2020 Update

So 2020 has so far not quite gone to plan, I have gotten into Brighton University to study for my Masters degree but apart from that things have been rather stale.

I switched to the Panasonic G9 only to switch back to the Fujifilm X-T3 a few months later, I am now waiting for the X-T4 to be shipped before I upgrade to that though I will wait a few months so I can get one cheaper on the second hand market.

The two week trip I had been planning to Wales in the last two weeks of May has had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 health emergency, I was planning to make several hikes up Snowdonia as well as the Brecon Beacons. I will hopefully be able to make some kind of trip there either at the end of September this year or sometime in 2021. The whole of spring as well as most likely the summer has been wiped out, I can only hope that I will be able to get out there sometime in the autumn before winter comes.

With regards to my Masters degree I am hopeful that the start won’t be delayed, I am due to begin the course at the end of September this year. After graduating I plan to go onto a PhD hopefully at the same university but you never know there might be somewhere better I’ll just have to wait and see.

News And Future Plans For 2020

Ok so 2019 hasn’t really gone to plan, by now I was hoping I’d be a full-time professional portrait photographer but that hasn’t happened. I could probably come up with all sorts of reasons for why it hasn’t happened but I won’t, instead I’m going to look forward at what I plan to do now & in 2020.

So back in February I had my over 40’s MOT (over 40’s health check-up), although I wasn’t heavy enough to be classed as obese, I was overweight and my diet wasn’t as good as it could be. I was told to lose weight, eat more fruit, exercise more & eat less crap. Fast forward to now – I eat better, I exercise more & I’m now 10kg lighter. So, what does this have to do with my 2020 plans I hear you ask, I’ll come back to that in a little while.

As part of my planning for 2020 I looked over my equipment asking myself if it fitted my needs going forward. Unfortunately, I came to the conclusion that it didn’t meet my needs so I have reluctantly moved from the Fujifilm X system to Canon’s full-frame mirrorless RF system, the EOS R. Don’t get me wrong Fuji’s X system is great but it has shortcomings that I just can’t overlook. These are the two factors that made me switch.

1.      Lenses – Lens choices are very limited on the Fuji X system, there are virtually no third-party lens options, the two biggest third-party lens manufactures (Tamron & Sigma) don’t make lenses for the X system. Of the lenses you can buy you have a choice of weather sealed or stabilized, there are very few that have both. Cost – To get the best results you need the best lenses & they cost almost as much as their full-frame equivalents. Even buying lenses on the used market is expensive compared to other camera mounts.

2.      Software – I like to use Adobe Lightroom to edit my images as well as plugins. Unfortunately for whatever reasons Lightroom didn’t seem to register my Fuji lenses & didn’t have their respective lens profiles which was irritating. What was worse was that Lightroom would apply sharpening automatically (40%) even when it was turned off in camera, I set up a pre-set to cancel this when importing but Lightroom ignored it. And then there’s the weird worming effects as well.

So why did I choose Canon’s EOS R? Well even though it may not be the best camera out there with the EF to RF lens adapter you can mount pretty much ANY EF lens on the RF mount. There are a huge number of used EF lenses out there on the market which makes buying a good quality used lens for far less money a really attractive option, also third-party EF lenses are abundant & cost less. The EOS R is just a far more flexible platform, the 30 mega pixel sensor is about the right size for my needs, not too small & not too big. Even though the native RF lenses are expensive they are top of the line quality which shows Canon’s commitment to their full-frame mirrorless line-up. I fully expect Canon to release at least another two RF camera bodies in 2020 which will be better than the EOS R & EOS RP. I have the 24-104mm RF kit lens which even though it’s a kit lens it’s still a really good lens. I’m looking at adding two or three Tamron EF lenses to my bag so I cover all the focal lengths I need, I will of course need to get the Tamron lens station so I can update their firmware.

So, what are my plans for 2020? Well I have applied to do a Masters degree in Photography at the University of Brighton, if successful I would start the course in late 2020 (September). This is part of me refocusing my photography back to what I enjoy doing rather than what I think I should be doing. I really enjoyed my degree so the Masters feels like a natural progression for me.

Another part of my refocusing is landscape, nature & abstract photography, a lot of this will come from day trips around Sussex (where I live) as well as planned holidays, this is an area I’ve neglected in recent years which is a pity as I do like a good walk. At the moment I’m planning a trip to Snowdonia in the first half of 2020, mostly likely in late April early May before all the tourists invade. I plan on doing a lot of hiking so dropping that weight & getting fitter really fits into this. I am also looking into other parts of the UK, some I’ve never visited & others I’ve not been to since childhood.

The final part of my refocusing is my social media, blog & YouTube channel. I intend to make a video for each trip I make next year including the day trips, I’m hoping to go on day trips at least twice a month though ideally every week would be great. The reason for this is to push my online awareness forward with the ultimate aim of transferring it into a full-time living by the end of 2021.

So that’s me done for now, if you got this far then thanks, have a good Christmas.