Thinking about leaving Fuji XT2's for something else for travel stills/video, but where?

[Trek of Joy]

Peeps,

I'm four months into a year-long trip around the world and I'm currently carrying twin XT2's with the following lenses: 10-24, 55-200, 18-55, 23/1.4 and 56/1.2. I shoot a lot of stills, probably 1,000 a week when I'm not doing time lapses and such. But I have two dilemmas:

1. My most used lenses - the 10-24, 18-55 and 55-200 are taking in a lot of dust. Its pretty bad inside and its showing really having a negative impact on my images, especially stills since there's more latitude to push things around in post.
2. Stabilization, the OS in the 18-55 is really good, but its just a little too shaky for my liking.

I'm currently in Japan and Fuji service told me 10 business days to clean my lenses while my total time in Japan is only two weeks. I had to pass because they couldn't guarantee I'd see my lenses before leaving. I'm also going to be in China in a couple weeks (dusty outside the big cities), Africa later this summer and then Central/South America for the last few months of the year. After going through Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, India and Nepal - I'm sure the places my wife and I are headed will be just as dusty. I can't keep adding to the crud that's already in there.

So I've narrowed it to a couple options that have the blessing of my wife and will rack up some big travel rewards on our credit card: buy mint used copies of my worst lenses and get them all cleaned when I return and sell them off so we wouldn't eat much in depreciation, or move to something that's better protected against the elements. After shopping Toyko's big ass camera stores like Yodobashi, Bic and Map camera I really like the EM1.2, but most of what's sold in Japan doesn't have English menus. I'll be in Hong Kong next week before China, so I can make a switch there. What I feel is probably my best move is to go back to Sony - I shot with the A7rII from the day it was released until late last year before switching to Fuji back to Sony wouldn't be very challenging. I had zero dust issues with my 16-35 and 70-200 after 1.5 years, its really disappointing my X-lenses look so bad after just a few months.

I'm traveling light, about 15kg for all my clothes, backpack, camera bag and backpack, camera gear, 12" MacBook and various chargers/accessories. Not looking to add weight by going DSLR.

Just wanted to bounce options off others to get some other perspectives. I'd hate to switch, but I don't feel Fuji is a great long-term option after what I've experienced. Some combo of a lightly used A7rII and a A7sII or A6500 as a second mostly video camera is what I'm thinking. HK has some killer prices on used gear and new stuff is also really cheap.

Thanks in advance.

[BTM_Pix]

Very concerning about the dust issues you've had. Did they seem surprised at the extent of it or was it just like business as usual for them to see them with that much dust?

You might want to hop onto this Sony live stream announcement as something seems imminent 

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/follow-the-sony-live-announcement-stream-now/

[BTM_Pix]

Scratch that, the new camera isn't in the ballpark for what you're after.

[Trek of Joy]

21 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

Very concerning about the dust issues you've had. Did they seem surprised at the extent of it or was it just like business as usual for them to see them with that much dust?

You might want to hop onto this Sony live stream announcement as something seems imminent 

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/follow-the-sony-live-announcement-stream-now/

I knew about the announcement, but it won't be available for awhile and like you say beyond what I'm looking for. The A9 looks sweet though, the joystick, dual cards, UHS-II for fast write speeds and better batteries are all attractive features that led me to Fuji.

Fuji techs didn't seem surprised at my lenses, even when told I only had them 4 months. They put a light to my lenses and agreed they needed to be cleaned. I asked if I could pay extra for faster service and they declined. It was pretty clinical, a couple guys were inspecting my lenses and chatting back and forth, but they didn't speak a lot of English and my Japanese is about a dozen words. I really don't know what they were saying. I did get to tinker with the GFX as they had them on display, cool camera, but geez its huge.

I can get a new A7rII in HK for about $1800 USD, and there are insane deals on used gear. I'm pretty sure I'd rather go back to Sony than just keep buying duplicates of existing lenses, but any sort of switch is nerve racking, and doing it on the fly even more so.

Cheers.

[Phil A]

17 minutes ago, Trek of Joy said:

I can get a new A7rII in HK for about $1800 USD, and there are insane deals on used gear. I'm pretty sure I'd rather go back to Sony than just keep buying duplicates of existing lenses, but any sort of switch is nerve racking, and doing it on the fly even more so.

Cheers.

But what lenses then?  10-24, 55-200, 18-55, 23/1.4 and 56/1.2 would mean 16-35/4, 70-300, 28-70, 35/1.4 (or 35/2.8) and 85/1.8 which are all bigger and more expensive than the Fuji counterparts.

[Kubrickian]

Maybe buy a couple of their weather-sealed primes? 

[BTM_Pix]

29 minutes ago, Trek of Joy said:

 

I can get a new A7rII in HK for about $1800 USD, and there are insane deals on used gear. I'm pretty sure I'd rather go back to Sony than just keep buying duplicates of existing lenses, but any sort of switch is nerve racking, and doing it on the fly even more so.

Cheers.

At that price, at least you'll probably lose zero money selling it when you get home so that mitigates the risk/nerves massively.

 

[Trek of Joy]

26 minutes ago, Phil A said:

But what lenses then?  10-24, 55-200, 18-55, 23/1.4 and 56/1.2 would mean 16-35/4, 70-300, 28-70, 35/1.4 (or 35/2.8) and 85/1.8 which are all bigger and more expensive than the Fuji counterparts.

16-35/4, 24-70/4, 70-200/4, 28/2 (I'd prefer to go wider than 23mm, but I'm not a fan of the 18m pancake) and the 55/1.8 or the new 85/1.8 as my walk around primes, not much bigger than my current kit, if at all - though I haven't played with gram counting. Really the zooms see the most action and right now the 23 is my most used night lens, the 28 could fill that void and I could probably skip the longer prime completely. I'd carry a little more weight if it didn't mean the problems I've having now. I check LR, I've only shot 12 images with the 56, but that's mostly because its completely incompetent when it comes to low light AF. The new FE 85 has linear motors, should be much better.

13 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

At that price, at least you'll probably lose zero money selling it when you get home so that mitigates the risk/nerves massively.

 

I've been looking at used prices, that seems to be the case.

15 minutes ago, Kubrickian said:

Maybe buy a couple of their weather-sealed primes? 

About 90% of my shooting is with the zooms, I never change lenses outside and I pretty much always carry the 10-24. I love shooting with a UWA.

Here are some from Indonesia, most with the 10-24. Its a desert island lens for me.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/trekofjoy/photos/?tab=album&album_id=694928277381242

[Inazuma]

@Trek of Joy Yeah I think the A7Rii is the way to go. I think most of their lenses are dust sealed. Have you been in some particularly dusty places?

[leeys]

Olympus's dust sealing is pretty great. Um, isn't there an English option? Only Panasonic does that, I think.

[Kisaha]

That is very sad for Fuji, they just went -1 in my imaginary camera chart!

I seriously can't reply with confidence, full frame cameras would be a no no for such a travel (the lenses are big and heavy), I wouldn't go to 16 or even 20megapixels m43 cameras easily, Fuji - well... Canon - well.. Sony maybe, but not sure. 

Kind-a off topic as they are not accessible anymore, but just a different approach, may help someone else in the future.

NX1 and NX500, and they are so cheap, that you just can throw them away after the trip. 

The 16-50 and 50-150(I do not own this one) S lenses are dustproof, and you can add a combination of great/small/light fisheye(I always have one of those) 30mm 2f pancake and 45mm 1.8f, or/and 12-24 cheap (but very sharp from wide open) UWZ and/or 50-200 cheap (but surprisingly good) long zoom.

Smallest/lightest/cheapest/highest megapixel count (28megapixels per camera!)- possible combo and none of my lenses have any dust after some years of use (but no travels around the world, that would definitely make a difference!).

I carry all these plus 2 flashes and another PZ kit lens, accessories/filters/batteries/chargers and another small camera (NX3000) on one Vanguard bag. My only issue would be the 12-24 as it is 4-5.6f and doesn't seem very well build, I would much rather have an S UWZ but that never happened.

[Trek of Joy]

5 hours ago, leeys said:

Olympus's dust sealing is pretty great. Um, isn't there an English option? Only Panasonic does that, I think.

Sony has a Japan only model too, the international cameras cost more in Japan, a few hundred USD after conversion - that's why I'm waiting until I get to HK and weighing my options.

Cheers 

33 minutes ago, Kisaha said:

NX1 and NX500, and they are so cheap, that you just can throw them away after the trip. 

I had the NX1 for a few months after it was released, way too much noise in the stills at 3200+ and I'm doing rough edits of my video on a 12" MacBook, 4k is fine but h265 is a no go. Also, the 12-24 isn't wide enough for me and I don't think in the long run it'll fare any better than my current UWA on the dust front.

Cheers

[Trek of Joy]

6 hours ago, Inazuma said:

@Trek of Joy Yeah I think the A7Rii is the way to go. I think most of their lenses are dust sealed. Have you been in some particularly dusty places?

Yes, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, India and Nepal were all incredibly dusty. The haze from the dust made for some awesome sunrise/sunset photos, but its been really dry in SE Asia and just about everywhere we've been lately has been uber dusty.

Cheers

Here's a shot from Bagan in Myanmar - this was about 90 min after sunrise on a clear day, when the sun was lower it was completely obscured because of the haze. I have tons of shots from from sunrise (about 6 am) until this point where you can't even see the sun. All the haze on the ground isn't morning mist, its dust.

[leeys]

2 hours ago, Trek of Joy said:

Sony has a Japan only model too, the international cameras cost more in Japan, a few hundred USD after conversion - that's why I'm waiting until I get to HK and weighing my options.

Cheers 

I had the NX1 for a few months after it was released, way too much noise in the stills at 3200+ and I'm doing rough edits of my video on a 12" MacBook, 4k is fine but h265 is a no go. Also, the 12-24 isn't wide enough for me and I don't think in the long run it'll fare any better than my current UWA on the dust front.

Cheers

HK is a good idea, cheapest stuff I've seen next to Japan devauluing the Yen.

[fuzzynormal]

11 hours ago, Trek of Joy said:

Sony ...I had zero dust issues with my 16-35 and 70-200 after 1.5 years, its really disappointing my X-lenses look so bad after just a few months.

Thanks for thew heads up.  My wife is shooting mostly with X lenses these days and she's going to be in the field for the next few months.  I'll tell her to be extra protective.

[Trek of Joy]

5 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

Thanks for thew heads up.  My wife is shooting mostly with X lenses these days and she's going to be in the field for the next few months.  I'll tell her to be extra protective.

That's what's really annoying, my camera is always in the bag until I'm shooting, then it goes back in the bag. I'm not one to wander with a camera hanging around my neck because one of my bodies has a Cosyspeed finger strap that I slide my index and middle finger into, much easier to shoot compared to a neck strap, but a PITA to carry for long periods. Quite frankly I'm surprised its so bad since I'm not doing anything different than the 5d2/3 were my main cams for years or the last couple years with the A7's and such. I would strongly recommend WR lenses based on my experiences. If the WR zooms weren't so big by comparison I would have brought them instead. As always, YMMV.

[Dean]

21 hours ago, Trek of Joy said:

Peeps,

I'm four months into a year-long trip around the world and I'm currently carrying twin XT2's with the following lenses: 10-24, 55-200, 18-55, 23/1.4 and 56/1.2. I shoot a lot of stills, probably 1,000 a week when I'm not doing time lapses and such. But I have two dilemmas:

1. My most used lenses - the 10-24, 18-55 and 55-200 are taking in a lot of dust. Its pretty bad inside and its showing really having a negative impact on my images, especially stills since there's more latitude to push things around in post.
2. Stabilization, the OS in the 18-55 is really good, but its just a little too shaky for my liking.

I'm currently in Japan and Fuji service told me 10 business days to clean my lenses while my total time in Japan is only two weeks. I had to pass because they couldn't guarantee I'd see my lenses before leaving. I'm also going to be in China in a couple weeks (dusty outside the big cities), Africa later this summer and then Central/South America for the last few months of the year. After going through Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, India and Nepal - I'm sure the places my wife and I are headed will be just as dusty. I can't keep adding to the crud that's already in there.

So I've narrowed it to a couple options that have the blessing of my wife and will rack up some big travel rewards on our credit card: buy mint used copies of my worst lenses and get them all cleaned when I return and sell them off so we wouldn't eat much in depreciation, or move to something that's better protected against the elements. After shopping Toyko's big ass camera stores like Yodobashi, Bic and Map camera I really like the EM1.2, but most of what's sold in Japan doesn't have English menus. I'll be in Hong Kong next week before China, so I can make a switch there. What I feel is probably my best move is to go back to Sony - I shot with the A7rII from the day it was released until late last year before switching to Fuji back to Sony wouldn't be very challenging. I had zero dust issues with my 16-35 and 70-200 after 1.5 years, its really disappointing my X-lenses look so bad after just a few months.

I'm traveling light, about 15kg for all my clothes, backpack, camera bag and backpack, camera gear, 12" MacBook and various chargers/accessories. Not looking to add weight by going DSLR.

Just wanted to bounce options off others to get some other perspectives. I'd hate to switch, but I don't feel Fuji is a great long-term option after what I've experienced. Some combo of a lightly used A7rII and a A7sII or A6500 as a second mostly video camera is what I'm thinking. HK has some killer prices on used gear and new stuff is also really cheap.

Thanks in advance.

If you want to buy second hand in HK join and use this website. You'll need Google translate but it's an excellent way to buy used in HK. I use it all the time. Tee up a trade and meet the seller at a metro station. You should be able to get a used ARii around 2K USD. Not sure where you have seen a new A7Rii in HK for $1800.

http://www.dcfever.com/trading/search.php

You could also check "Sim City" out in Mong Kok ... loads small shops with second hand & new stuff at very good prices. It's a great fun place to look around as well.

https://en.tripadvisor.com.hk/Attraction_Review-g294217-d4540749-Reviews-Sim_City-Hong_Kong.html

 

 

 

 

[Trek of Joy]

13 hours ago, Dean said:

If you want to buy second hand in HK join and use this website. You'll need Google translate but it's an excellent way to buy used in HK. I use it all the time. Tee up a trade and meet the seller at a metro station. You should be able to get a used ARii around 2K USD. Not sure where you have seen a new A7Rii in HK for $1800.

http://www.dcfever.com/trading/search.php

You could also check "Sim City" out in Mong Kok ... loads small shops with second hand & new stuff at very good prices. It's a great fun place to look around as well.

https://en.tripadvisor.com.hk/Attraction_Review-g294217-d4540749-Reviews-Sim_City-Hong_Kong.html

Thanks, I have Sim City starred on Google Maps, will be heading there after checking into my Air B&B.

[jonpais]

3 hours ago, Trek of Joy said:

Thanks, I have Sim City starred on Google Maps, will be heading there after checking into my Air B&B.

Was your sensor dusty too? Anyhow, I would just go for the Lumix G85. No question. Superb camera, reasonably priced, excellent fast primes, never had a problem with dust in my four years here in Vietnam. Great color, super light weight, no overheating issues in Southeast Asia.

[Trek of Joy]

6 hours ago, jonpais said:

Was your sensor dusty too? Anyhow, I would just go for the Lumix G85. No question. Superb camera, reasonably priced, excellent fast primes, never had a problem with dust in my four years here in Vietnam. Great color, super light weight, no overheating issues in Southeast Asia.

Sensors on both cameras are perfectly clean. Ha Long Bay was where I first noticed it since we were there on a clear day, all my shots came back with spots in the sky. I thought it was dust on my sensor but after checking both, they looked fine. Then I put a light to the 10-24 and 55-200 and it looked like my lenses were partying with stripper glitter spray. I don't think m43 DR works for me stills-wise, I like having the ability to shoot at higher ISO's and move shadows/highlights/exposure a few stops in post with as little noise penalty as possible. I was playing with the GH5 and EM1.2 and I liked them for video, but...

Here's a shot from Ha Long pushed a little bit to show them better, the are a bunch of dust spots visible, its worse now. That's a little easier to address with a healing brush, but in video its not so easy. I think I've talked myself back into a IBIS body too. I'll just sell my Fuji kit when I return or sell whatever I get if Fuji decided to add IBIS. I feel like I shouldn't have left the 16-55 and 50-140 at home, but that would have added significant weight to my daily carry kit. We walked 15+km today and climbed 2,000 stairs, 10+ is the norm most days, the less I'm carrying the better.

Cheers