MKBHD addresses the ethics of Youtube reviewers

Marques Brownlee, one of the largest tech reviewers on Youtube (currently with 11.5 million subscribers) has made an excellent video talking about the ethics of running a tech Youtube channel and the way he collaborates with brands. This has been a hot topic on my blog for a while, because I noticed what I perceive is unethical behavior by some photography Youtubers, something I will go into later.

My thoughts on the Fuji X-T4

Fujifilm just announced the X-T4, the successor to the X-T3, which was arguably one of their most popular crop sensor cameras. The X-T4 looks like a great camera, since it's the 4th iteration of basically the same camera. Judging by the DP Review Gallery, the camera takes fine pictures, but I can't really see much difference from the pictures taken with the X-T3. That's because it's exactly the same 26.1 mpxl sensor. Fuji doesn't innovate in sensor technology, they basically just buy 1 sensor from Sony and put it into nearly every X camera out there. Fuji customers don't seem to mind, but for me it's a big issue, because there's really not much innovation in terms of image quality when it comes to Fuji X cameras.

The Fuji X-Pro3 is a huge disaster!

The Fuji X-Pro3 is a crop-sensor camera Fujifilm launched 3 months ago (in December 2019) and ever since one issue after another has been reported with this camera. Here I want to break down all the problems this camera has had so far in order to warn you from potential waste of money.

Fujifilm's disastrous year feat. Tatsuo Suzuki

Fujifilm has not had a great year last year, and their mishap-streak is continuing well into 2020s. The latest scandal surrounding the controversy-ridden brand is connected to Tatsuo Suzuki, an award-winning street photographer from Tokyo, who they hired to star in one of their promotional videos for their latest compact camera, the Fujifilm X100V. In the video (see below) Fujifilm introduces Tatsuo and follows him on the streets of Tokyo to show how he creates his art. His style of spray and pray directly into pedestrians' faces turned out to be very controversial in Japan, and a growing number of netizens started to complain about it. It reached a level where it was just bad press, so Fujifilm decided to pull the video. Here's a copy of the video which was uploaded by a Japanese netizen for posterity:

Will the Fuji X-Pro 3 be the most gimmicky camera of the year?

To answer the question in the title: Yes, I believe so. Of course the Sony A6600 will offer some strong competition for the title as well, but I still think the Fuji X-Pro 3 will prevail in the end. As many of you know, I'm not too fond of the Fuji X-System. First I had a lot of issues with my X100T that failed me at the end I had high repair costs. Secondly, I believe Fuji fans are some of the most obnoxious and delusional camera brand fans on the internet, led by their basement guru Ken Wheeler, who keeps preaching about how great and infallible Fuji is regardless of the truth, but is not able to produce any meaningful photography besides snapshots of horses. Congratulations, Fuji fans. You managed to make Pentax fans look sane and reasonable.

I had an interesting exchange with Joe McNally

I had an interesting exchange with legendary photographer and Nikon Ambassador Joe McNally on his Youtube channel. Joe McNally is according to Nikon "an internationally acclaimed photographer whose career has spanned 30 years and included assignments in over 50 countries. He has shot cover stories for TIME, Newsweek, Fortune, New York, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, and Men’s Journal. He has been at various times in his career a contract photographer for Sports Illustrated, a staff photographer at LIFE, and, currently, an ongoing 25-year contributor to the National Geographic, shooting numerous cover stories for those publications." So what happened is, McNally posted an excellent video titled Budapest Fashion with the Nikon D850, which shows how much planning and work it takes for him to create some amazing photography art. Of course this is some high-end pro work, which very few pros are able to produce on such level. McNally is a master of flash photography, and it's just a pleasure to watch his creations.

Why Nikon Z7 and Z6 recall is a sign of great customer service

Nikon has recently issued a recall of some Z7 and Z6 cameras, saying "it has come to our attention that the vibration reduction (VR) feature in some Nikon Z6 and Z7 cameras may not function fully". Youtuber by the name Straight Out Of Camera has a message to fanboys and click baity Youtubers like the donation-begging Fuji shill the Angry Photographer for example. He argues that Nikon in contrast to Sony and especially Fuji, is taking care of their customers and fixing the issue right away instead of putting their head in the sand or blaming the users. He lists several past issues with Fuji cameras that were not addressed by Fuji.

The downfall of The Angry Photographer: Lost all credibility

Back in 2015 I used to find Ken Wheeler (aka The Angry Photographer aka Theoria Apophasis), a Kentucky based commentary Youtuber, quite entertaining. In addition to that, I found he offered some value when it comes to old Nikkor lens recommendations. I started to watch him when planned to purchase my first Nikon DSLR, and was looking for my first lenses, and his videos were recommended by Youtube. I'm sure I wasn't alone in this. He used to be the guy who "went against the mainstream", and recommended old cheap used AI/AI-s and D-Series lenses by Nikon, instead of the expensive new modern lenses. He was controversial from the start, and often obnoxious in his videos, but that was fine. I didn't mind it at that time, it was kind of a quirky infotainment, which often delivered a nice chuckle and some grain of truth. As months passed by he started to put his face more in front of the camera (his first videos were anonymous), and his channel grew steadily in subscribers and video views. He started to get more and more haters and critics, but at the same time also more and more fans, because he was not only reviewing lenses anymore, he was also sharing various opinions on the camera industry in general, opinions on other Youtubers, and even on magnetism. In 2015-2016 his channel was still relatively small compared to others, and Ken, as eccentric as he was, still seemed somewhat genuine. In that period he started to like Fuji X cameras as well, and established himself as a Fuji & Nikon centric Youtuber. Some of his reviews from that time were widely well regarded, like his Nikon D500 and Fuji X-T2 review. These were thorough and informative, and offered a lot of value to his viewers.

Fujifilm X100T camera longterm review

The Fuji X100T was quite a revered and hyped up camera when I bought one in August 2016, but it was close to the end of life, as its successor the X100F was already rumored (it was launched in January 2017). I paid 29,000 NTD for it, which was at that time around 920 USD (the MSRP of a new X100T at launch was 1300 USD). The reason for that is that I got a grey market version. At that time I did not know that a new model is coming out, and I also did not care much - I wanted this camera after reading so many great online reviews, because I looked for a smaller compacter camera for travel, so that I did not need to lug around my heavier Nikon kit (D7100 and lenses). The initial excitement quickly faded away and I ended up selling the camera. Let me tell you why further below, but first let’s look at the key specs.