Cameras

The new camera is the Analogue aF-1. more about that below.

Looking back over the past year to do some comparisons, Pentax launched the Pentax 17 half-frame film camera in June. From what I heard it exposes well and produces good images, but what were they thinking with the design? I handled one in a camera shop a while ago and a screw-head sticks out exactly where you grip the camera with your right hand. You can see the screw-head in this photo.

You have to wonder much effort would it have taken to make a screw with a head flush with the body? Perhaps it was a deliberate feature to get people talking and to herald another model for 2025?

That may well be the case because I received an email from Analogue Wonderland which said

We’ve been working closely with Pentax Japanese Film Project team for a long time now, and they trust that they will get both positivity and truth from the AW community. So if you have 5 minutes to answer a few questions then Pentax will be eternally grateful, and you’ll know that your opinion has been heard at the very top of the analogue industry.

A half-frame camera has a frame mask that covers half the area of a 35mm frame, so you get twice as many shots on a roll of film. The disadvantage is that the quality drops because the area is smaller. And unless you turn the camera 90° when you shoot then everything will be in portrait orientation.

In terms of sharpness and ability to capture detail, digital sensors overtook film years ago. I am not sure where the break point is, but micro-four-thirds sensors can definitely out-resolve 35mm film. Perhaps even one-inch sensors can. So the fact that the quality is not going to be as good as a full 35mm film is not a reason for saying no to half-frame cameras or to 35mm films cameras generally. Photographers shoot film for lots of reasons, including the ‘look’, which is different from digital.

Here’s a photo I took in Japan in March last year with another small film camera – the Minolta Freedom Escort.

A reason for not getting the Pentax 17 is the price – £499 – at a time when high quality secondhand cameras are available at a fraction of the price.

And the Pentax 17 uses zone focusing, which means you have to guesstimate the distance to the subject every time you want to take a photo. If I want to do that then I already have an Olympus XA2 that uses zone focusing, and you can read about it here.

And here is my Olympus XA2 camera with the clamshell closed and then open and ready to shoot. Notice the icons of mountains, two people, and two upper torsos. It defaults to the two people icon when you close the clamshell, and you set the focus distance with the slider when you open the camera.

Of course you have to know what the zones are, and for that you must read the manual and then fix those distances in your head. Autofocus is so much easier. And it is more accurate because there are many more increments of focus.

Rollei 35AF

Hong Kong based MiNT Camera launched the Rollei 35AF in the Autumn last year. It’s really pricey at £750 – going on for twice the price of the Pentax 17.

The design of the camera is close to the original line made by Rollei. The Rollei company still exists today, but it doesn’t make cameras, only photography accessories like filters, tripods, and studio lighting.

The new Rollei is tiny and it has autofocus, which the original Rollei models did not.

Were it not so expensive I would be tempted because it is so tiny, weighs just 242g, and would easily slip into a pocket.

New in 2025 – Analogue aF-1

Now there is a third film camera on the horizon for 2025.

Analogue is a film camera shop based in Amsterdam and they are also the makers of the aF-1, launching this summer.The retail price is €399 and they are offering a pre-launch 15% discount for early birds.

The autofocus system on the Analogue The aF-1 is LiDAR with ToF.  LiDAR is a laser pulse that the camera sends out when you focus. The sensor measures the Time-of-Flight (ToF) that the laser beam takes to hit the subject and return. It is said to be a very quick way for a camera to attain focus.

As you can see, it has a clamshell design like the Olympus XA-2. Here it is in the open, ready to shoot, position.

And would I be tempted? Again, not when I compare it to the film cameras (including the Olympus XA-2) available on the second hand market.

How many units do any of these manufacturers of new cameras have to sell in order to make the venture worthwhile?  There’s the research and development, the tooling, the materials, the assembly, the marketing, the distribution.

It makes you wonder.

And what advances could there be when the lenses in some of those older cameras are already very good? Here is a photo I shot with the Olympus XA2 on Kentmere 100 film in September 2023. The tree is a Ginkgo biloba growing on Mill Road in Cambridge, looking slightly surreal as though it has outgrown its surroundings.

Man in Beetlejuice costume in New Year’s Day Parade in London.

I used a Ricoh GR III and I held the camera out in front of me at upper chest height and smiled at him and he smiled at me. But the photo shows him looking at a point higher than the lens of the camera, as of course it would because he was looking at my face.

Had he been a model and we were on a photoshoot I would have told him to look into the lens. Or had I looked at him and held the camera at eye height and shot him from there I would maybe have caught him looking right at me. But I doubt it. Basically the camera is tiny, and I doubt he would have known where to look. And with its 28mm full frame equivalent lens is too wide to work with for portraits, at least for me.

Of course many people seize up when a lens is pointed at them and the photographer is looking at them through a viewfinder. The idea setup would be an invisible camera.

Here is the full frame of the shot.

The Fujifilm X-Trans sensor is a proprietary image sensor specifically developed by Fujifilm for its X series cameras. Very early on, Fuji decided not to use the conventional Bayer filter array used in most digital cameras. Instead, the X-Trans sensor design reduces moiré patterns and false colours.

Fuji has a long history in colour science so making an alternative to the Bayer sensor was a natural progression for the company because it wanted to give users the sharpest image possible as well as the best colour. And the elimination of moiré meant the cameras could dispense with the optical low-pass filter that reduces moiré, but which in the process also reduces image sharpness.

X-E3 with 27mm lens at f4.0, 1/500 second, and ISO 400

That was then, and nowadays many companies using Bayer filters have also removed the optical low-pass filters. Perhaps they use computational software to eliminate the moiré problem. Or perhaps higher megapixel cameras don’t find moiré a problem. Whatever the reason, the advantage of the X-Trans sensor is now more a matter of colour science than of moiré.

The other part of the equation is that X-Trans sensors are more picky about post-processing software. Photoshop was a poor choice at one time but the latest versions work fine. Some people prefer other software such as Lightroom, DxO, Capture One, or Iridient Digital.

The most obvious change in X-Trans sensors over the years is the number of megapixels.
The X-Trans has 16.3MP
The X-Trans II has 16.3 MP
The X-Trans III has 24.3MP
The X-Trans IV has 26.1MP
The X-Trans V HS has 26.16MP
The X-Trans V HR has 40MP

I think the days are gone when we argue whether more megapixels are better. They are. The differences may not show up when you compare two prints side by side at normal viewing distances. But more pixels mean you can crop and still get a detailed print. Is that worth it? The penalty is bigger file sizes and more processing power needed. Ask anyone today and their answer will be a floating answer: it will change over time. For now, many people think that the 26MP sensor is about right.

Colour Science

So then comes the question that gets the most interest. Has the colour changed with the newer sensors? My answer is that the colours may have changed a little, but the sharpness of the images is more obvious. And that depends more on the lenses than the processor. To give an example, the 27mm lens knocks spots off the 18-55mm kit lens.

The Gothic or Watch Cottage was built by Henry Hoare, the then owner of Stourhead, in around 1785. Stourhead is near Warminster, near Bath in the south west of England. Stourhead is now owned by the National Trust for the benefit of all.

The Gothic seat and porch were added in 1806 to follow the fashion of making everything ‘Gothick’. Inside there is just a window seat, two rustic chairs, and a large open fireplace.

According to Derek Voller “the 1841 census states that it was lived in by two servants, and in 1851 by two elderly females described as almswomen.”

Which Sensor, Which Camera

X-Trans sensor: X-Pro1, X-E1, X-M1
X-Trans II sensor: X100S, X-E2, X-T1, X100T, X-T10, X-E2S, X70
X-Trans III sensor: X-Pro2, X-T2, X100F, X-T20, X-E3 X-H1
X-Trans IV sensor: X-T3, X-T4, X-T30, X-T30 II, X-Pro3, X100V, X-S10, X-S20, X-E4, X-M5
X-Trans V HS sensor: X-H2S
X-Trans V HR sensor: X-H2, X-T5, X100VI, X-T50

Which Would I Choose

I said 26MP is about right – and that means the X-Trans IV and the X-Trans V HS, which means I have to look at something else to narrow down the choice. I appreciate in-body image stabilisation, and that means the X-T4, the X-S20, and the X-S10. If I was prepared to do without IBIS I would look at the X-T3 or the X-T30 and X-T30 II that have the same X-Trans IV sensor as the X-T4, the X-S20, and the X-S10.

Or if I go for the 40MP X-Trans V HR sensor then the X100 VI, and the X-T5 also have in-body image stabilisation.

Or I could take a slight step down to the 24.3MP of X-Trans III and choose the X-T20. In 2020 Andy Mumford reviewed and compared the X-T20, X-T30, and the X-T3. He has used all of them and in his opinion the image quality is the same, the autofocus on the two later cameras is better, and the video capability is transformed because the later cameras can shoot F-Log, which allows colour grading. So not the X-T20 if the later models have better autofocus. And I would take Andy Mumford’s word that they do.

Fixed Lens Or Interchangeable Lens

The temptation is to get the X1oo VI and crop whenever you need to ‘zoom in’. It doesn’t work that way. The perspective from a 35mm equivalent lens remains the same no matter how much you crop. The only way to get that compressed perspective is to use a longer focal length lens. So the X100 VI is great for street shots, but if you want to get close you need a longer focal length lens.

So now, if I want image stabilisation I am down to the X-T4, the X-S20, the X-S10, and the X-T5. And if I can do without IBIS then the field opens up to the smaller X-T20, X-T30, and X-T30 II.

Viewfinder

Bigger viewfinders are easier to work with, so if that matters then we can exclude the X-S20 and the X-S10 and the X-T30. And we are then left with the X-T4 and the X-T5.

Weight

The X-T4 weighs 607g and the X-T5 weighs 557g. 50g isn’t a lot but I would go for the X-T5 and those more megapixels. If you can work with the viewfinder on the X-S20 and the X-S10 then you can save weight because they come in at 491g and 465g respectively. Or forego IBIS and go for the X-T30.

All this said, the X100s is capable of good results and I shot at ISO 800, f8 and 1/420 0f a second. And no IBIS.

In-body image stabilisation (IBIS) has changed photography. Being able to hold a camera steady for half a second or longer changes how a photographer can shoot.

Let me explain. Imagine a static subject – let’s say a building down a side street. It’s lit by neon lights and the light from the interior. Overall it is pretty dark.

Without IBIS I can hold the camera steady with a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second. Because the light is low, I have to shoot at 3200 ISO.

With IBIS I could hold the camera steady and shoot at 1/2 second. That’s four stops slower, which means I can pull my ISO down by four stops – from 3200 to 200 ISO. That’s going to give me a better signal to noise ratio and a nicer looking shot.

IBIS is not the only factor. A full frame camera holds the image better at higher ISO than does a smaller sensor camera. I can say this from my own experience with the Canon R6. And the Canon has IBIS and some of the lenses have IBIS, for even more of that steadiness goodness.

Still, sticking with Fuji Cameras with IBIS (and their weights with battery and card) because the Canon is heavier than any of these at 680g for the body alone (with card and battery).

X100 VI – 521g
X-T5 – 557g
X-T4 – 607g
X-S20 – 491g
X-S10 – 465g

X-H1 – 673g
X-H2 – 660g
X-H2s – 660g

If it’s a lightweight camera you are after then the X-S10 looks attractive at only 465g. But like all but one of the cameras listed here, that’s without a lens.

Remember that the X100 VI also includes a 23mm f2 (35mm-equivalent) fixed lens.

The 23mm f2 lens weighs 180g, which bring the X-S10 combo up to 645g. Or if we want to consider the X-s20, it weighs 491g. So with the same lens that combo would weigh 671g. And that’s only a few grams less that the Canon R6, at 680g for the body alone (with card and battery).

So with the downside that it has a fixed single focal length lens, the lightest option is the X100 VI at 521g.

The Nikon D750 is a full frame dSLR with a. 24MP sensor.

‘SLR’ is an abbreviation for single lens reflex. Light enters the camera through the lens. It is reflected by mirrors and a prism up and into the viewfinder. When the photographer presses the shutter, the mirror has to get out of the way. In its rest position the mirror is in the path of the light that needs to reach the sensor. So the mirror housing springs up and then down again. That’s the ‘reflex’ in single lens reflex.

Mirror-less cameras don’t have a prism and mirror arrangement. In the viewfinder the photographer sees a digital representation of the scene,

But I hankered to use a dSLR because it has an optical viewfinder. And I wanted to compare a full frame sensor to the crop sensor of the D5600.

Why the D750 in particular?

I like highly detailed images. The ‘image quality’ page on DP Review consistently shows the D750 is capable of highly detailed images. And the images don’t fall apart at high ISO.

The same is true of the Canon EOS R6 mirror-less camera that I am very pleased with also.

SLRs are a dying breed. Nikon is not making any of them any more. It’s a pity because now that I have tested the D750 I can say from my own experience that it is a very good camera. The image quality if great.

I shot this from across the street, outside the camera shop when I was trying out the camera. Shot at f/4.5 and 1/320th second and ISO 800.