Whoops, I Did The Right Thing...

And I had no idea at the time. How embarass... Relax, Effie, it happens to us all. I apparently did the right thing when I bought a Fujifilm X-T2 camera on a whim. I went through the classic series of emotions regarding it; interest, lust, pain at parting with money, more lust, confusion, and then mild buyers regret. This last feeling evaporated quickly when I discovered how good the images coming out of it really were - and when I YouTubed enough, I found features in it that I really wanted and needed. Readers who use different systems can bop along with the song - because I'll bet you have all experienced the same thing. Every purchase can be a roller coaster of emotion long before you produce the first images. Those who shoot fairgrounds and carnival rides can get their roller coastering done earlier than the rest... The feeling that I'd done me a good deed came with the ability of the camera to take focus stacking shots automatically. I've been chuffing along with these ever since. And then one night the lion was sleeping and I had another of those whim things ( because you're only a whim away... ) and I switched the camera to video shooting. Cue four months of solid YouTubing to find out what I was meant to be doing. A whole new set of control decisions - some of which were vital and some just refinements. A new set of accessories needed, but this time inexpensive ones. A gathering-in of things that were just laying about the place and could be pressed into service. And an increasingly smooth set of dance and aircraft videos coming out of the camera. Around this time I started wondering at the bigger accessories that seem to accumulate around video cameras. I've seen them in the CE shops and now they were starting to make more sense - external monitors, mixers, cranes, sliders, and lights that changed colours. I also looked at the dedicated video cameras in the expensive cabinets and wondered about whether they were a better bet for real production. No lust yet, but mild thought... Well, it looks as though I can stop looking at the expensive cabinet for now and look more to the lighting. Jordan Drake from DP Review has just published an article detailing why he prefers the mirror-less video-capable camera over the dedicated cine sort...and a lot of his arguments make sense. Go read it - he cites convenience, view-finding, and ergonomics as well as video quality. For a start-out shooter like me - or perhaps you - it gives some reassurance that we are not going down a wrong turn. I seem to have found the right pathway - now all the stumbling I do will be my own.