Camera Buying Mistakes
Derek Smith • 19 April 2022
Choosing the right camera is such a hard job, harder even, I would contend, than choosing a wife, husband, or significant life partner. You’ve got size, weight, and features to consider (that’s the camera!!), as well as price, and lens selection.
For me buying the Sony A7ii full frame camera was a huge mistake, I had owned Sony APS-C cameras for a number of years, starting with the Sony NEX 3 in 2014, upgrading through the Sony A6000, until the Sony A6300, I knew Sony, the tortuous menu system, and the flawed ergonomics, and I had several Sony lenses, including one designed for the full frame Sony cameras, which was the Sony FE 70-300mm OSS f/4.5 – 5.6. So, it made good sense to upgrade to the full frame Sony A7ii, it was being advertised at the time at a “cashback” price of £800, (you have to pay full price up front, then claim the £200 cashback after a month). The camera was weatherproof, had “in body image stabilisation”, and better controls than the Sony A6300, what could go wrong?
I hated the Sony A7ii camera from the very beginning, I had problems with the Sony website, and didn’t receive the promised £200 cashback. The lens mount was so close to the front hand grip that my fingers were tight against some lenses, the front control wheel was placed under the on / off switch and I invariably ended up turning the camera off rather than making any adjustments. I bought the Sony FE 85mm f/1.8 lens to use for portraits, and wasn’t happy with that lens either, the depth of field was so shallow, almost razor thin, at f/1.8 and while YouTube reviewers where almost shouting from the rooftops “get the 85mm, and use it wide open”, I hated using the lens wide open, it was also a big heavy lens at 371g. I had also kept the Sony A6300 as a backup camera, and the trouble with that plan was that I was using full frame lenses with an APS-C sensor camera, and my 35mm full frame lens suddenly became an effective 50mm lens on the A6300, and the 70-300mm full frame lens, became a 105-450mm lens. The mental agility of having to calculate effective focal lengths when changing lenses between cameras became very wearing.
I sold all the Sony cameras, and lenses, getting a good price on MPB, but what to buy next?
Looking at the options, the choice came down to the Fuji X-T3, or the Olympus OM-D E-M5 iii. I had owned an Olympus camera before, and had been very pleased with the handling, and image quality. Olympus had the 5 axis “in body image stabilisation”, and the lenses that I wanted, the 12-40mm f/2.8, and the 40-150mm f/2.8 both constant aperture weatherproof lenses. The Fuji didn’t have the “in body stabilisation”, the lens choice of 3 approximately effective 24-70mm focal length lenses was confusing, and the long focal length zoom lens of 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6, was a hulking great monster of a lens at 1436g. The Olympus was a known camera system, the Fuji was a leap in the dark, so I chose to buy something I knew.
I’ve been extremely pleased with my Olympus camera system, and taken some great photos with the camera, however as my photography skills grew, I desperately wanted a joystick to move the focal point quickly onto the subject for more accuracy, and I needed a camera with two SD card slots, one for RAW, and the other for the JPEG images, to speed up my workflow.
In the intervening two years that I had owned the Olympus, Fuji had introduced the X-T4 camera with “in body image stabilisation”, but more importantly the lens selection had markedly improved, with the new 16-80mm f/4 zoom (24-120mm full frame equivalent), and the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 zoom (105-450mm full frame equivalent). So, selling the Olympus gear, and buying the second hand Fuji X-T3, with dual SD cards, and joystick, the second hand 16-80mm f/4 lens, and a brand new 70-300mm f/4-5.6 lens, became an easier choice to make. It’s been a steep learning curve with the Fuji, but I’m comfortable with the camera now, and getting some great images.
It’s an interesting exercise to compare the weight and size of the cameras, and lenses:
Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro 880g 79mm x 160mm
Sony FE 70-300mm f/4.5 – 5.6 OSS 854g 84mm x 143.5mm
Fuji XF 70-300mm OIS WR f/4.0 – 5.6 580g 75mm x 133mm
Sony Alpha A7ii 599g 127 x 96 x 60 mm
Fuji X-T3 539g 133 x 93 x 59 mm
Olympus OM-D E-M5iii 414g 125 x 85 x 50 mm
Sony Alpha A6300 404g 120 x 67 x 49 mm
The lightest camera setup is the Fuji X-T3 at 1119g with the 70-300mm lens (maximum full frame equivalent focal length of 450mm), the Fuji lens is designed to cover the smaller APS-C sensor, and can be smaller than an equivalent full frame lens. The full frame Sony A7ii camera is the heaviest with the Sony 70-300mm. The heaviest lens is the Olympus 40-150mm, constant f/2.8 aperture throughout the zoom range, constructed of metal, and has a full frame equivalent focal length of 80-300mm.
So was it a mistake to buy Olympus? No, I don’t believe so, Fuji did not have the lenses I needed at the time, and I’ve learned a lot about photography in these last few years. I had a lot of pleasure using the Olympus cameras, and now I’m enjoying the Fuji camera, with the associated lenses.
Louth Photographic Society

It was no April fools, when we held our PDI (Projected Digital Image) competition last night. The images submitted into this competition were off the highest quality. Dave Turner judged the Open category, which I think is always one of the hardest categories to judge, pitting landscapes, against nature, and still life, but Dave did a magnificent job, offering well founded critique of the images submitted. After the break, Steve Chapman judged the Local Nature category, (nature images taken within a 25 mile radius of St. James' church, Louth) Steve "held back" 10 out of the 18 submitted images, and gave those 10 images very careful consideration until he finally arrived at the 3 highest placed images. Steve commented that the submitted images were indeed of high quality, and he took his time to evaluate the submitted images and offered useful critique on each one. The competition made for a very interesting evening, and all members deserve praise for the quality of the submitted images. The website Competition page has been updated with the full results, and the top three images from each category. On this post is 1st placed Sedge Warbler, Cleethorpes by Tony Gaskins, in the Local Nature category, and 1st placed Hudson Bay Wolf, (Lincoln Zoo) by Harry Kerman, in the Open category.

Good Morning, All, Last week at the club member Chris Birchmore gave a presentation on MPP cameras which included some of Chris's collection of cameras and prints taken. There is a report on the evening on our blog page. Thank you Chris for an interesting evening. This week, Wednesday 1st April, we are holding a local and open PDI competition the local subject being nature, please if you haven't already, send your entries to Harry before midnight tonight. Members Steve Chapman and Dave Turner have volunteered to judge. Also on the Wednesday 1st April our Louth Photographic Society 70th anniversary exhibition will be open to view at the Louth Museum. Regards Graham

Chris Birchmore gave an informative, and interesting talk and demonstration of his medium format film cameras. at the beginning of the evening Chris gave a potted history of the origins of the MPP cameras he was showing us. The cameras take a 5 x 4" film stock, and looking at the cameras it seems incredible that photographers in the recent past could take excellent photographs with these. The MPP cameras were often used by the British Armed Forcies during the Second World War, and throughout the 1950s, and 60s, and some of these medium format were still being manufactured in the 1970s. The prints that Chris showed taken with these cameras were of excellent quality, with an amazing depth of field. Many thanks Chris for a fascinating evening.

Good Morning All Last week at the club we held a committee meeting, which was very productive, we made the final arrangements for the exhibition, charity night, and studio evening as well as other items on the agenda. We are holding an Exhibition opening night at Louth Museum on Friday 17th April celebrating 70 years of Louth Photographic Society. There will be a small buffet and cold drinks available, if any member would like to donate a bottle of wine to the occasion please hand it to Harry at one of our club nights. This week, Wednesday 25th March, member Chris Birchmore will be giving us a presentation. The following week is a local competition, with the categoriess of "Local Nature" (up to 25 miles radius from St James church) and "Open" (unlimited mileage) please send your entries to Harry before midnight, Sunday 29th March. Members Steve Chapman will judge the Nature category, and Dave Turner the Open category. Regards Graham

Good Morning All Last week at the club we held our monthly PDI competition judged by Martyn Wrigg, the standard of entries was very high and well done to Tony Gaskins for a first in the Architectural Detail and Derek Smith for his first place in the Open. All the results are on our website under competitions. This week, Wednesday 18th March we will be holding a Committee meeting, just committee members for this one. The following week Chris Birchmore is the speaker for the night. Harry is now accepting entries for the PDI local competition, with the categories of "Local Nature" and "Open". We judge this competition in house so if you would like to judge one of the subjects please let me know. Regards Graham

A PDI (Projected Digital Image) competition was held last night with the categories of "Architectural Detail", and "Open". Martyn Wrigg was our judge for the evening, and he competently judged the submitted images, although he diid surprise with some of his choices of placing, but that's a judges perogative. Martyn complemented members on the quality of the images presented, which had made some of his decisions difficult. First placed was "It's a Fixer Upper" in the Architectural Detail section, and "Dervish Musician" in the Open section. Congratulations to Robin Begley, who as one of our newest members submitted some impressive images, achieving a 3rd place in "Architectural Details", and 2nd in the "Open" category. All the results are now posted to our website Competition page.

Good Morning All Last week at the club member Steve Chapman gave us an insight into his life and especially his time at Ilam Park in Derbyshire photographing for the National Trust. Steve showed us many photographs he had taken of the people involved with the trust and the Peak District. The second half was dedicated to Steve's own work, some superb aircraft photography as well as many other subjects. There is a report on the evening on our blog page. This week, Wednesday 11th March we are holding a PDI competition, with the categories of "Architectural Detail " and "Open" to be judged by Martyn Wrigg of Barton. The following week is a committee meeting for the committee members only on that evening. For newer members we have two committee meetings a year. Regards Graham

Last night Steve Chapman presented a selection of images from his archives. Steve had previously been a volunteer photographer for the National Trust, and he showed many photos from the Ilam Park Estate, Dovedale, it was interesting to see some of the "behind the scenes" photos. The Jacobite reenactment battle scenes were amazing, the uniforms showed great attention to detail, and there were some real characters among the reenactors. After the break Steve showed some of his general photography, he has a great photographic eye, as some of his photos showed with different colours, shapes, and leading lines. Steve has taken many photos of agricultural machinery, and risked life and limb to create some close up aircraft photos. For atmosphere, just look at these horseriders at the top of the hill on a cool early morning. For heartstopping imagery look at these children on the side of a building, the children are photos on the side of the building, however, Steve wasted no time in capturing this stunning image. Many thanks to Steve for a fascinating evening.

Good Morning All Last week at the club I gave you a PDI (Projected Digital Image) presentation showing photographs I had taken on my travels last year, following up with some past and present photographs of Binbrook. I hope you all enjoyed the evening and maybe saw parts of England you hadn't seen before. This week, Wednesday 4th March, our member Steve Chapman will be showing us photographs he has taken. This is Steve's first time showing the club his work so will be a very good night. Harry is now accepting your PDI's for the next competition, with the categories of "Architectural Detail" and "Open". The closing date is Friday 6th March. Regards Graham





