"How much we progress, with so little improvement." ~ Ansel Adams
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
"The integrity of the photograph is only as good as the integrity of the photographer." ~ Galen Rowell.
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Last week I bought the lens ( bulk copy for 499 Euro) and love it. The sharpnes is realy good for a kitlens and use it for landscape documentary in an aspect ratio 4:3 or 5:4. That means almost no corner softness. All in all a little great perfomer. By the way I like your video’s and presentation. Very informative with a little humor. Keep going on.😊👍
It is a great lens, much better than the 18-55mm I have. Thank you!
Thank you, this saved me money and time
Hi! I wanted to buy a used Fuji GFX 100s together with GF 45mm. Received it, started testing it, everything was WOW until i tested its dynamic range (i pushed it really hard). I sent it back because of the hot / red pixels, which turned out to be a common problem with these Fuji MF sensors, even with new ones, they say. Bought a new k1 ii one month ago, + 50mm 1.4 star + 15-30mm + 150-450mm + smc 28mm f3.5 + 100Y Pentax metal hot shoe cover) May be the best camera i happened to have, that dynamic range WOW, but there's one problem, when i shoot at night at base iso100 i get purple / magenta tint in shadows, but when i bump up iso one stop iso125, everything is cool, no magenta no purple, i do not know why it is the case, any idea? Beautiful images you shot by the way.
On the Pentax17 image quality: I don't think it is quite so much that people are raving about the quality, or more that they are surprised at the quality, given that it is half frame. As stated elsewhere, they've clearly done a good job with the lens. I use half frame and am perfectly happy with the image quality. Sure it's nowhere near medium format, or large format, or just about any digital sensor, but it is good enough for a lot of uses. (re: what isn't there in digital, I use art to get as far away from a computer as I can, have quite enough of all that at work thanks! Plus there's just such a variety of cameras, with genuine differences in the shooting process and experience, a 4x5 field camera is a world of difference from a TLR, or medium format SLR, vs old rangefinders, there just so much to explore, and it is relatively cheap)
I am pretty immersed in digital imagery, my own and others on the computer. And then every once in a while I pull down Ansel Adams 400 Photographs and realize what a joke and waste of time digital photography is. Digital can be fun though. But nobodies really is accomplishing anything.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography I think that's very true of landscape, and to extent portraiture. It is easier to be able to take thousands of images, crop to the tiniest amount (though 4x5 can do that), and there's all the digital manipulation. But you still need the eyes, and the artistic sense. I don't think tech improves the art there. I guess nature photography is one area where tech absolutely does excel. Hard to argue against it for that. But me wandering about doing cute dog portraits and photographing my local tyre shop? Honestly, tech isn't going to make what I do any better :)
Some KZreadrs are definitely independently wealthy. And I'm sure some of that wealth was earned but a lot was inherited. But that's capatalism, right? Always going to have some better off than others.
The only part that bothers me is when they shill for products that actually aren't that good. Kase filters has been handing out $500 filter sets to everyone with 50K subs or more, and quite frankly they are made in the same Chinese factory as the $50 filters, which are very very good these days. Just buy the $50 ones and save a ton of cash for the same thing.
Beautiful terrain you have there. A few years ago I moved to FL. Love the sunsets but it’s pretty flat
I lived in Texas, near Houston for 5 years. Too hot, and too flat, not my thing.
It’s always a pleasure seeing your latest pictures Ed, till next time…
Thank you!!
I'll be heading to Seattle, then the Spokane area at the end of the month. Two years ago, I went to a place called Marble Creek deep in Idaho.
There he is 🤙
I'm old and when i was young Sony was mainly in the audio business and made reel to reel tape players and then VCRs, tape players and then CD players and later DVD players etcand apart from DV cameras they weren't prominent in photography until DSLRs took off, film SLR basically died and Sony bought Minolta. Their camera business was built from there. But back before 2010 or so they really had no prominence in photography. Sony has come along way in a short time but I personally still think of them as they were before. When I think Sony, I think Walkman or VCR 😅
They make great speakers and portable radios...
@@EdwardMartinsPhotographysony is a tech company.
Great take on the intrepid cameras in general, I have owned one of there cameras, and it was excellent for what it was, and often people forget that it gives people a cheap route in to the world of large format and that has to be a good thing! I always wanted to try 8x10, I dismissed it, as I also saw said review, but it’s about context £500 vs £4000, it’s worth trying and for me you can justify it.
I’m ordering my k1 mii this week with the 43mm limited. When I had that before I noticed something awesome in those imagines I have not experienced before. I’d hate to say 3d pop but they were definitely different.
Yes, I see it too. Pentax has this "organic" look to the images that is very pleasing. The newer cameras I am getting very suspicious of, I think there's a lot of jigerry pokery going on in the background, even with the raws. The images look more CGI than photographic.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography good point I’ve noticed that too. What FA lens would you recommend for street portraits?
The FA 50 1.4, and/or the FA 28mm AL are solid choices. Of course the SMC or HD 43mm Limited is the supreme choice. Or the 77mm or 31mm. (You really need all three. Wait until the sale price comes around again. you save about $500 on all three.)
So here’s a company it started with no cameras hardly at all and finally got a very good system put together now they can’t keep up and someone’s bitching.
Fuji did put together a great system, and they can't keep up (your own words) and the CEO says "EVERYTHING IS NORMAL." And I called him on it. That's not bitching. That's pointing out stupidity. Bitching is what you're doing... 🙂
I have had an Intrepid MK4 4x5 for three or four years and have been very happy with it. It had a couple of minor issues and Intrepid was great about taking care of the problems for me. The plywood has proven to be very durable. After watching your video I'm very tempted to sell my Intrepid and get the hardwood version.
Don't sell the Mark 4, get the enlarged back and use it as a dedicated enlarger! 🙂
@EdwardMartinsPhotography I'm considering that, too. I would get rid of two rather large enlargers and gain a lot of space!
@@philipdahl9001 Compared to Beselar 45 MX, the Intrepids quite fiddly, but you can make it work. I just bought an Aristo V54 cold light for $100 off ebay, so as soon as rework my darkroom ventilation project, I'll be using that on my Beselar.
Hey, DON'T dish Mat Marassh he has great experience, and his Large Format Friday channel is Great for beginners, Yes he has a Sinar P2 and a Tachihara field camera, and a K.B. Canham 20x24 but the review is based on the precision of the other cameras, Intrepid is probably a great camera, for occasional use, but for macro, Landscape and other users who want precision, and have heavy expensive glass on the front, or want Wide angle lens coverage, a Monorail is the ONLY choice (standards and bag bellows to allow such a close gap between standards)- purely a design constraint, not a rubbishing of any particular design, just WE use the format for different subjects, which call for different features in a camera, we ALL love LF, we just like to use different cameras to shoot it.
Comparing an Intrepid to a Sinar and then disparaging the Intrepid is unfair. And nobody except a desperate person would hike 5 miles with a monorail kit. The right tool for the right job. The lack of precision of an Intrepid is compensated by the serious weight savings over the monorail. Pick your attribute: weight or precision? One camera is better for one and the other for the other. But the main point is, yes the Intrepids are horrible if they cost 3x more. BUt at the price point, they're great for their intended purpose.
Mat Marassh fanboy alert.
That's a beautiful camara!
Beautiful video very interesting the first part. But I still don’t get why it’s bothering you FujiFilm CEO statement.. they are not Sony that can waste thousands of million in products that probably they gonna lay on shelves for months until a new product comes out. I’m not defending anyone, but I really don’t understand.
They don't have to be Sony and still be selling leftover stock of the X-T2. But could be more like everyone else and actually keep most current cameras and lenses in stock, and increase production of the higher demand cameras. The X-E4 availability was a joke.
They are still a good healthy but small company compared to the “big brothers” in Japan. Consumers departments for Fuji are (lens and cameras) just the relative business, the core business for them is medical. Maybe they depends on Sony too much, or maybe they are trying to built up sensors by themselves. So we really never know what’s behind that statement. I repeat I’m not defending anyone, I read statements from CEO and I was surprised me too. But not worried at all.
@@cnicolo It's not a worry, it's just disappointing that he has such an attitude.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography What happened to the gold oval "Passed" badges that accompanied old Pentax lenses in the '70`s and '80`s. Perhaps Fuji is concentrating more on quality control. I seem to recall that you were returning new products several months ago due to sub standard performance/manufacture (Nikon). I'm not as discerning as yourself, so could easily purchase a pup, then top-up the secondhand market with more under par equipment.
@@ashleyblack327 The gold ovals were a QC standard instituted by a third party in Japan to increase quality. About 1990, they dropped it because the perception of quality from Japanese products was very high by that point and there was no need anymore. All the Nikon Z 24-70mm F4 lenses I tried were defective. Maybe it was just a bad run. Since Covid I think all the manufacturers have lost the plot a bit, as has everyone else.
My dream for a 8x10 is Deardorff but unfordable for me
It cannot be understated when a company solves a problem you have with their product. Great job Intrepid!
Glad to hear the update in the intrepid.
Have you ever tried using a digital back with a dslr? I'm on this path now but I had to use extender. Any advice?
Unfortunately no, I have never done that.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography ok
Another great video. I always learn something. I’m looking at the Intrepid 5 X 7. It would be a good Goldilocks camera, bigger than 4 X 5 but not 8 X 10. And would be reasonably priced. I have 3 Nikkor Nikon lenses, the SW 90, W 150 and M 300 for my new Shen Hau TFC-A 617. I think they will fit a 5 X 7. At least I hope so! Thank you.
I know the 300 M will cover 5x7, I use it for my normal lens for 8x10. I would think the SW 90 and W150 would work for 5x7. but that's just a guess. The only problem I can see with 5x7 is limited film availability. something to check out, make sure the films you want to use is available in 5x7. And of course if you want to enlarge in a wet darkroom, 5x7 is a lot harder to accommodate than 4x5. If you are scanning, 5x7 is perfect, better than 8x10.
Thanks. Great advice! I will check on film availability. Glad to hear your back shooting the K-1. Still my favorite digital photos only camera. The DFA 21mm Limited lens is stellar. I also use the Osmo Pocket 3 which is great for someone like me who has limited video skills!
@@thomastaylor9237 The 5X7 from Intrepid Camera is a fabulous option. Small enough to transport out in the field, big enough to get a noticeable improvement in image quality compared to 4X5 and of course everything on 120-film. If you contactcopy your negatives, even a 5X7 photo is large enough to hang on a wall. Scanning with a 5X7 frame on the Epson V850 is VERY good. I agree that the film selection is smaller - you can basically just forget about colour. But remember that Fomapan (and Arista.EDU) make very good and cheap sheet film. Fomapan 100 Classic in Rodinal (9min 1:50 dilution) is my absolute favorite of everything in black and white photography! If you absolutely must have colours, you can buy a reduction back from 5X7 to 4X5. You can't use wide-angle optics at infinity, but from 150mm (to approx. 360mm) it works perfectly for normal use. (The bellows is not long enough for good close range with a 300mm lens)
Great information. Hey, do ever get the green spots on your Foma 100? And if you have solved that issue how did you do it. I am doing 30 minute 75F water pre-soaks and still get some hard green spots at times. Is it just a bad QC batch?
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography Sorry, I have never used it. The Shen Hau is brand new. Any recommendations on 120 color film for landscapes is welcome! I’m guessing there’s not a great selection. This is my first venture back into film since the 1990s!
Honest review. Judge the camera on its price and merits not against its more expensive peers.
Every time I think to myself I may want to try a Fuji they are always out of stock..Lenses, cameras everything, I'm not waiting forever because they can't get their production issues under control...so for now I'm not even looking at a fuji
That is not "normal" production levels. That's a company dropping the ball. I'm not sure why, but according to Mr Goto, they seem to be intentionally leaving money on the table. Doesn't make any sense.
Plenty on the used market. Don't have to sack top for new gear.
Nice review, How does the 45mm f4 distortion perform ？super wide lens tends to have barrel distortion and some lens is quite heavy distorted。。。
The 45mm is an old school lens. The distortion is well corrected by todays standards as there was no digital distortion correction back in the day. However, this lens did not receive an update before the end of the 6x7 life and so it's not as good as a late model 55mm for example. it's still superb however. 🙂
My LX doesn’t get the attention it deserves, so your video has promoted me to get it out and use it some more. Thanks Ed! I really like your closing shots of the Oregon Trail site, but I didn’t spot anything that told me if they were shot with the LX, so regardless some detail (camera, lens, film if appropriate etc) would be nice. Cheers, Rob
I think I shot the trail photos with the K1 II. I didn't have the time to develop the film, LOL! I have been wanting to go out with the LX and the 31/43/77 LTD lenses and shoot and make a video, so that is in the works. 👍👍
Interesting comments, Ed, but I also like the way you made the most of an overcast day with that panorama of the wheat field. Keep up the good work. Your channel provides more actual photography than many others that seem to exist just to push equipment. Cheers, Rob
For realism, it’s hard to beat the ole K1. I hope that now they are done with the 17 they’re working on a K1 iii. I like your photos.
Thanks! Yes, K1 III would be nice!
As a film shooter the most impressive aspect of the Pentax 17 in respect to image quality is the lens!
When Pentax makes a good lens it's usually world class. Very underrated lenses in my opinion.
I am completely bemused by the Pentax 17. Its high price puts it out of reach of the market they’re going for. So I guess saturation on KZread is the best strategy. I expect the second hand market on these to be good value in six months. Typically, I avoid watching gear videos when every KZreadr is pushing the same thing on release day. Nikon Z8 was a bad week 😂
Agreed on all points. :)
I immediately recognized that tree, that grain elevator, and of course the Blue Mountains in the background. I've driven that Helix/Holdman highway thousands of times in my life. Maybe I'll run into you some time on one of those backroads.
COOL! When you live in Lagrande, Walla Walla is the closest restaurants you can find that don't serve road kill Possum... :)
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography Nah, check out the Great Pacific or Oregon Grain Growers (aka The Distillery) some time in Pendleton. I actually live in Hermiston, and the eats in Pendleton are far better.
@@RickScheibner At least Hermiston has a Burger King... 🙂 Pendleton has some restaurants that are pretty good. But Walla Walla has a French Bakery, and an Indian Restaurant which are personal favorites. Lagrande has a trough which you have to fight the pigs for a bite at. 🙂🙂 It's actually amazing how bad the food is in Lagrande. When Taco Bell and Panda Express are the stand outs, you are in trouble.
Nice to see you too 🙂
Thank you! 😃
I do a lot of bird photography and use an OM1. I've tried using the X-T5 for birds and the continuous AF is okay but not near as good as the OM1. The XT5 C-AF is good enough for most situations even the eye tracking, but tracking birds is a whole different game. The OM1 and OM1 Mark 2 kicks Fuji's butt when it comes to birding and fast tracking. Fuji kicks the OM1's butt elsewhere! Each tool for its purpose. Your last couple of video's have inspired me to pull out my K1 and shoot the dust off of it ;) Happy trails....
I am always pleased with the K1's images. Can't say that about my mirrorless cameras...
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography The only mirrorless camera that I have used that's actually better than the K1 is the GFX system. The GFX is a little bit easier and slightly more fun to use in my opinion.
The Pentax 17 marketing has been absolutely shocking. I'm actually discovering a ton of new channels because of it 😂. "Wait, who's this person? They got sent a Pentax 17 to try out too 😮" 😂. Very odd to see from them. Didn't see this with the k3iii. You kind of had to know about it and seek out those reviews.
Oh yeah the rich guys on KZread. THE Worst are Mr. & Mrs. Saccharin from Conn. You know who I mean. They will shill for the highest bidder (KEH, Canon, Sony) along with pandering Mr. gray hairs book. On the other side of the rich guy channels is Marcuspix. This guy has tons of cash. Lives in a mansion in Calf. He buys everything on the shelf, tries it out and tells you if it's good or if it sucks and then he gives the stuff he can't use away. So let the viewer beware of obvious product shills.
The list is endless. I just skip over the Saccharin channel completely, can't stand them.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography can’t stand them either.
The difference in Pentax brand support between UK and US is staggering to say the least. Like, what does Pentax US even do to keep the brand relevant?
Pentax USA sucks at marketing !
Australia is shocking too. It’s literally zero from anyone except the distributor
I never got used to the continuous autofocus, for photos (not video), I inevitably set it up for single point end up doing the old fashioned half press focus and re compose.
Fuji's got a cool thing going with their AF on button in manual focus. Set the camera to manual focus, press the AF on button, the AF focuses and then it's locked because your in manual focus. Interestingly, the Pentax K1 does the same thing. (Sony's that I have used don't do that.)
I used to use UniWB on my K5. It allowed for a simulated accurate preview of the image that tells you exactly when highlights clip in the green channel. The unfortunate thing was that all your jpegs would come out very green. It was a nice hack though.
For me the Pentax Custom Image of choice is the Reversal Film one for sunny days and Vibrant for overcast. It took me a while but I was able to dial in the settings on my Nikons to get them close to the slide film look. I tried some of the custom settings from the Nikon web page i.e. Velvia and Kodachrome, and the Pentax images look way better and closer to slide images. Just another example of Pentax, right out of the gate< giving photographers what they want without jumping through a bunch of hoops.
It's all about priorities. Pentax has always been image quality first, marketing second. Not the best strategy for staying in business, mostly because the IQ bell curve is what it is. (i.e. most people are really stupid.)
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography I agree 100%. most people are stupid.
Iceland, they all go to the same location Vik, they all have the same rock. 99% of Iceland photographs are made there. We never see Western Fjords. It's only trend and marketing.
The main problem I have is that they are claiming to be photographers, when in actuality they are travel vloggers with cameras.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography exactly
Great photo you got, really cool shot. Not much into panoramas but I like it. I wonder how it would look like few weeks/month sooner with crops being green. For Pentax 17 I think it is for kids who want to get out of digital world and not just see another screen. They are opposites of people who got from film into digital and now counting megapixels at 200% magnification ;). And it works really well for what is supposed to be. you grab one, go into party and shot to your heart content, go develop, scan, off you go to instagram with this cool film look that nobady who is shooting smartphones have. Image quality is great for this (I got one, never had new film camera so could not stop myself). And Fuji AF... people will forget as fast as they learned about it. New AF reviews will come, Google algorithms will push old one below first 10-20 search results and everyone will forget. Still I wonder what is with AF-thingy in reviews. Its not like all, even most, I suppose even minoryty does not shot action that is fast enough for that to matter on mirroless cameras with on sensor focus. But I suppose numbers are easier comparable then ergonomics or feel when using camera :(
I think the composition of the image could be better. I will try again. :) I am starting to think that just as film is making a resurgence, DSLR's will as well. I hope Pentax hangs in there long enough to see it happen. People will start realizing that mirrorless is one digital step too far... I can dream. AI autofocus? Really? That's about as bad as a digital toothbrush.
Always glad to get the notification you've posted. Funny you mention certain channels and their love of certain brands. Sony, for me, is not a serious camera for my purposes. They laugh at Pentax, yet any serious photographer that has used a Pentax has never spoken a bad word. I'm a big guy, I like chunky gear ( personally) K1 is still my favorite, D850 another amazing camera. I've got the X100V, the Q2 Monochrom and my bases are covered. I love gear too but time to enjoy making photos. Thanks for your perspective, Ed
Unfortunately for my wallet, the K3 Mark III monochrome is starting to call my name again... Maybe around Christmas I'll have scrapped the mad money together to be able to blow it all on that. Everyone else gets coal.
Good luck with AF-C in recent firmware updates lol 😂
Never had a problem. Good luck focusing a Sony in anything but bright light. 🤣
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography Really? What Sony camera you are using has bad low light AF?
@@withoutpassid All of them. A7rIII, A7rIV, A7rV (no improvement from one to another) A7C, A7cII, A7IV. Those are the ones I've personally had experience with. And all have failed in light that the Fuji's or Pentax's had no problems with. I know this because I found it surprising for a brand that was supposed to have the best AF ever.
@@EdwardMartinsPhotography In what low light settings that your Sony’s failed to focus? I ask to do the test with my a6700. Thank you.
@@withoutpassid I have never used an a6700. Dim interior lighting with an exposure of f1.8 and 1/8th second at iso 6400. The Sony's couldn't do it, the Fuji's and Pentax's had no problems. Just check the rated ev value that Sony's go down to. It's surprisingly high. Not really a big deal, but something that they don't care about for sure or else they would have made it better by now.
Good music and picture ！！！
It looks like a decent lens. I'll be sticking with what I have for now...the 18-55 and the 16-80mm.
Hi Ed great video, thank you! Are you selling the XF 16-55 F2.8 after you took this new lens? I would like to make lighter my kit as well and I was thinking to change my 16-55 as well with something lighter, but i would like to not loose too much in quality. I would like to know your opinion. Ciao!
I may or may not sell the 16-55 2.8. But I do think I'll be using it a lot less. If I shot a lot of portraits, it would be much more useful than the new lens, but I don't, so I don't really need it. The new lens seems as sharp so far.
Yup, with a big blue sky, you either shoot sunrise, sunset, or monochrome. 🤠 It’s been raining here in the southwest and the light in the mornings has been awesome. Not that I have availed myself to the opportunity. Can’t be late for work. 🙄
Thank you Ed, beautiful works. I used the kit lens at the beginning, but then, only the 23, 35, and 50mm.
I do love the primes as well, but more for everyday carrying around.
I also got this lens to replace the 16-55mm f2.8 beast. I got it last Saturday and haven't used it much yet but all my test shots so far look great. The close focusing is a plus also.
Good to see you Edward. I got the XF16-50 about five days ago and I’m more than happy with the results that I get, my XF16-80 is not going anywhere, I really like it, I got this lens for the smaller form factor and for the internal zooming mechanism, great for walking around town and doing “street stuff”, on a separate, my old eyes can’t tell any difference in image quality vs the XF16-80 on my X-T4, for shooting iguanas, alligators and squirrels I have the XF70-300 and the 1.4 teleconverter. Be well and stay safe.