Mid-budget, mid-talent, mid-serious recommendations.

[MrSMW]

2 hours ago, kye said:

My close vision has finally lost its battle with decrepitude and I'm now trying to work out how to proceed.

I can't see the LCD screen to save my life, don't want to wear reading glasses on the point of my nose like an octogenarian (vanity is a virtue, right?), and don't want to use the viewfinder because I don't want people to see me holding a camera up to my face (despite the fact that the EVF adjustment compensates for my vision).

 

Wrestling with this also…

A decade ago, I had 20:20 vision and did not even consider how anything else would impact my work (shooting).

These days, I need 2 pairs of specs. Readers for reading and editing plus varifocals for shooting.

I can use the EVF but almost exclusively shoot with the rear LCD bouncing between video and stills all day long as I do.

Which is a reason why rear LCD’s under 2000 (whatever the units are) are not great for me.

Another area where I prefer S1H over S5ii for instance and why most Sony cameras to me are not great.

I am looking (no pun intended) at laser this year, but we’ll see (pun intended)…

[ac6000cw]

10 hours ago, kye said:

My close vision has finally lost its battle with decrepitude and I'm now trying to work out how to proceed.

I can't see the LCD screen to save my life, don't want to wear reading glasses on the point of my nose like an octogenarian (vanity is a virtue, right?), and don't want to use the viewfinder because I don't want people to see me holding a camera up to my face (despite the fact that the EVF adjustment compensates for my vision).

Life is full of challenges....

It's not a 'challenge', degraded close vision is just a very common issue as we get older. Just get your eyes tested at a decent opticians, explain what you need to do, sight-wise, and see what they suggest to fix the issue.

I've been short-sighted (degraded distance vision) since I was a teenager, and now 50 years later I have the usual age-related degraded close vision as well. So I became a wearer of varifocal spectacles at least a decade ago and I think they are great (albeit they are most expensive lens type). The best ones have three 'areas' (if you need it) - distance correction in the upper part, reading/close-up correction in the lower part and mid-distance correction in the middle part e.g. for when using a computer monitor or the instruments when driving. Some people don't adapt well to using them though.

(...and I wouldn't want to "wear reading glasses on the point of my nose" either - it's just not necessary these days when there's so many better choices to correct vision problems).

[kye]

1 hour ago, ac6000cw said:

It's not a 'challenge', degraded close vision is just a very common issue as we get older. Just get your eyes tested at a decent opticians, explain what you need to do, sight-wise, and see what they suggest to fix the issue.

I've been short-sighted (degraded distance vision) since I was a teenager, and now 50 years later I have the usual age-related degraded close vision as well. So I became a wearer of varifocal spectacles at least a decade ago and I think they are great (albeit they are most expensive lens type). The best ones have three 'areas' (if you need it) - distance correction in the upper part, reading/close-up correction in the lower part and mid-distance correction in the middle part e.g. for when using a computer monitor or the instruments when driving. Some people don't adapt well to using them though.

(...and I wouldn't want to "wear reading glasses on the point of my nose" either - it's just not necessary these days when there's so many better choices to correct vision problems).

I wear wrap-around sunglasses while out in bright light, so the challenge is changing glasses to look at the camera and also be blinded by the brightness when I take my sunglasses off.  I have a pair of varifocals that are computer distance at the top and reading at the bottom and they're ok but I haven't worked out how to manage them once I leave the house.

I did a bunch of googling and read dozens of articles and threads about how to carry, protect and use then while out and about and everything that anyone suggested seemed like having one hand tied behind my back the whole time.  I'm sure it's just resentment about the loss of ability and the gradual dawn of old age, but in situations when I need three hands already, needing to manage an extra fragile object whilst not being able to see some of the time doesn't feel like I'm on the right side of whatever bargain seems to have been struck.

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

On 12/29/2023 at 10:38 PM, Dustin said:

FWIW, I recently upgraded to the XS-20 from an XT3. Bit of a down grade in ergonomics but upgrade in some ways (Ibis I’ve found to be very good for my use case!). Eye auto focus is pretty good on this version though, and my use case is similar enough to yours…home videos, semi serious work!

Second that.

Never had and X-T4, but had the X-S10, kinda of the same camera, downgraded.

In image quality, will be EXACTLY the same - maybe a bit better in video, since now it have 10-bit 4:2:2 360mbps, or even external raw with a recorder. But, in general, the same. Using a lot the open gate 6.2k - not for vertical video, but for cropping in post to a 4k frame, saved some not well framed shots.

AF - is MUCH better. The X-S10 had the same AF system of the X-T4, and the X-S20 is on another league. Face / Eye AF works with much smaller heads on the frame, like 4x smaller. Still missing the genearal trackng in video - Fuji finally made it on  the newer GFX, let's hope that it will trickle down the line. My use case is a 5 year girl running frantically around, and with a bit of tweaking in the AF settings, it nails it around 98% of the time - it the X-S10, was unusable.

IBIS is better too - not Panasonic or Olympus level, but better than before (and, from what I saw, better than the XT4).

Overheating: only started to be "kinda" of a problem now in the summer (around 30 to 38o Celsius here) and after I bought a Smallrig half case - looks like the bottom of the camera is a important heat spreader. But even with these 2 factors, always the 1st heat warning (yellow) showed, with some 20 mins takes. The red one, never.

Love the camera. But for professional work, is a (very) good B-cam. Could easily do pro work, but I would use an external recorder and maybe a fan (3rd party, not the Fuji one).