WHAT AM I DOING?
Fujifilm GFX50SII / GF 55mm f/1.7
LEICA WANKER
For the past 24 years I’ve been a budding amateur photographer. 24 years of fiddling about with cameras and lenses. In the past 11 years I’ve become a professional, in a way, being the content generator for Marloe. I learned to improve my skills to include studio photography, macro photography, and video content of the same. I started reviewing whisky too, and over the years of doing all this I’ve moved from system to system, brand to brand, in the pursuit of trying things. After all, what’s the point in anything if you’re not experiencing new things, right?
So I’ve moved from Canon in the early days to Nikon, then Fujifilm X-Series, then Fujifilm GFX medium format, then Leica and finally back to Fujifilm. A crescendo of bigger and better that culminated in a move to Leica that was horribly ill-judged. I thought it would unlock something in me, some new skill or drive to work my mind around a set format - 28mm fixed full-frame. In the wash it was too restrictive for the photography I know and love; documentary of my life and the world immediately around me - Skye. A 28mm wide angle camera just doesn’t go with my needs, no matter how hard I tried to make it work.
Since the decision to trade in the GFX system for the Leica, which in itself was a move that I maybe slightly regret just because of the incredible images it produced, I’ve missed having the desire to get out and take photos of stuff. The Leica Q2 supressed that notion completely, because I knew deep down I didn’t have the reach to take photos of what I wanted to take. I still had the Fujifilm X-T4 with the incredible Zeiss Touit 50mm that is hands-down one of the sharpest and most beautifully rendering lenses I’ve ever had, but that’s my watch and whisky photography lens, not my documenting of life lens. I have a 18-50mm Sigma lens for video work, but that’s it. It seemed like I’d boxed myself into a corner - the Fujifilm system was now just for specific duties, and the Leica Q2 was basically redundant for my needs.
The GFX was beautiful. What a camera. I loved the images and the medium format aesthetic, swirly bokeh and joyous definition. But it was an absolute pain to use outside of the images it produced - slow to focus, slow to capture, slow to download and slow to process. Those gigantic files didn’t help either, especially for what output I use them for - Rhenetra.photography and Instagram/socials. 50MP medium format and all the processing it takes just didn’t fit with what I wanted: a quick post-photograph process.
Leica Q2
Too specifically “street”
The X-T4 is the opposite - fast to take, fast to offload and fast to process. I love the speed at which I can download to my phone to process in Lightroom, or on the computer to process there, all with manageable file sizes. But I only had the Zeiss and the Sigma, neither really good for what I wanted - shallow DOF walkabout primes. The Sigma is great for video work and flexible to get what I need, but the photo quality just didn’t seem to stack up and the f/2.8 isn’t shallow enough for my bokeh demands.
The Leica Q2 produced some lovely images but there were too many compromises. The first was the generally shite colour JPG quality - the Leica Q2 demands to be shot in RAW and post-produced on a computer. It’s a workflow I cannot be arsed with, preferring quick edits on the move through Bluetooth phone linkup or on the computer quickly. The JPGs out of the Leica Q2 in colour I just felt miserable about - flat, boring and uninteresting. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s the 28mm aspect, but everything I shot in colour on that camera made me unhappy. The black and white settings however were really interesting, and I ended up shooting in B&W only, which was fun and I enjoyed it, but after a while I just got a bit fed up with that too. It wasn’t giving me the thrill of capturing day to day life.
Not to mention the complete ball-ache to get anything out of the camera. Firstly the phone link up is nothing short of dismal. Patchy connections, having to link up to the phone fresh every time, and the time it takes to do that. The huge file sizes. The frustration of the wireless offload was bad enough, but then to get to the SD card to process on a computer meant removing the hotshoe/plate from the bottom every single time. The card door is so close to the tripod thread that everything blocks it. A complete disaster of design, if you want to carry your Q2 using anything other than the wee lugs on the camera sides. I prefer to have my camera slung from my body using a bottom plate with Peak Design tag, and another tag on the left side of the camera, making the camera fall at my right side in a way that I can reach down, grab it to my face and take a photo. The Leica was great for this, until I needed to get into the memory card. Then it was annoying.
The Leica Q2 also left a lot to be desired when it came to the shooting experience. It felt cold and flat. Lovely to look at, but just a big nothing from a UX perspective. So it was time to reconcile my bad judgement and chop the Leica Q2 in for something else, something that would rekindle the joy of photography for me, something that would get me out the house, excited to capture the world around me once more. But what?
Well luckily the Leica Q2 is abhorrently expensive for the miserable experience it offers, so I was able to chop it in for not 1 but 4 new lenses (new to me, that is). As soon as the quotation was through from MPB, with a surprising extra on top of the quoted price due to the condition of it, I was able to get myself 4 lenses that I reckon will be the unlock I need. Lenses that are reputably fast, have super optics and will allow me to capture the photos I want at the focal length I gravitate towards (50-75mm portrait lenses), but with a few new focal lengths that I think will suit my environment a bit more - loooooonger lenses!
The Fujifilm X-T4 is a magic camera. I’m a geek and read all the reviews, even of things I already own, just to see how other people are getting on with them. The X-T4 has always been a bit of a weird one, primarily because of the LCD on the back folding in such a way that it’s more geared towards folk who vlog, perhaps, or selfie lovers. For me the screen pivots in a way that is perfect for what I use it for when it comes to whisky - vertically shot at waist height. It’s a magic screen, I absolutely love it and having had screens that only come out horizontally (GFX) it was always a bummer when I wanted to shoot vertical images lower down. It’s amazing for video, and amazing for photos, so I stuck with it, rather than getting the X-Pro 3 that was in my basket for a long time.
So, I now have the X-T4 only, with the Sigma 18-50mm zoomer for video, the Zeiss 50mm macro for watches and whisky, and the new lenses. The first new lens is the 35mm f/1.4 R - so much is said online about this wee sucker, such that it seems to be the best lens for walkaboutery. 50mm equiv on full frame, this lens will probably be the 2nd most used going forward.
The first most used will likely be the 56mm f/1.2 R - my kind of lens. Longer than standard (75mm equiv) but with that aperture that will give me the separation of subject that I crave. It looks magic, really and I can’t wait to try it.
Then I’ve went off-piste. I’ve only ever had one telephoto zoom lens in my life and it was a Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 for the Nikon D7000, when I fancied myself as a motorsport photographer. I used it a couple of times and realised I didn’t want to be a motorsport photographer anymore, plus the opportunities at Knockhill for punter photography was always a bit limited. However, I now live on an island with lots to photograph far off, as well as the landscape opportunities here for compression and subject isolation, so I’ve got myself a 50-140mm f/2.8. I reckon I’ll use this for walkabout and general landscape work.
Finally I’ve went for something I think will be used less frequently but could give me some really cool shots, given the wildlife around the house and up the hill here - eagles, deer, smaller birds. It’s the 100-400mm f/4-5.6, and something I am really excited to try. It’ll be niche but maybe this is what I’m craving - a challenge at the other end of the focal spectrum.
All of these lenses are pegged for video work too, and given the optics and in-body stabe with the X-T4, it’s going to be fun using them for my films too. It’s an exciting time, and it goes some way to emphasising the misjudgement made in trying the Leica Q2. It’s for city folk who want to take photos of unsuspecting public joes and spend hours in post-production fiddling. Anyway, I’m over it.
2026 is the year of Fujifilm, and I’m quite looking forward to it.
