Challenge! A 'Lo-FI' A Day Challenge

PICTOGRAMAX - 2021 - LO FI - 20 - ECHO.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
 
Iā€™m having so much fun with this challenge. I tried to get one of those Fringer Nikon f to Fuji x smart adapters, but that was a bust.

I returned it and got a refund. That was to be my new job gift to myself.

Instead, I see where B&H Photo os having a decent sale on the Fuji SQ20 instax camera $120 and square film is down to $6 per pack of 10.

Iā€™m not really that interested in the camera per say, but I do like the fact that I can load images on the micro SD card and print from there. I do that more often than Iā€™d thought with the current instax mini printer I have.

B&H cart is locked out now for holiday observance, but will be back open at 7pm tonight EST. Iā€™ll be ordering them and I will be able to continue using my lo-fi fun gear once it arrives.

The biggest thing, my mother in law is old school and loves to have pictures hanging in her house. We have a metal wire and clips up in her hallway and she has pictures up there from throughout the year. Every Christmas we take down the old and use my instant cameras to take new ones for her.

Itā€™s a fun tradition that she cherishes and everyone loves the experience.
I am having fun as well. With the X20's AF gone and the X30 is still in transit, I've been using the Pentax Q. The actual problem was that I has lost the charger so I hadn't used it in a while. Last week I still couldn't find the changer but I discovered that an old Fuji charger could handle the Pentax batteries. The D-LI68 (Pentax) and the NP-50 (Fuji) are essentially the same size with the same contact arrangement and similar electrical specs. It has been a joy to use the Q. It's a remarkably competent camera for such a small sensor. More to the point, it's a remarkably well-made camera with a Mg body. It's actually "brassing" on the corners, albeit with a gray metal poking through. I also have a Q7, and you can easily see the quality difference. Nothing that small has great ergs, but the menus and control layout are really good. Given my current daily photo addiction, I'm really glad to have this back in my arsenal. It's also been a little sad, however. I was a Pentax user from 1974 to about 2010, and Pentax never really evolved out of DSLR mode and I developed a liking for Olympus mirrorless cameras.
 
Last edited:
Yup, one has to wonder how it might have turned out for Pentax if their APSC mirrorless system was some version of Q on steroids... Instead they gambled on controversial "modernistic" design for K-01 and got burned. Which is a shame, as I believe they would have a lot to offer. Even just a mirrorless version of KP would be a great and competitive camera, at least in my opinion.
 
I am having fun as well. With the X20's AF gone and the X30 is still in transit, I've been using the Pentax Q. The actual problem was that I has lost the charger so I hadn't used it in a while. Last week I still couldn't find the changer but I discovered that an old Fuji charger could handle the Pentax batteries. The D-LI68 (Pentax) and the NP-50 (Fuji) are essentially the same size with the same contact arrangement and similar electrical specs. It has been a joy to use the Q. It's a remarkably competent camera for such a small sensor. More to the point, it's a remarkably well-made camera with a Mg body. It's actually "brassing" on the corners, albeit with a gray metal poking through. I also have a Q7, and you can easily see the quality difference. Nothing that small has great ergs, but the menus and control layout are really good. Given my current daily photo addiction, I'm really glad to have this back in my arsenal. It's also been a little sad, however. I was a Pentax user from 1974 to about 2010, and Pentax never really evolved out of DSLR mode and I developed a liking for Olympus mirrorless cameras.

I loved a lot about the Q7 when I had one. I learned to shoot it in RAW and process the files for best quality afterwards. The lack of viewfinder and the small size eventually killed it for me. Pentax has a very good way of setting up their cameras though.

I think they could be a serious contender in mirrorless if they wanted to, but their take is to basically be the last DSLR maker standing.
 
I'm personally kind of okay with Pentax not throwing their hat in the ring of ergonomically disadvantaged, slightly too small with slightly too many buttons, EVF instead of OVF, expensive lens stable mirrorless systems. Yes, they might design a truly compelling system, but they might also cede too much design consideration to the conventions of the mirrorless design language that we all have thrust upon us. Pentax has come around to very unique DSLRs and it would be a shame to lose that aspect of them.

I just want Ricoh to introduce some new development based on their GR and GXR line. I'm fine with them not being a whole new system, dedicated-lens-sensor combo type cameras offer something that's harder/more expensive to get when you jump into a mirrorless system with all its inherent choices and compromises.
 
I'm personally kind of okay with Pentax not throwing their hat in the ring of ergonomically disadvantaged, slightly too small with slightly too many buttons, EVF instead of OVF, expensive lens stable mirrorless systems. Yes, they might design a truly compelling system, but they might also cede too much design consideration to the conventions of the mirrorless design language that we all have thrust upon us. Pentax has come around to very unique DSLRs and it would be a shame to lose that aspect of them.

I just want Ricoh to introduce some new development based on their GR and GXR line. I'm fine with them not being a whole new system, dedicated-lens-sensor combo type cameras offer something that's harder/more expensive to get when you jump into a mirrorless system with all its inherent choices and compromises.
Iā€™m not quite sure what Pentax needs to do at this point. I do think the DSLR approach is worth a try, because they just donā€™t have the resources to try to compete in the current mirrorless fight.
 
Went up to the local ski mountain today and did some skiing in alternating, fog, snow, and sunshine. The only two cameras I had were the Automat Glass lomo Instax, and my iPhone. My son was there, too, along with his young ski-mad offspring, Opal (purple helmet) and Ira (green machine)---

Automat_Opal+Ira_Ski_day.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


For a few moments the sun came out and things got rather bright---

Automat_Winter_landscape.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


Then it disappeared behind clouds and everything changed---

Automat_Winter_trees_in_snow.jpg


And finally, the photographer himself, courtesy of my Hipstamatic iPhone App--

Miguel_MtAshland_Hipstamatic.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
 
Iā€™m not quite sure what Pentax needs to do at this point. I do think the DSLR approach is worth a try, because they just donā€™t have the resources to try to compete in the current mirrorless fight.
The "mirrorless fight" is just about as laughable as the DSLR fight was ten years ago, it's as if every manufacturer agrees to make the same mistakes. Of course on the imaging tech front Sony has driven the quality for years, but I feel like the real original promise of mirrorless is what micro four thirds offered way back a decade and more ago: small, large aperture lenses and really short flange distance, good IQ in the same size package as the smallest film cameras offered. Now, everyone is shooting for these ungainly hybrids between pro-level ergos and comfort, and miniaturization, and that's a losing battle in my opinion. Either make big chunky cameras that are very comfortable in the hand, or make small, slim ones that are easy to stow but still offer high IQ. You literally can't have both at the same time.

This is off topic, my apologies to all. I just get ranty sometimes :p every cycle of wanting to change gear I get heavily invested in learning the state of the camera market, and every time I get frustrated with all of the nonsense that seems so endemic to consumerism.
 
Back
Top