Category Archives: Reader Questions

Commentary, Equipment, Reader Questions

Using Multiple Camera Systems

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A reader noticed that my recent Death Valley photographs were made with two different systems — a Canon full frame system and a Fujifilm APS-C system. Apparently some people DO look at the EXIF data! ;-)

He wrote:

“Hi Dan, I’ve been enjoying your recent posts and comps from your Jan visit to DV. After visiting your flickr site, I noticed that you use a Canon 5DSR with 100-400 telephoto lens for its reach across the terrain, and a Fuji XT-5 with a medium telephoto for the more intimate canyon shots. Is that your set up for convenience depending on the scene? I’m guessing the 5DSR is tripod mounted for shots, and the Fuji is handheld when hiking. I’m curious why you don’t pair the Canon with the same focal lens that you use on the Fuji. Thanks for your insights.“

For example, this photograph was made with the little Fujifilm XT5 rather than with my much larger Canon system. If you are interested in my answer, read on!

Light in the Canyon
“Light in the Canyon” — Afternoon light strikes a hill in the lower reaches of a Death Valley canyon.

With his permission, I’m going to write a bit about why I use two systems, and how and when I use both of them together.

Continue reading Using Multiple Camera Systems →
Equipment, Reader Questions

A Reader Asks: Which Camera Should I Get?

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I often try to help folks figure out the best answers to their photography questions — about gear, technique, locations, and so on. It has been a while since I’ve replied to one here at the blog, but I thought this was an interesting question. That answer could be useful to people with the exact same question, but also to anyone trying to parse out the difference between equipment options.

Joris writes:

Hi Dan,

As you’ve been shooting with multiple systems curious for your advice.

Currently I own a XT2 + 16-80 + 55-200, mostly being used for landscape, travel photography and some occasional wildlife. In general I’m quite happy with the system (especially controls, handling and colors) but the 16-80 is just a mess, with pictures too soft for landscapes. 

As a solution I’m considering upgrading to either XT5 + 16-55 or a A7RIII + 24-105. Price of these solutions would be the same and that’s what gets me thinking. For the same money I get a full frame system, with better dynamic range and potentially better detail resolution because the lower pixel density. 40mp on APSC is just a lot… However the telezooms of Sony scare me off quite a bit, with the Sigma 100-400 being over 1kg, leaving the Tamron 70-300 as the only light solution.

What would you advise? Do you feel the upgrade to full frame would be worth it? 

Best regards
Joris

Let me start by noting that both Fujifilm and Sony make very good equipment. Their design philosophies are not exactly the same, but that more a matter of preference than of better/worse. And unless your photographic needs are somewhat unusual, the odds are that both will produce fine photographic quality. I also have to note that while I have a lot of experience with the Fujifilm brand — including the 16-55mm lens you mention — I do not have any direct personal experience with Sony. On the other hand, I know quite a few fellow photographers who do use Sony full-frame systems and are very happy with them.

You mention better dynamic range and the potential for additional detail from the larger full-frame sensor and its larger pixel dimensions. In fact, when all else is equal (though it never is!) a larger sensor of a given generation of sensor technology can provide more dynamic range and higher sensor resolution than a smaller sensor. In some cases, that can be enough to call for the larger system… but this should not be an automatic, default conclusion for every photographer.

If you are already producing quite large prints on a regular basis (and doing all the things to optimize their potential quality — using a tripod and remote release, being extremely careful with aperture selection, using the best lenses, and so forth) and you are encountering the limits of your camera in visible ways then the larger system can make sense. In my experience using a 24MP Fujifilm APS-C system, I am completely confident that I can produce top-quality 24′ x 36″ prints from my image files. If you are not printing, or if you don’t generally print that large, you are not likely to see any real world improvement from moving to the larger sensor.

There’s a similar issue at work with the potential larger dynamic range. The larger sensor like does have more dynamic range, but it isn’t as simple as “sensor 1 works and sensor 2 won’t.” I like to think of three kinds of image situations relative to dynamic range — to simplify a bit.

  1. The subject’s dynamic range is not too wide for either camera — This is by far the most likely scenario, one in which neither camera has a meaningful advantage.
  2. The subject’s dynamic range exceeds that of both cameras — This is probably the next most likely scenario. Imagine a scene that includes the disk of the sun and some foreground subjects in shade. No camera can properly render that extremely wide range. Other techniques will need to be employed with either camera: exposure blending, sacrificing highlights or shadows, GND filters, fill flash, etc.
  3. The subject’s dynamic range exceeds that of one camera but not the other — Surprisingly, this is the least likely scenario, at least when we compare very good contemporary cameras. It requires the scene to exceed the range of the less capable camera by only a very small amount — not enough to exceed the range of the other camera.

So, the bottom line regarding dynamic range is that it is likely that the full frame camera has more… but the situations in which this margin will make a meaningful difference tend to be somewhat rare.

Now, if all of the other aspects of the two cameras were identical (price, size, lens quality and availability, camera interface, etc.) the answer would be pretty straightforward — go ahead and get the camera with a bit more potential resolution and dynamic range.

But all other aspects are not the same, are they? And this is where things become a bit more complicated and subjective… and can frustrate photographers looking for the Very Best Thing as determined in some logical, objective way.

In fact, you have already brought up a few of these issues in your message to me: you are less than pleased with the 16-80mm Fujifilm lens and you have concerns about the size and weight of the larger zooms for the full frame camera.

I can’t tell you which way to go here, but perhaps I can help you clarify your own thinking.

If you like the Fujifilm “ethic” and design — the relatively small cameras, the plethora of manual controls, and so forth, perhaps moving to that XT5 (which sounds like an excellent camera) and updating your lenses might get you closer to what you want. The 16-55mm lens is excellent and in a different category than the two lenses you have. (Although it can work well in many cases, I might consider upgrading that 55-200mm lens, too, if that’s something on the table.)

If you like the feel of the Sony cameras and feel up to switching from one brand to another — not a decision to be taken lightly — then that is also a fine option. If I’m correct, the 24-105mm lens you mention has a smaller maximum aperture than the 16-55 from Fujifilm, but it also has a larger focal length range.

In summary, I can’t say that either option is generically better than the other — which is often the case with these kinds of choices! — but if you think it through from a function perspective (rather than the “better specs” perspective), I think that an answer may become clearer.

Good luck, and I hope you are happy with whichever option you choose!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Commentary, Equipment, Reader Questions

A Reader Question about Travel Cameras

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A reader recently posed some questions about choosing a camera system for travel. I’m sharing and edited version of his post here along with my response. He wrote:

I wanted to ask for your camera intellect on something I was thinking about. Canon was closing out the 5DS-R completely so they were selling brand new 5DS-Rs for a very low price.. So I bought a brand new one and it’s been terrific and I don’t regret it.

I want to do some travel, including some overseas, as soon as COVID allows. I don’t want to drag around a 5DS-R and a bag of heavy lenses all across Europe and elsewhere on a long trip. I also don’t want to invest heavily in another cameras and lenses. Because I have several Leica-R lenses that I use on my Canon with a lens adapter, maybe that would be a good alternative because I already have most lenses I would need…

My response:

I’m afraid that I have no experience with Leica cameras, or at least so little that it probably isn’t helpful.

My travel kit for urban trips, including those long European visits, is based on a Fujifilm XPro2, one of their excellent APS-C cameras. I mostly work with a set of small primes, though I’ve been known to carry at least one larger lens for occasional use, too, though I would usually avoid this for travel.

My most used lenses are smaller Fujifilm primes. To produce a very small camera/lens package I most often have the little 27mm f/2.8 lens attached. I bring along the 14mm f/2.8 for wide angle needs. For flexibility, and because I do night street photography, I also put the 23mm and 35mm f/1.4 lenses in the bag. Recently I’ve carried the 90mm f/2 rather than the 50-140mm zoom on occasion. On long trips I may add a small “travel tripod” for occasional use — it is nowhere near what I use for my regular photography, but it will do in a pinch… and it isn’t too heavy/large to bring along.

The primes work really well for me because so much of my travel photography leans toward street photography. But another photographer could easily prefer to use a couple of zooms, and there are quite a few options along those lines, too.

Continue reading A Reader Question about Travel Cameras →
Reader Questions

Reader Question: About the Canon 5DsR

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From time to time I share answers to question from blog readers, since I think that the answers might be of broader interest. Here is one from Gareth, who writes:

Hi Dan, I’ve been reading your reviews on the canon 5DSR (big help) and just wanted to ask you, if your were buying a full frame camera today would you still buy this camera for landscape photography? Just to add at present I use a GH5 with metabones adaptor, great camera but I want to do large fine art prints, I also have a range of canon lenses. You thoughts would be much appreciated, Many thanks Gareth P.S. wonderful images you have done.

Thanks Gareth.

A few years ago my answer would have been pretty straightforward — basically, if you wanted a high resolution full-frame camera for landscape photography and potentially rather large prints… the Canon 5DsR would be an obvious choice, especially for someone already owning Canon lenses.

It still is a fine camera for this purpose, and it works admirably for this purpose and many others. The 50MP sensor is capable of producing highly detailed images, and the camera works especially well on the tripod for landscape photography. I’m still using mine, and I have no plans to replace it at this point.

However, the market has changed since I got mine and the market is still undergoing changes that will play out in some significant ways in the next year or two. So, while the 5DsR still works great for the purpose your describe — and is probably available for lower prices, especially on the used market — it may be worth thinking about some matters of timing if you aren’t in a hurry to get something.

Back when I got my 5DsR, this camera’s 50MP sensor provided the most sensor resolution then available in a full-frame body. The nearest competitors at that time were the 36MP sensors from Sony found in their bodies and in Nikon cameras. But since that time other brands have come out with higher resolution sensors, such as the 60MP Sony A7rIV. In truth, the difference between 50MP and 60MP doesn’t really amount to much, but it is a competitor.

Perhaps of more interest to a photographer owning Canon lenses, it is quite likely that Canon will introduce a higher MP mirrorless body successor to the 5DsR before too much longer. We don’t know when that will happen, but it is virtually certain that it is coming. Rumors suggest a 75MP (or possibly a bit higher) sensor resolution. The Canon mirrorless bodies work with the existing EF lenses via adapters.

Is it worth waiting for this? The answer is quite subjective. For me, as a person already owning a 5DsR, I’ll happily keep using that and see what comes from Canon in the future before I make any moves. My 5DsR is not holding me back in any way, but if the new camera is compelling enough I might consider getting it.

Of course, it will likely cost more. And it really is designed to use the newer RF lenses, so there would be pressure to get some of them, too — and this leads toward some fairly hefty costs for upgrading.

So, where does that leave you?

If you want a camera now for landscape photography, you plan to print large, and you want Canon… the 5DsR is still fine choice and it works very well for a landscape camera. If you aren’t in a hurry and you aren’t daunted by potentially higher costs, you could wait and see what the high MP Canon mirrorless body brings.

Good luck!