Nikon D850 is good for 200,000 actuations, and that on a Canon 6D Mark II it is good for 150,000 actuations). But of course, it’s simply an estimate. Which probably includes a solid safety margin. Some resellers (the big cameras stores, typically) advertise cameras which have passed their “shutter life limit” as “not working” to absolve themselves from any liability in case the shutter dies two days after the buyer has received the camera.

The other situation is when the seller has limited knowledge of cameras in general (it’s a pawn shop, for instance) or of the quirks of a specific brand or model in particular. They can’t make the camera work, and rather than writing it off completely, advertise it as non-working. It happens. Be sure that somebody more knowledgeable will notice the listing, identify the issue, decide to take the risk and score big.

Davy Crockett – the Alamo – San Antonio, TX. The camera had been advertised as “not working”

(*) On the subject of the current used digicam market, you can read this interesting article from the blog aptly named thephoblographer: THE VINTAGE DIGICAM CRAZE IS AFFECTING SONY PRICES.

(**) – Both eBay and Mercari are making efforts to kick the scammers out of their marketplace – eBay will only pay the sellers after they have shared some form of tax ID with them, and after the Postal Service has delivered the item to the buyer. They also validate that the data provided by the seller (address, bank information) is consistent. On Mercari, participants (sellers or buyers) can opt to have their identity (and their existence) verified by a third party – and upon successful verification a little blue checkmark is added next to their name.

(***) By the way, donations to a charity like Goodwill may be tax deductible, but purchases you make online at Shopgoodwill.com are not. As per Shopgoodwill.com, “When you purchase an item on ShopGoodwill.com you are paying fair market value for the item, therefore purchases made through ShopGoodwill.com are not tax deductible“.

*Three recent purchases on Shopgoodwill.com – all three work perfectly.*

*Abbaye de Fontfroide – France. Fujifilm X100t – another eBay find.*

Olympus Tough TG-4 vs TG-5

I regularly keep an eye on Shopgoodwill.com auctions. Looking for the unexpected opportunity. A nice camera for a pitance. It’s not very frequent – I’m surprised by how much people are ready to spend on cameras donated to a charity and sold untested.

Sometimes you are lucky. A good camera gets unnoticed – so poorly described that almost nobody can guess what it really is – or the online auction ends at a time when most people have better things to do, and can not be on line to “snipe”.

There were a few auctions ending on Xmas eve and I ended up being the highest bidder for two cameras – a Canon Photura I’m currently testing, and this black Olympus Tough TG-5. The item was correctly described, was said to have passed some basic tests (both points which are not that frequent at Shopgoodwill) but there was very little competition to acquire it – no bidding war and no absurd high sale price. For a change.

The first thing I did of course was to compare it with the Olympus Tough TG-4 I had bought a few months ago.

*The top plate of the TG-5 (the black camera) with the extra control wheel, the improved zoom command and the GPS (Log) switch.*

What are the differences?

The big difference is the sensor. All Tough TG-x models are built around a 1/2.3in sensor. In the first two models (TG-1 and TG-2), the sensor was a 12 megapixel backlit CMOS. The TG-3 benefited from an upgrade to 16 megapixels, which was carried over to the TG-4. The TG-3 and 4 were criticized for their poor control of noise in the darker areas of an image, and for the TG-5, Olympus reverted to 12 megapixel design. With a pixel pitch of 1.53μm versus 1.33μm for the TG-4 each pixel gets 15% more light. Combined with a more powerful image processing engine (a dual quad core Olympus truepic VIII as opposed to the TG-4’s truepic VII), the TG-5 should offer an improved control over noise and deliver cleaner pictures.

The new 12 megapixel sensor also brings a larger sensitivity range – up to 12,800 ISO to whomever is brave enough to test such a setting on a 1/2.3″ sensor, and the support of 4k video.

The other changes relate to the fit and finish and the ergonomics for the most part – there is now a conventional zoom lever and a new control knob on the top plate, and a switch to activate and deactivate the on-board GPS. And big news, the proprietary Olympus connector (used to charge the camera’s battery) has finally been replaced with a standard USB connector (yes!).

*The new menus are hardly an improvement*

Nothing is perfect, and the menus have been revised. Olympus has gained a bad reputation for its confusing and un-intuitive menus, and proves it’s deserved with the TG-5. On the Tough TG-s, Olympus have given a particular emphasis to what they call “live control”: some important settings are not available through the menus, but only when the photographer is ready to shoot a new picture and presses the “OK” key – a column of options is displayed as an overlay at the right of the image, with the different values that each setting can take displayed on an horizontal bar at the bottom of the picture. It’s the only way to chose the form factor of the images (4:3, 3:2 or 16:9, for instance, or the image quality (RAW, RAW+JPEG Fine, JPEG Low) and so on).

At the same time, additional settings have been added to the conventional menus of the TG-5. Some are obviously useful (like setting the standard and high limits of the Auto ISO sensitivity control, the color space or entering copyright information), but others seem to duplicate (or refine) settings already available in the “live control” mode. And they’re not always available – some options are greyed out when the camera is set to “scene” mode, for instance. To make matters worse, instead of giving meaningful names to the new options, Olympus simply designated them as A, B1, B2, C, and so on. Confusing.

*The TG-5 menus are cryptic (why B1 and B2?)*

Shooting with the TG-5

Are the new sensor and the new processing engine improving the noise situation? Imaging-Resource had compared a new TG-5 with a TG-4 a few years ago ( https://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/olympus-tg-5/olympus-tg-5-image-quality.htm) and had mixed feelings about it.

Yes, the TG-5 delivered an improvement, but not as large as the testers had expected. The improvement was particularly obvious in the 100 to 800 ISO range, where the noise reduction algorithm was at the same time much less aggressive and more efficient – resulting in more details and less chroma noise.

In my experience, the TG-4 was producing images with very visible noise in the shadows, even by sunny weather under the tropics, and it was not easy to get rid of it. Any improvement in that area would be welcome, and would justify an upgrade to the TG-5, if it delivered the goods.

I compared the two cameras in the real life and tried to validate the conclusions of Imaging-Resource. Firstly, on both cameras, there is more noise on the Raw files than on the jpegs. Which means that the processing engine does a good job at removing it when it generates jpegs. Secondly, the TG-5’s jpegs show more detail in the shadows than the TG-4. The difference is not huge, but big enough to be visible on the Retina screen of an iPad. So, yes, the TG-5’s pictures look better. And what about the rest of the user experience?

The TG-5’s body is made of a different type of plastic and feels more substantial in the hands. Because it offers more controls (physical like the wheel on the top plate or logical with more options in the menus), the TG-5 does not seem as simple to use as the TG-4, and will require more peeks in the user manual than the TG-4, before the photographer is totally familiar with it.

*Father and son – along the Chattahoochee River, Atlanta – Olympus TG-5 – adjusted in Lightroom from Raw.*

As a conclusion, I would say that the TG-5 has a higher potential than the TG-4 (more details in the shadows, greater ability to be configured to the preferences of the photographer) – but that it’s also a tad more complicated to use. Although it’s difficult to quantify, the TG-5 seems to deliver better images in more circumstances than the TGs of previous generations could. Not having to carry and use a proprietary connection cable to charge the battery of the camera (and using any standard USB cable instead) could very well be the most significant (and the most welcome) improvement.

In the grand scheme of things

As of today (early 2025), there are very few new compact cameras on the shelves of the resellers, and even fewer which are shockproof, waterproof and adventure ready. The OM System TG-7 is the most competent of those always ready cameras – but like all the previous versions of the Tough TG, it will be limited by its 1/2.3″ sensor.

Premium compact cameras, like the Sony RX100 or the Canon G7X, have a much larger sensor. The same can be said of the iPhone (the sensor behind the 16 Pro Max’s main camera is almost as large as the RX100’s at 1/1.14in). Without even considering the “computational photography” trickery of the iPhone, all are obviously going to yield much better results than the TGs in low light and in the shadows. But the Sony and the Canon are not weather resistant, and their long telescopic zoom makes them more delicate than a Tough TG (you won’t bring them to the beach or on a dusty trail ride), while the iPhone (and similar high end smart phones) are fully automated wizards that can’t compete with a dedicated camera when it comes to ergonomics and flexibility of the settings.

*Comparison of the 1″ sensor of the Sony RX100 (or the Canon G7X) with the 1/2.3″ sensor the TG-5 (courtesy: apotelyt.com).*

The TG-7 is a very limited upgrade of the TG-6, itself a rather limited upgrade of the TG-5. The improvement in image quality and ergonomics between the three most recent TGs and the previous generations is not huge, but any improvement in the 100 to 800 ISO range is good to take, and if you can find a TG-5 at a reasonable price, my recommendation would be to take it over a TG-4. If only for its universal USB connector.

*Olympus TG-5 – Chattahoochee National Forest – images above are jpegs straight out of the camera – the noise seems much better controlled than with the TG-4*.

Fujifilm – AX-5 to X-A5 with a stop at X-M1.

You have to love Fujifilm’s math. In the fall of 2024, they’ve released a new entry level APS-C mirrorless camera, the X-M5, which has been positively received by the pundits. In a way, it’s a combination of the characteristics of two defunct models, the X-M1 and the X-A5.

I don’t own a X-M5 – and I don’t see why I would need to buy one at this juncture – but I’ve owned a X-M1 for a short while, and still use (and mostly like) the X-A5.

A quick review of the Fujifilm X-A5

In the days when the resolution of the sensors was low (12 or 16 Megapixel for an APS-C sized sensor), moire was a big issue, and camera makers had to place a low pass filter in front of the sensor of their cameras to mitigate the issue. But placing a low pass filter in front of the sensor limited the resolution of the images it produced even more. By developing their own Trans-X filter array as a substitute to the Bayer array that everybody else was using, Fujifilm was able to defeat moire without needing a low pass filter – boosting the real life resolution of their cameras. The X-Pro or the X-T1, for instance, were supposed to deliver images of the same quality as a full frame camera, because the performance of their sensor was not choked by a low pass filter.

It was a big thing 12 years ago. And as a result, Fujifilm’s Trans-X models could be sold at a premium.

Fujifilm X-A5 and XC 15-45mm power zoom. Equivalent to a 23-70mm on a 35mm camera.

In 2014, having launched the X-Pro, the X-100S and the X-T1, Fujifilm was ready to make Trans-X more accessible, and launched what could be described as a “premium entry level” model, the X-M1. Followed a few weeks later by its less fortunate little brother, the X-A1, where the Trans-X sensor had been replaced by a Bayer sensor. Premium vs Basic. Trans-X vs Bayer. Expensive vs cheap. As a premium entry level model, the X-M1 was not very successful, and the X-M line was abandoned rapidly. The X-A1, on the other hand, met its public, and was followed by a long line of models – the X-A2, X-A3, X-A10, X-A5 and finally the X-A7.

I’ve always liked small cameras, and I had bought a nice second hand X-M1. With a good lens and a static subject, image quality was extremely good (it shared its 16 Megapixel sensor with with X-Pro and the X-100S), but it was one of the Fujifilm cameras that had not transitioned to phase detection autofocus, and its contrast detection algorithm was slow and not very accurate – the camera’s keep rate on moving subjects was really bad, and I sold it rapidly (the same can be said of the original X-100 – I loved the images it produced, but far too many of them were out of focus).

The LCD display is articulated, and bright enough. Two control wheels on the right (the silver one is horizontal, the black one vertical). Not that common on entry level cameras.

The X-A line was probably the last to adopt Phase Detection autofocus in the Fujifilm line up, but when it did with the X-A5, it made all the difference. It’s a reactive and precise machine, and a joy to use.

Being a “A” model, it does not benefit from a Trans-X sensor, but with 24 Megapixels, its Bayer matrix sensor does not need a low pass filter and image quality is very similar to what you would get from a Trans-X camera like the X-H1 or the X-T3.

It’s an entry level model, but it’s not overly de-contented – and it’s built of good quality components (the rear display is articulated, and usable even under a bright sunshine). It’s a true Fujifilm camera, designed to produce Jpegs that can be used “out of the camera”, with all sorts of film simulations to personalize your images.

It comes with a 15-45mm collapsible Power Zoom, (the XC15-45mmF3.5-5.6 OIS PZ) which is very compact and produces images of good quality. I had used another copy of that zoom on a X-T1 a few years ago, and while the image quality was really good, I had been irritated by the “fly by wire” control of the focal length, at the same time too slow and over-reactive. I had also noticed it drained the battery of the camera rather rapidly. No such issue on the copy I’m using on the X-A5 (maybe the firmware of the lens has been refined, maybe shooting without a viewfinder forces the photographer to operate more slowly and masks the over-reactivity of the commands). In any case, its small size makes it a good fit for the X-A5. The body+lens combination is smaller than a Fujifilm X-100 – and than the most compact of the manual focus SLRs of the late seventies (Olympus OM-2 or Nikon FM).

Smaller than a “pancake” – a filter lens (fixed focus, F:8).

Without an electronic viewfinder but with a power zoom, the X-A5 is definitely in a different category than an X-T or X-H camera. Fewer controls are available (no AE or AF lock buttons, no joystick, for instance), but the touch screen is very usable, the Q menus easy to navigate, and the two control wheels let the photographer adjust all the important parameters (speed or aperture or exposure compensation) on the fly. Ultimately, it’s a trade-off: it’s a small and light camera, and even if it’s not as powerful as a “big” X-T or X-H with a constant aperture zoom, it will be far less of a pain to carry around, and it is my camera of choice for casual photography.

The most serious gripe I have is not directly at the camera, but at the inconsistency of the way the aperture is set on Fujifilm lenses. If you’ve started using Fujifilm cameras with the X-Pro or the X-T1 and fixed focal length lenses (or one of Fujifilm’s high-end constant aperture zooms), you’ve been used to setting the aperture on the aperture ring of the lens, like you would have done with a manual focus SLR in the seventies. But cheaper sliding aperture zooms have an aperture ring with no marking, and entry level zooms (like the one coming with the X-A5) have no aperture ring at all. Which means you must use the control wheel to set the aperture , and check the aperture value on the rear LCD display. At the top of that, the control wheels are not always located at the same place on the body of the camera. It depends on the model. It’s not an issue if you shoot exclusively with an X-A5, but confusing if you alternate between a “big” X-T (or X-H) and a “small” X-A5 body, or between expensive and cheaper lenses.

This tiny lens is available in Japan. It gives the “sixties Instamatic” look to your pictures.

When you’ve used a recent Fujifilm camera (anything they’ve launched in the last four years), you’ve most probably connected the camera to your smartphone using Fujifilm X-App, which takes advantage of Bluetooth and Wifi to make photo transfers, remote control and firmware upgrades with ease. That’s something that you will miss on the X-A5, which has to rely on the older and more cumbersome Cam Remote.

The X-A5 is a tad too big to be the camera I always carry with me – that would be role of the Olympus Tough TG-4 or the Fujifilm XQ2 if I was not so lazy and generally used my phone to take pictures – but it’s a good camera for casual sorties – like a walk in an old neighborhood or a week-end in an interesting city – when I don’t want to schlepp a bigger X-T and its heavier lens. Even with the 15-45 kit lens, you don’t lose much in terms of image quality. Overall, it’s a very pleasant camera, and a keeper.

The X-A5 was launched in 2018 and replaced with the X-A7 in 2020. It can be bought second hand for approx. $300.00 (body only), while nice copies can fetch up to $500.00 with the kit lens and OEM batteries and chargers.

What about the X-M5? It’s an M series camera, and as such it benefits from a Trans-X sensor, in this case the 26 Megapixel chip also seen on the X-T4. And its video section has been seriously beefed up, because that’s what the market is asking for at the moment. As Fujifilm’s entry level camera, it has been priced very aggressively, and if it’s as good (compared to its peers from other brands) as the X-A5 was six years ago, Fujifilm got themselves a winner.

Marietta – GA – Not bad for an entry level mirrorless camera (Fujifilm X-A5, XC15-45 Power Zoom)

Marietta, GA – Fujifilm X-A5 and XC15-45 Power Zoom.

APS-C – what does it mean? A long time ago, when film was still king, Kodak and the leading camera makers decided to launch a new film format, which was supposed to address some of the shortcomings of the well known 135 (aka 35mm) film format, save on silver halide, and bring more revenue. That format was named APS.

The film (and the cassette containing it) were smaller than the conventional 35mm film and cartridge. APS cameras offered the choice of three form factors: the default showed the same 3:2 proportions as the 35mm negatives or slides, but at a reduced 0.66 scale. It was named APS-C. A second form factor, APS-H, placed the images in a frame of 16:9 proportions and APS-P produced panoramic pictures.

When camera makers started designing dSLRs in the late nineteen nineties, the chip foundries could not manufacture full size sensors (sensors of the same size as a 35mm negative) at a remotely acceptable cost. Nikon and Canon had to adopt smaller sensors, which were roughly the size of the APS-C negatives. It became a sort of standard, and we still use “APS-C’ to designate an image sensor of 24x16mm. Approximately 10 years later, sufficient progress had been made in the chip foundries to make “full-frame” sensors commercially viable. Today, Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony sell interchangeable lens cameras of two sensor sizes, APS-C, and Full-Frame. Fujifilm is primarily selling cameras with APS-C sized sensors.

Fujica AX-5 and Fujifilm X-A5. Fujifilm have been in business for almost a century, and at some point sold their cameras under the Fujica brand. They later sold them as “Fuji” before settling on “Fujifilm”, right when the market started moving to digital. Go figure. But they’ve always had a fondness for the letter “X”. In the late seventies/early eighties, they had a whole range of SLRs named AX-something (AX-1, AX-3, AX-5, AX Multi…). They were not bad by the standards of the time, but certainly not as good or popular as their competitors from Canon, Minolta, Nikon and Pentax.

An APS-C digital camera smaller than a 35mm SLR (the Fujica AX-5) : not that frequent, unfortunately.

Mission Concepcion – San Antonio, TX. Fujifilm X-A5 and 15-45mm lens. There was some clutter at the left of the stairs. It was removed in post processing by Lightroom’s AI.

More pictures in CamerAgX’s Flickr gallery

the Olympus Tough TG series – when you don’t want to risk ruining a $1000 smartphone

Nice smartphones are expensive and they control so much of our lives – the access to our bank accounts, our virtual credit cards, our boarding passes, our text messages, our emails, our Facebook, Instagram or TikTok posts, our watch, sometimes, that we can’t afford to break or lose them.

Olympus TG-4 – the commands are simple – it’s a compact, not a “pro” camera

And for those situations when we don’t want to put our precious phones in danger, a few camera companies still offer ruggedized, waterproof, shock resistant compact point and shoot digital cameras. Kodak, Fujifilm, Panasonic all have one risk-all camera in their catalog, but the Tough TG series of Olympus (now doing business as OM System) is the undisputed favorite of the specialized journalists and bloggers, who can’t stop singing its praise.

Olympus TG-4 – images can be saved simultaneously as RAW and JPEGs.

Originally launched in 2012 as the Tough TG-1, the camera has been regularly upgraded along the years. The TG-2 introduced a better water resistance, the TG-3 a 16 megapixel sensor and WiFi connectivity, and the TG-4 the ability to save RAW images. The TG-5 adopted a new 12 megapixel sensor (and a more elaborate image processing engine) for better results in low light, and finally abandoned Olympus’ proprietary connector for a standard USB plug. The TG-C adopted an USB-C connector. And to a large extent, the current TG-7 is just a TG-6 where the glorious Olympus name has been replaced with « OM System ».

(a few weeks after this blog entry was published, I found a very nice (and cheap) TG-5 – click here to read the TG-4 / TG-5 comparison).

The Tough TG-4 equipped with a few accessories (wide angle lens adapter, lens cap from JJC, attachment for floating strap OM System

All Tough TGs share the same look, and a very luminous f/2 to f/4.9, 25 to 100mm (equivalent) zoom, which reduces the need for high ISO in low lights, and help contain the noise of the sensor. It’s a very small 1/2.3 inch sensor by the way, smaller than the sensor of the main camera of an iPhone Pro, and the biggest performance limiting factor of the camera.

Down a cliff – ready for the next adventure

The Tough TG is well built, with a particular care given to protection against water ingress. In addition to the modes and scenes you would expect on a compact digital camera, it is equipped with functions befitting its calling as a camera for adventurers : GPS, compass and manometer.

A learners camera for snorkeling. Scuba divers will need a waterproof housing and strobe lights.

It has no viewfinder, but the fixed LCD display is well defined and luminous enough to allow the photographer to get a feel for what’s in the frame in bright sun light.

What is it for?

As a waterproof / shockproof camera, it fits the bill. It will shine in all adventures, all water sports, from family beach outing to canyoning, rafting, sailing or snorkeling. On its own, it’s too limited for scuba diving (it can’t go deeper than 15m), but OM System can sell you a waterproof housing and a strobe light if you want to go deeper.

Is it also a good everyday camera? Definitely, if there’s enough light. It’s very reactive, it nails the exposure and the white balance almost all the time, and the jpegs are very nice, natural with just enough clarity, vibrance and sharpness to make them pleasant to look at. They don’t look over processed and artificial like the images shot with a smartphone, or mushy because of overly aggressive noise cancellation. In the shade, image quality suffers from visible digital noise and working on RAW files does not seem to improve the situation much. And in poorly lit interiors, you have to use the integrated flash, and the less said about it, the better. A smartphone will deliver much nicer pictures in the same situation, without the need for a flash.

On the beach – it will resist a drop in the sand or a long swim in the ocean

Is it a substitute to high end compact cameras like Sony Rx100? No – except in really bad weather or aggressive environments. Its sensor is too small, and it lacks some of the the controls an enthusiast photographer expects (you can’t select the shutter speed, for instance) – but I would pick a Tough TG over any small sensor compact digital camera, be it a Canon, a Panasonic or a Sony: it’s a very coherent package, solidly built, which will deliver the best images you can get in really difficult environments, and good enough pictures the rest of the time.

The camera I reviewed is a TG-4. The conclusions would be similar for the TG-3, which is almost identical. The TG-5, 6 and 7 benefit from a 12 megapixel sensor and a more recent image processing engine and are said to deliver better images in low light scenes. There is not much difference between the three more recent models. All three are significantly more expensive than a TG-4, and I was not sure a TG-5 or a TG-6 was worth the extra cost. With the benefit of the experience, I’m happy with the TG-4, which does what I expected it to do and I don’t feel the need for more.

Because it’s been on the market for so long, the price you have to pay for a nice TG will vary widely. On market places like eBay, you will find a Tough TG-1 for little more than $100.00, and a TG-3 or 4 will sell typically for less than $200.00. TG-5 and TG-6 are second hand purchases whose price is ultimately defined in relation to the cost of a new TG-7, which is currently listed at $550 by OM-System.

All pictures taken in the island of La Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean. The water is incredibly clean and transparent.

The compact digital camera – in demand but not available

Compact cameras – digital cameras with fixed lenses that could fit in pocket – are in high demand, but unavailable. Fujifilm can’t meet the demand for its most recent X100, Canon’s G7x is always out of stock, the Panasonic LX 100 Model II is no longer available.

Fujifilm XQ2 (left) and Z1000EXR – the 12 Mpix XQ2 produces much better images than the 16Mpix Z1000.

Cameras manufacturers have retreated almost completely from the compact digital camera market (the “point and shoot” of yore), and very few are still offering “premium” or “niche” compact cameras. The smartphone is king, the historical camera makers seem to believe they can’t compete with the thousands of software engineers working for Apple and Google, and are leaving them all the space.

But as good as they are, the smartphones are still limited by their ergonomics (you need two hands, one to hold the phone, one to tap, pinch, swipe or whatever), their absence of long telephoto lens and viewfinder, and their relative frailness. They offer very little in terms of direct controls – they’re extremely capable, but you have to trust them. At the top of that, they’re expensive. And we depend so much on them that we don’t want to risk them on the beach or while rock climbing.

Nelson’s Dockyard – Antigua – shot with a Fujifilm QX2

There is still room for small but good quality cameras, with good ergonomics an a complete set of controls.

The camera companies are primarily focused on the full frame, interchangeable lens camera market, but full frame ILCs are not really pocketable. Their little brothers with APS-C sensors are smaller, but not by much. Even the Fujifilm X100 is still too large to fit in a coat pocket.

So, what’s left? In the cheap point and shoot camera segment, only a few cameras proudly wearing famous brand names such as Kodak or Minolta. I’ve read relatively good reviews of the Kodak Pixpro cameras, but they’re very basic and you can’t expect too much from their tiny sensor.

Olympus (now OM-System) is still leading the fray when it comes to rugged, waterproof cameras – the Tough TG, currently in its 7th iteration – has discouraged all competition.

Fujifilm XQ2 with the WP-XQ1 waterproof case.

It leaves us with the premium category – with the cameras from Canon, Panasonic and Leica largely unobtainable, and Sony’s RX100 series in a state of virtual monopoly.

Older versions of the cameras listed above can be found on the second hand market, but you have to understand what you’re losing by going for a five or ten year old camera:

Video capabilities – most of the progress in recent years has been in that area,
Easier Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, with a better integration with smartphone apps,
Reactivity (autofocus),
Quality of the JPEGs (“out of the box”) thanks to better processing engines – you won’t need to process RAW files as frequently

Fujifilm z1000 (left) and iPhone 15 Pro (right). Today a standard sized iPhone can be bigger than a dedicated camera.

More conventional P&S such as the Canon Powershoot S90 or S120; the Sony HX and WX series, Nikon’s Coolpix 9000 series are somehow cheaper, but they’re also more limited: the last models were launched in pre-COVID days, and they have tiny sensors and relatively slow zooms – which makes the use of a flash a necessity in low light.

You could also look for a compact film camera. At the top of the heap the Contax T series reigns supreme (but these cameras are now extremely expensive), followed by a group of still expensive models from Nikon (35ti, 28ti), Leica (Minilux), Ricoh (the GR1), Konica (the Big Mini) and others from Minolta or Olympus.

But those cameras are now twenty five year old at best – and some of their components didn’t age well (electronics in general and LCDs in particular). Most of those models have at least one big flaw that makes buying them at today’s prices a risky proposition (and even if it works today, will the camera work tomorrow?). The cost of film is also an issue (we’re currently trending towards a total cost of $1.00 per scanned image).

Olympus Tough TG-4 – generations differ by their sensors and processing engines, but the fundamentals of the camera have not changed since the TG-1.

What am I shooting with when I don’t use my smartphone, and can’t bring a mirrorless camera? I have a bit of everything in my bag. I tested (but did not keep) a Nikon J1 and I kept but don’t use a tiny Fujifilm z1000EXR – they’re cute but the quality of the images they were delivering was sub-par. I still use a very compact Fujifilm XQ2 – a sort of semi-premium homage to Sony’s RX100, and an Olympus Tough TG-4. They’re pocketable, produce images which are not as nice as what a recent iPhone can deliver but look more natural, and are a pleasure to use. I found an original Fujifilm waterproof case for the XQ2, and even with the case, it remains reasonably compact, if not pocketable. As for the Olympus, I’m waiting impatiently for my next trip to the beach to test it in its element – but it has already earned his stripes as a carry-along camera for my hikes in the nearby parks.

Chattahoochee National Recreation Area – Olympus TG-4

Chattahoochee National Recreation Area – the bamboo forest – Olympus TG-4

Js and Vs – Nikon’s first attempt at mirrorless

The J1 was the first member of the Nikon 1 family of cameras, a very compact 10 Megapixel camera with a small 1 inch sensor, interchangeable lenses but no viewfinder, and very few of the physical controls that expert photographers expect. Its sibling the V1 had an electronic viewfinder, but for the rest was more or less identical to the J1.

The Nikon One project was largely managed as an independent initiative – there were little technical commonalities between the Nikon One cameras and the point and shoot Coolpix, on the one hand, and the conventional dSLRs, on the other hand. It was also an opportunity for Nikon to test the image sensors of a new manufacturer (Aptina, instead of Sony) and to validate some technologies that would be integrated in the Z6 and Z7 full frame mirrorless cameras at a later stage.

I had bought a V1 when it was launched, and had been deeply disappointed by the image quality – the V1 did not cut it for me.

The controls: an intermediate step between a point and shoot and a dSLR.

When the J1 was new, the reviews were rather positive – photographers loved that it was a very reactive camera with a quick autofocus and a better than average build quality. Only the high ISO/low light performance was a disappointment – and the subsequent iterations (J2, J3, J4, V2 and V3) never really addressed the problem. Until Nikon switched to a sensor provided by Sony (for the final model of the series, the J5 of 2015) – image quality (too aggressive noise cancellation, so-so colors, limited dynamic range) remained markedly inferior to what you could get with a micro 4/3rd or an APS-C camera – and partially explains why – as a whole – the Nikon 1 series was deemed a failure on the marketplace.

Compared to a modern APS-C mirrorless camera – playing in a different ball park entirely.

If image quality (in low light in particular) was already disappointing in 2010, it’s obviously very far from what a good smartphone can deliver today. Shooting in RAW and post-processing in Lightroom really improves the results, but even in RAW I was not convinced by the results – some images are good (well lit subjects at relatively close range), but most of them lack punch.

The J1 at its best – well lit subject, at relatively close range

A J1 still has two major advantages over a phone: the long tele range, and the ergonomics.

Conceptually, the J models were point and shoot compact cameras with interchangeable lenses. The standard zoom was a 10-30mm affair (equivalent to a 28-80 on a full frame camera), but longer range zooms (a 30-110 and an extra-long 70-300 – equivalent to 80-300 and 190-800 respectively) were available, and if it was not enough, an adapter was available to mount a Nikon F telephoto lens. Some wildlife photographers were big fans of the Nikon 1 series, because it gave them a very long range with a reactive autofocus in a very light and compact setup.

An old inn in Vinings, GA – they built small at that time – Nikon J1

As for ergonomics, I would say that anything is better than a smartphone. Smartphones need to be operated with two hands (one to hold the phone, one to play with the controls on the screen), and pinch to zoom is not as easy or direct as rotating a ring on a lens. Even if it’s shaped like a bar of soap, the J1 is still easier to hold than a phone, and has more physical controls.

What about the colors? The J series cameras were available in a wide variety of colors, with coordinated lenses. White, Black and Silver were always available, but each iteration also benefited from not so common colors (Dark Red and Light Pink for the J1, Orange and Dark Pink for the J2, Beige and Wine Red for the J3, Tangerine for the J4). Only the final model (which is also technically the best, by far) bowed to convention, and was only available in an “all black” pro attire, or with a “retro-look” silver with black leatherette.

Processed in Lightroom – the RAW files of the J1 respond well to post processing

The J1s are apparently reliable, but the lenses are not. The lenses (all models except for the 6.7-13mm and the 70-300 zooms) rely on very small plastic cogs to open the diaphragm to the requested aperture, and those little cogs may become brittle over time, then break and make the lens unusable. If you buy a lens, ensure that it has been tested by the vendor – you can be sure that “untested” just means “not working or for parts”.

A Nikon J1 is still a pleasant camera to shoot with, provided it’s outdoors and under a nice weather. It’s very reactive and much more usable than micro 3/4rds or APC-C cameras of the same vintage, which were still relying exclusively on contrast detection for autofocus. It’s just a tad too big to fit in a pocket, but with its small size and its funky colors, it does not scare people like more serious looking cameras tend to do nowadays.

The dollar tree – RAW file processed in Lightroom – Nikon J1 – 10-30 lens

The same dollar tree – shot a few months earlier with an iPhone 15 Pro. The contrast and the resolution are much better.

A Nikon 1 next to the smallest mirrorless ILC from Fujifilm (here the X-A5). The X-A5 is larger but produces much nicer pictures, out of the camera.

The J series are fun and cute cameras, let down but insufficient image quality – the J5 apart – and by unreliable lenses. A J1 in working order can be had for far less than $100 with a standard zoom, and a body only J5 can not be found at less than $200. Non standard lenses (tested, and in good working order) are more expensive ($100 to $400 depending on the model).

Well lit, close up – another good picture – at least technically.

Photos taken in Vinings and in the Coalmont OHV Park (TN) where dollars grow on trees.

Looking for my next “serious” digital camera

It’s not that I’m competitive, or that I carve for attention. But when I travel with my better half, she also takes pictures, and good ones at that. She has no interest at all in the technicalities of photography, but she has a good eye. And with an iPhone, that’s enough to get very good pictures, most of the time.
Within a few minutes of the picture being shot, it’s posted on one or two social networks, “liked” and commented.
Now, imagine yourself shooting with a 10 year old dSLR, in RAW, of course. You won’t get usable pictures until you’re back home, and find the time to fire up your laptop and launch Lightroom. By the time you’re done, your pictures will be yesterday’s news. Or most probably, last week’s.

The manufacturers of conventional cameras have understood that, and are slowly addressing the problem. The newest digital cameras are much better at uploading the freshly shot images to a smartphone, and they’ve improved their jpeg rendering enough that shooting RAW is not an absolute necessity, and that Jpegs are usable straight out of camera most of the time.

High level, I was happy with my Fujifilm X-T1, but I was ready for something a bit more recent, with a better viewfinder than my X-T1’s. I was still missing the large top of the plate display of the enthusiast oriented dSLRs, and I wanted a better integration with smartphone apps.

So I purchased a very nice Fujifilm X-H1 on eBay, The X-H1 was Fuji’s flagship camera in 2018 – with a 24 Megapixel sensor and – a first for Fujifilm – in body image stabilization. The fit and finish was splendid, the viewfinder much better than the X-T1’s, and the images were stunning – straight out of the camera. But I was extremely disappointed by the battery life of the camera. In the real life, not even 100 pictures per battery charge. I admit I’ve been spoiled with Nikon dSLR and their 1000 shots per charge, but 100 was definitely too little – imagine the logistical nightmare if travelling for a few days in a place without easy access to electricity – having to carry something like six batteries, two chargers, a few power banks to feed the chargers … No way.

So, maybe a dSLR was the solution after all. I still love shooting with a reflex camera – the optical viewfinder of a full frame is a pure delight for the eyes – and over the years I have accumulated a large number of Nikon F lenses. And I feel at home with a Nikon. Every command at the right place. I found a well used Nikon D750 at MPB, and started using it. The battery life was what I expected from a Nikon dSLR, and it was a pleasure to shoot with. But…. there was a long list of “buts”.

It’s not that the camera is large or heavy (in fact, the D750 and its descendant the D780 are the smallest and lightest full frame dSLRs from Nikon, on par with Canon’s smallest and lightest, the EOS 6D), but the lenses are big and ponderous. The more recent, the larger and the heavier. As for my old cherished lenses, they may be smaller and lighter, but they’re a bit overwhelmed by the 24 Megapixel sensor.

You may consider that Fujifilm’s “film simulations” are just brilliant marketing, and that Nikon’s Picture Control does more or less the same (preparing JPEGS usable straight out of the camera). But in reality, Picture Controls are not as easy to use (and not as good) as Fuji’s simulated film, and – in my opinion – the D750 still gives you better results if you shoot RAW and massage your pictures to taste in Lightroom.

Lastly, the D750 is still tied to Nikon’s ancient WMU (Wireless Mobile Unit) mobile app, and the less said about it, the better. This camera was launched in 2014, and it shows.

So, now what? I sold the X-T1, I sold the X-H1, I sold the D750, and finally purchased a lightly used Fujifilm X-T4 and a wide angle zoom. The X-T4 is still small for a modern mirrorless camera, the viewfinder is beautiful, the fit and finish impressive, and the battery life is correct (I did not feel the need to buy a second battery yet, and you can charge it directly from a USB source).

Admittedly, there is no top plate display, but almost all of the exposure parameters are controlled by dials on the top plate. If you buy a Fujifilm lens of the XF series, aperture is controlled by a ring around the lens, which is very intuitive if you’ve worked with film cameras in the pre-autofocus days. Zooms with a sliding aperture (like the 18-55 f/2.8-4) have an unmarked aperture ring, but the recent constant aperture zooms and the fixed focal lenses have easy to read aperture markings.

Because the camera is built around an APS-C image sensor, its lenses are much smaller than optics designed for a full frame camera.

Out of camera, the JPEGs are very good, and there are many film simulations to play with. Lastly, the smartphone app (Xapp) is a significant improvement over the old Camera Remote.

I’m just at the beginning of my new digital journey. I need to test all those film simulations, and I have to create a new workflow, laptop free and Lightroom Classic free. A workflow only relying on iOS devices (iPhone, iPad) and on the mobile version of Lightroom.

Pictures shot in Marietta, GA – Fujifilm XT-4 – default settings

Air Travel with photo equipment in the smartphone era…

And other ramblings…

Have you noticed? Everybody’s shooting with a smartphone, anytime, anywhere, and nobody seems to be objecting or even paying attention. But pull a conventional, dedicated camera from a photo equipment bag, and people start freaking out.

And suspicious neighbors or passersby are not the only ones panicking at the sight of a camera.

US Formula One Grand Prix – Austin – Nikon D700

Two weeks ago I was stopped for a good 20 minutes at a TSA checkpoint at the Atlanta airport, because the agents were intrigued by the camera I was carrying (a Nikon D700 with a 28-70 f/2.8 zoom lens). Admittedly, it was a relatively bulky camera + lens combo, but I’ve also been stopped when I was carrying a much smaller Nikon FM with a 35mm fixed focal lens. It’s just that photography as we knew it – with dedicated cameras – has to a large extent left the mainstream. Shooting with film cameras was already an oddity, but it increasingly looks as if shooting with DSLRs is following the same route.

You can see from time to time, typically in touristy areas, a young person carrying a film camera strapped to his or her neck (a Canon AE1 in most of the cases), but I don’t see them actually taking pictures (they wear a camera like you would wear jewelry) and I don’t see film making a come back. Not with those prices, for sure. Film is getting expensive, and the cost of processing and scanning has gone to the roof during the COVID years. My favorite color film is Kodak’s Ektar 100, and it’s now costing $15.00 a roll. Fujifilm are raising their prices massively as well. Processing and scanning are now around $20.00 per roll – which brings the total cost of a scanned image to more than $1.00.

Of course, users of digital cameras don’t have to pay the Kodak or Fujifilm « tax », but cheap cameras have almost totally disappeared from the new equipment market. And even the best dedicated digital cameras are still miles away from the convenience of smartphones: what the software engineers manage to do with « computational photography » on modern smartphones never ceases to impress me, and the simplicity of the integration of the iOS or Android native photo apps with all forms of image sharing services is something a dedicated camera user can only dream of: if you’re happy with the resolution of a 12 Mega Pixels image, and with a focal range equivalent to a 13 to 75mm lens on a full frame camera, the smartphone is hard to beat.

Soap Creek Park – Marietta, GA – iPhone 15 Pro – Straight out of the camera

Beyond the obvious (launching cameras with higher resolution sensors and long range zoom lenses that don’t have an equivalent in the smartphone world), the historical camera manufacturers are working at slowly transposing in the dedicated camera world advances we’ve enjoyed on smartphones for years (“global” electronic shutters and the near real time upload of the pictures to the cloud is the most recent example). They’re also working at making the conventional digital workflow of the pros and enthusiasts (shoot in RAW, post-process in Adobe Lightroom, and export to JPEG for social media consumption) less of a given – with film simulations and picture control modes, images can be shared “straight out of the camera”.

Marietta (GA) – the square – JPEG “straight out of the camera”

Lastly, there seems to be a renewed interest for compact digital cameras. Since nobody manufactures them anymore, the second hand market is the only option. And (for no reason I can think of), the Nikon Coolpix seems to be the hottest item – in particular if it’s painted in a striking “velours red”. Maybe it’s the color? Modern dedicated cameras are high end products built out of magnesium, and they would not convey the same image of competent seriousness if they were pink or yellow.

After a long pause, I’m returning to this blog. With a pink compact camera (not a Nikon), a full frame DSLR (a Nikon), and a best of breed mirrorless camera. Stay tuned.

Dia de los muertos 2023 – Atlanta – Shot with a Nikon D750 in RAW and post processed in Adobe Lightroom

Fujifilm X-100 – a rangefinder camera for the rest of us?

If like me you’ve used primarily single lens reflex cameras in the time of film, and dSLRs or mirrorless systems after switching to digital, using a rangefinder camera with an optical viewfinder has always been a challenge. I have a Leica CL that I bought second hand a long time ago when I was living a few blocks from an official Leica store (temptation was permanent, I could not resist), but I don’t use it much. Recently, I tried to use a fully restored Canon QL17 (the Canonet GIII, the most sought after model), but in one year I may have taken 20 pictures at the most, and I don’t know how many more months (or years) I’ll need to take the remaining 16 and have the film processed.

DSCF7241 — *Family Reunion. Fujifilm X100*

On the one hand, I like those cameras – they’re compact, silent, and their direct optical viewfinder is easier on the eyes than the focusing screen of the SLRs. Their field of view is greater than the lens in use, and you also see what is going on outside of the frame: it helps me with the composition of the image, and it will help street photographers better anticipate the action.

*Fujifilm X100T – the optical viewfinder – the white frame and the various indications are a digital overlay – you can see the lens hood in the lower right corner of the image.*

But it comes at a cost. You have no idea what the depth of field will be like, and if you forget to adjust the focus (which happens to me frequently in the heat of the action), you’ll find out about your mistake when you download your scans, a few weeks too late. There’s a steep learning curve – I find that with a rangefinder camera it’s much more difficult to anticipate what a photo will look like than with an SLR, and in my opinion, a film rangefinder camera has to be used a lot, if you want your success rate to approach what you get with a single lens reflex camera.

*The Fujifilm 100T – the electronic viewfinder – not different from what you get with millions of mirrorless cameras.*

In 2010, Fujifilm tried a new approach – they developed a compact camera, the X100, with an hybrid viewfinder – that could be switched from a rather conventional direct optical mode, to a more contemporaneous electronic mode (an EVF). Since the camera also had a 2.8 inch LCD display at the back, the photographer could use the camera in three totally different ways: like an auto-focus point and shoot of the film era (with the optical viewfinder), like a simple digicam (composing on the LCD) or like a good mirrorless camera (with the EVF).

2016-11-NYC-2-71 — *Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade – NYC (2016)- Fujifim X100*

The camera looked like a rangefinder camera from the seventies, and was graced with an analog interface (aperture ring, shutter speed knob), but it was a modern inside, with a very good 12 Megapixel APS-C sensor, and the four PASM exposure modes a photographer expects on a digital camera.

I had a X100 for a few years. It was a great camera for casual portraits, family reunions, or impromptu landscape. Being small and almost silent, it did not draw attention. But its auto-focus was extremely slow and incapable of detecting where the subject was without human assistance, and I was still missing too many pictures – as soon as the subject was moving or was not centered, in fact.

2016-11-NYC-2-7 — *Hotel Hudson, NY – Fujifim X100*

So I finally upgraded to the third generation of the model, the X100T (the X100S is the Second, the X100T the Third, the X100F the Fourth…it’s easy) and I finally have a optical viewfinder camera that gives me a good success rate (let’s say 90% of the pictures are correctly exposed and in focus, which is a huge improvement over the 30% success rate I used to get with the Leica CL).

DSCF7334 — *Dragon Con 2016 – Atlanta – Fujifilm X100*

Apart from the autofocus, the other big difference between the first and the third generation is the sensor – the X100 still has a conventional 12 Megapixel sensor (with the so-called Bayer matrix), while the X100T has a 16 Megapixel sensor with Phase Detection pixels (to accelerate the auto-focus process) and Fujifilm’s patented Trans-X matrix. The X100T is also the first the X100 series to offer the ability to connect over WiFi to transfer images to a smartphone, which is extremely convenient when you travel without a laptop. (*)

fujix100t-6708 — *It may look like a small point and shoot from the early seventies – but it’s packed with modern technology. Here, the model T from 2014.*

If you use the X100 with the EVF, a recent version (X100S and better) will be reactive enough and provide an experience very similar to what a very light and very compact mirrorless camera with a 35mm fixed focal lens (full frame equivalent) would bring. But the real fun is to use the optical viewfinder.

DSCF7337 — *Dragon Con 2016 – Atlanta – Fujifilm X100*

Like often with optical viewfinders, the view of the lower right edge of the image is masked by the lens hood, and of course, you never visualize what part of the image will be in focus, and what part will not. But you get the benefit of a clear, un-intermediated view of your subject. Sure, you have to learn – from experience – when you can let the auto-focus and the auto-exposure modes play their magic, and when to take control back from them. There’s a learning curve, but at the end of the curve, lies the reward.

fujix100t-6711 — *Where the magic happens – push the lever to switch from the optical viewfinder to the EVF – and back.*

How much?

Of course, the X100 can be bought new – the current model (the X100V) sells for approximately $1,400. Brand new copies of older models can be found for approx. $1,000 (X100 F).

Used models are a bit cheaper, in the $800s for the X100F.

The X100S and the X100T are technically very close, and sell for anything between $450 and $700, depending on condition, on the second hand market.

The first X100 is a sort of classic and sells for approximately $300.00. It’s slow, but it still makes great pictures – if your subject is not too mobile.

fujix100t-6716 — Fujifilm X100T – a “real” shutter speed knob and a “genuine” aperture ring – for when Programmed Auto Exposure is not good enough – Beware: the exposure compensation dial (bottom right) is very soft – it tends to move to + or – territory on its own…

There is another a difference between the X100S and the X100T – the so-called “electronic rangefinder” of the latter:

a clarification first – simple cameras (such as a Kodak Instamatic or the Rollei 35) have a direct optical viewfinder. Its most refined implementation, “the bright-line viewfinder, is essentially an inverted Galilean telescope system with an optically projected rectangle outlining the frame area”. (Encyclopaedia Britannica); they are NOT rangefinder cameras, because they’re missing … the rangefinder.
the Leica M is the perfect example of a rangefinder camera. Its direct optical viewfinder is supplemented by a coupled optical telemeter, the rangefinder, which assists with focusing.
technically, the X100 and the X100S are NOT rangefinder cameras: they’re cameras with a direct optical viewfinder, supplemented with an electronic auto-focus system (contrast detection for the X100, contrast and phase detection for the X100S).
With the X100T (and all following models), the photographer can enable an “electronic rangefinder” if working with the optical viewfinder in manual focus mode – it’s a very small EVF display projected in the bottom right corner of the optical image, that shows an enlarged view of the section of the image that the photographer will focus on. As per Fujifilm, “this makes manual focusing while using the optical viewfinder much easier, and more like a mechanical rangefinder”.

In my opinion, on a Fujifilm X100, it’s more a marketing gimmick than anything else; if you really want to focus manually, switch to the EVF. Interestingly, the “rangefinder emulation” is also available on other Fujifilm X cameras, (the ones with interchangeable lenses), even those with an EVF and no optical viewfinder.

*Fujifilm X100T – Optical Viewfinder – AF-S mode.*

*Fujifilm X100T – EVF (manual focus) with focusing aid set to “Focus Peak Highlight – Red”. There are other options (Standard and Split Image MF Assist modes are also available)*

*Fujifilm X100 in manual focus mode – Optical viewfinder with “electronic rangefinder insert”*

More about Fujifim’s digital cameras in CamerAgX

In the series …. shooting pictures in Atlanta in times of social distancing…. All those places are generally magnets for residents and tourists alike, and would have been packed in normal circumstances.

CamerAgX – a new life for old gear

Digital Cameras