A little over a year ago, before I (stupidly) sold all of my Fuji X gear to move to Sony (and then back to Fuji again), I owned a Mitakon 35mm f/0.95 Mark II manual focus lens.  At first, it was more frustrating to use than the Fuji 35mm f/1.4 that I owned, larger and heavier as well.  With further practice of the focusing, learning the sweet spot to the Fuji focus-peaking and adding a focus tab to the lens, it became a joy instead of a chore to use.  The images it produced were different than the clinical quality of Fuji glass.  It had flaws but it also had a certain character about it, besides the crazy thin depth of field (for APS-C).  Once I came crawling back to the Fuji system, I wanted the Mitakon back, but at over $500 new, I was a bit hesitant.  Surprisingly, Amazon had a very intriguing listing for a brand of 35mm f/0.95 glass I had never heard of, Yaxall.  My curiosity was piqued.

Continue reading Day One with the Risespray 35mm f/0.95 Mark III MF Lens →

Switching from the Fuji X system of cameras to the Sony Alpha setup is a drastic change in how I interact with the camera.  I can’t say that one is better than the other objectively, as they each have  their pro’s and con’s.  The Sony is a more ‘modern’ setup, whereas everything is driven by the options in camera.  There are many custom buttons on the camera to make things faster, but most things are set in the menu UI system.  This is good as it allows all of these things to be saved and easily switched at the same time.  When moving from shooting stills to video, a simple turn of the main dial will switch to my custom movie settings and I don’t need to  touch anything else.

The Fuji X system was different in most regards as the cameras are set up like an old analog film SLR.  Most lenses have an aperture ring, the camera bodies have set marked dials for shutter speed, ISO, focus type (S, C, M), metering, shooting mode, etc.  This system is fantastic for still shooting, but not as good when shooting both photo’s and video as all of those dials need switched around.

I moved to the Sony setup specifically because I was shooting more video and just felt it would make things I do easier, and for the most part, it has.  A part of me very much misses the classic lines and dials of the Fuji X camera’s though.  I won’t say one is better than the other, just different.  Which is great to have awesome choices.