I'm about to leave on a 3 month backpacking trip to West Africa, and I'm driving myself crazy with the decision process for a small-ish street / personal experience camera (i will probablt also bring a long zoom camera that is too clunky and conspicuous for quick / street work). Please bear with me as I try to explain my thoughts...
I'm basically doubting whether to get a Fuji X100f with tele converter, Panasonic GX85 with 20/1.7 and 45/1.8, or - less likely - a Fuji XT2 with either 18/2 or 27/2.8 and a 50/2.
My desires are:
- usb charging using micro usb or usb-c (no proprietary cable BS), for reducing the number of chargers and cables, and for replaceability in case of loss or damage.
- small enough to quickly pull out of a non-dedicated waist bag. X100f narrowly wins over GX85, XT2 loses out here
- unobtrusive, or at least not confrontational / exploitative looking; being white, I'm gonna stand out like a sore thumb wherever I go, but at least i'd like people to not feel taken advantage of when i point a camera at them. X100 is the major winner in terms of not looking threatening, although the GX85's and XT2's tilt screen would allow for waist level shooting, as well as ground level creative shots. Both the X100's teleconverter and the Fuji 50/2 are quite the cannon by my standards, although the X100 + tcl still has the film camera look to help it. And the X100 series' quiet leaf shutter really helps in not being obnoxious.
-speaking of tilt screens, i love those and hate fully articulating screens, so something like an EM1-ii is unfortunately not an option
- rugged enough to handle some abuse, dust and occasional rain. Any non weather sealed bodies or lenses would be taped up as much as possible without hindering the functionality. Still, i rate the X100 series above a non-sealed interchangeable lens camera like the GX85. The XT2 body and 50mm lens are properly weather sealed, giving me an option for shooting in the heavy rain that i am likely to encounter on a fairly regular basis towards the end of the trip. An alternative would be to bring a dicapac waterproof bag/housing and try to make that work with the X100 or GX85.
- moderately wide to normal fov; 35 or 40mm equivalent suits me just fine, so long as i can also play with shallow dof. The Fuji 18/2's 28mm eq is a bit wide, but the 27/2.8 on the XT2 has more limited shallow dof than the 20/1.7
- i want to have the option for some more compression in a compact package, preferably 90-ish mm. The XT2 + 50/2 can be cropped down to 90mm quite easily. X100 plus tcl still needs cropping down to 8 or 9mp in order to get 90mm eq (i know the digital teleconverter does a decent job of upressing, but it's jpeg only)
- autofocus lenses only, and preferably one-handed operability. All 3 cameras allow for aperture to be set by the rear dial, which i prefer over lens-based dials. The older X100t, if i remember correctly, doesn't allow this.
- enough resolution for large prints (up to 1m wide). This, and the limitations of curent fake bokeh modes and the poor controls, is why I am not really considering a phone for the wide-to-normal role. The Fuji's 24mp adds a considerably amount of resolution and croppability over the GX85's 16mp.
- dynamic range and low light / high iso performance are very much appreciated. The Fuji's with their modern aps-c sensors easily outperform the aging 4/3 sensor of the GX85
- image stabilisation would be very nice for longer focal lengths and for the occasional video. GX85 obviously wins here. Fuji seems incapable of giving cameras smaller than the dslr-sized x-h1 ibis, which is a real bummer. IBIS also allows the GX85 to claw back some (or all? Any input here is welcome) of its low light deficit to the Fuji's, and makes it easier to do longer shutter speed experiments in low light
- the X100f's built-in ND filter makes shooting wide open in bright light - like around the equator - much easier, although electronic shutters can compensate for this purpose.
- i am starting to experiment with longer shutter speed photography to add an element of abstraction. The GX85's image stabilization obviously makes this much easier, at least at low light. The X100's ND filter makes slow shutter photography during daylight easier, provided i can keep it stable enough.
- i have an instax mini printer for giving small prints to people whose portraits i have taken. Recent fuji models have the great advantage of being able to print directly to my instax printer; with any other brand, I'd have to open the manufacturers app on my phone, connect to camera, transfer images, open instax printer app, connect to instax printer, and then print the image. That would reallly take me out of the flow of connecting to people and photographing them
- oh, and the more i spend on the camera, the less i will have for visiting national parks, concerts etcetera. The GX85 plus 2 lenses is less than the X100f on its own, and the XT2 plus 2 lenses is a couple of hundred euros more than the X100f plus tcl (i buy everything used). One more option i could consider is using an X100T for the wide-to-normal, and a GX85 + 45mm for the compression / portrait role. That would cost about as much as an X100f plus tcl...
So, if anyone managed to read through my brainfart here, i'd love to hear your opinions. Which factors make a real practical difference, which do not? Am I missing obvious candidates? I don't see the lenses I would want (in terms of focal length / size / speed balance) for Sony's APSC line, and lenses for the a7 series get big and expensive very quickly, or are manual focus.
I'm basically doubting whether to get a Fuji X100f with tele converter, Panasonic GX85 with 20/1.7 and 45/1.8, or - less likely - a Fuji XT2 with either 18/2 or 27/2.8 and a 50/2.
My desires are:
- usb charging using micro usb or usb-c (no proprietary cable BS), for reducing the number of chargers and cables, and for replaceability in case of loss or damage.
- small enough to quickly pull out of a non-dedicated waist bag. X100f narrowly wins over GX85, XT2 loses out here
- unobtrusive, or at least not confrontational / exploitative looking; being white, I'm gonna stand out like a sore thumb wherever I go, but at least i'd like people to not feel taken advantage of when i point a camera at them. X100 is the major winner in terms of not looking threatening, although the GX85's and XT2's tilt screen would allow for waist level shooting, as well as ground level creative shots. Both the X100's teleconverter and the Fuji 50/2 are quite the cannon by my standards, although the X100 + tcl still has the film camera look to help it. And the X100 series' quiet leaf shutter really helps in not being obnoxious.
-speaking of tilt screens, i love those and hate fully articulating screens, so something like an EM1-ii is unfortunately not an option
- rugged enough to handle some abuse, dust and occasional rain. Any non weather sealed bodies or lenses would be taped up as much as possible without hindering the functionality. Still, i rate the X100 series above a non-sealed interchangeable lens camera like the GX85. The XT2 body and 50mm lens are properly weather sealed, giving me an option for shooting in the heavy rain that i am likely to encounter on a fairly regular basis towards the end of the trip. An alternative would be to bring a dicapac waterproof bag/housing and try to make that work with the X100 or GX85.
- moderately wide to normal fov; 35 or 40mm equivalent suits me just fine, so long as i can also play with shallow dof. The Fuji 18/2's 28mm eq is a bit wide, but the 27/2.8 on the XT2 has more limited shallow dof than the 20/1.7
- i want to have the option for some more compression in a compact package, preferably 90-ish mm. The XT2 + 50/2 can be cropped down to 90mm quite easily. X100 plus tcl still needs cropping down to 8 or 9mp in order to get 90mm eq (i know the digital teleconverter does a decent job of upressing, but it's jpeg only)
- autofocus lenses only, and preferably one-handed operability. All 3 cameras allow for aperture to be set by the rear dial, which i prefer over lens-based dials. The older X100t, if i remember correctly, doesn't allow this.
- enough resolution for large prints (up to 1m wide). This, and the limitations of curent fake bokeh modes and the poor controls, is why I am not really considering a phone for the wide-to-normal role. The Fuji's 24mp adds a considerably amount of resolution and croppability over the GX85's 16mp.
- dynamic range and low light / high iso performance are very much appreciated. The Fuji's with their modern aps-c sensors easily outperform the aging 4/3 sensor of the GX85
- image stabilisation would be very nice for longer focal lengths and for the occasional video. GX85 obviously wins here. Fuji seems incapable of giving cameras smaller than the dslr-sized x-h1 ibis, which is a real bummer. IBIS also allows the GX85 to claw back some (or all? Any input here is welcome) of its low light deficit to the Fuji's, and makes it easier to do longer shutter speed experiments in low light
- the X100f's built-in ND filter makes shooting wide open in bright light - like around the equator - much easier, although electronic shutters can compensate for this purpose.
- i am starting to experiment with longer shutter speed photography to add an element of abstraction. The GX85's image stabilization obviously makes this much easier, at least at low light. The X100's ND filter makes slow shutter photography during daylight easier, provided i can keep it stable enough.
- i have an instax mini printer for giving small prints to people whose portraits i have taken. Recent fuji models have the great advantage of being able to print directly to my instax printer; with any other brand, I'd have to open the manufacturers app on my phone, connect to camera, transfer images, open instax printer app, connect to instax printer, and then print the image. That would reallly take me out of the flow of connecting to people and photographing them
- oh, and the more i spend on the camera, the less i will have for visiting national parks, concerts etcetera. The GX85 plus 2 lenses is less than the X100f on its own, and the XT2 plus 2 lenses is a couple of hundred euros more than the X100f plus tcl (i buy everything used). One more option i could consider is using an X100T for the wide-to-normal, and a GX85 + 45mm for the compression / portrait role. That would cost about as much as an X100f plus tcl...
So, if anyone managed to read through my brainfart here, i'd love to hear your opinions. Which factors make a real practical difference, which do not? Am I missing obvious candidates? I don't see the lenses I would want (in terms of focal length / size / speed balance) for Sony's APSC line, and lenses for the a7 series get big and expensive very quickly, or are manual focus.