I did it! I bought the Sony
Back in January in my 6FPS essay I noted that a good friend and mentor of mine had made the decision to move from the Fuji mirrorless system to Sony, and that I had been pondering the same change but was putting it off until I could research it and convince myself it was the right decision.
Yesterday, I made the order for a Sony A7 IV body with their 28-70 kit lens, the Sony 100-400 lens, and a 1.4X teleconverter. For the budget-minded, I don’t recommend looking to see what that cost me. I also bought a battery charger and a couple of extra batteries, but for now, this is my Sony kit, intended primarily as my birding setup, but ultimately, it’ll be the base around my replacing all my Fuji gear.
Why now? Well, it’s my birthday (#64 if you’re counting), and coming back from that outing with the eagles, I both see my way forward photographically, and I understand how the Sony setup will move me forward technically.
When I am committing to expensive purchases like this, one thing I make myself do is essentially build a business plan on why it makes sense on an objective basis., hoping this helps me avoid “shiny new toy!” syndrome. I figured I’d share some of those thoughts with all of you, and I’m curious what you think and where you agree and disagree.
Switching camera platforms is expensive, since you for most changes need to replace all of your lenses as well as the bodies. There’s no incremental improvement here, it’s starting out from scratch and buying in from zero. So the initial outlay is expensive, and not one someone should do trivially.
Digital Cameras in 5-10 Years
One reason I started considering this change is that I believe that innovation and interest in the APS-C size sensor has peaked. Fuji has made it clear they are continuing to innovate and push forward APS-C sensor technology, but if you look at the industry in general, it feels like the momentum is shifting to full-frame and even the digital medium format sized sensors. Fuji recently announced their new bodyh, the X-H2S, and my take on it is the changes are minor and incremental, I didn’t see much there that made me feel it would impact my imaging.
I don’t think APS-C is going away at all; I think it has a good life forward, but I do believe that this kind of incremental improvement over time will become the norm; it’s really a rather mature technology now. That’s not a criticism, but it does imply that improvements are going to be coming more slowly for this sized sensor moving forward.
The Case against Fuji
My take is Fuji’s primary focus is the GFX medium format systems first, and APS sensors will receive improvements a generation later. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong, but I think their APS-C “X” series feels like it’s starting to be positioned into the entry-level/enthusiast market segment, much like Canon’s Rebel bodies. As a criticism, this is pretty weak, to be honest — I have every little to say about Fuji that’s negative. As someone who has shot Fuji since 2013, I’ve been pretty happy with them overall.
Moving forward, though, I believe Sony is innovation faster and better right now. Sony’s autofocus is better rated in all of the reviews I’ve seen, and for my bird photography, autofocus on in-flight birds is a huge factor in success or failed, blurry photos. Fuji’s AF is solid, but watching what Chris and Jordan on DP Review TV can do in their reviews and tests of Sony gear makes it clear to me that Sony is well ahead right now and seems to be widening their lead in AF technology. This is my primary reason for changing platforms, that I’m ready to make the investment to get access both to day’s best AF setup, and what I see as the technology leader for the next few years.
A secondary reason to make the shift: I’ve long been a supporter of the APS-C size because the crop factor boosts the power of your lenses. The flip side of it, though, is that it limits your wide angle abilities, and I’ve been finding it’s getting in my way when I’m trying to shoot things not involving massive telephoto lenses and birds or wildlife. Instead, I’m pulling out my iPhone. Going to Sony will let me take better advantage of wider lenses, and to be honest, the cropping ability today’s larger sensor sizes offers reduces the need for always trying to get every inch of reach out of my lenses. the X-S10’s 26 megapixel sensor really changed how I consider the need for super long lenses, and I’d decided to sell my 100-400 even before I made this decision: the 70-300+1.4X TC combo has worked wonderfully for me on the X-S10.
One ding I have for Fuji is how slowly they’ve allowed third parties access to their technology for lenses: we’re finally seeing the first third party lenses arrive for the X-mount. While Fuji has done a pretty good job filling out their lens family, I really miss having the options to consider a Sigma or Tamron lens instead of the Fuji ones.
The Case for Sony
Why Sony? Why now?
I want access to the better autofocus, and to what I see as a stronger path of innovation moving forward. I have finally decided the APS-C sensor is limiting me in ways I haven’t cared about until the last few months (although to be honest, I also feel like I’ll be using the iPhone more and more over time as well for wider angle things). I want access to third party lens families as a better option than I can get with Fuji.
I see my bird photography as a primary (ahem) focus for the near future, but I have some interesting ideas I’m researching on the landscape side of my world, and Sony is a better platform for that first part now, and a better platform for what may come out of my experiments later.
And now, as I have the budget for this change and I’m just starting to jump back into things with some enthusiasm, seems like a good time to commit to this change and start figuring out how to take best advantage of the new tools.
The Case Against Sony
Well, cost. This is not a cheap decision. If you wanted to get into bird photography today and have outgrown what a super zoom point and shoot can do for you, the X-S10 ($999), 70-300 ($799) and 1.4x teleconverter ($499) will run you about $1300 and I don’t know that you could get a better setup near that price. It’s a great, functional setup for this kind of work. And to be honest, that is way less than what I spent just for the A7 IV body.
But over time, since I’ve bought my big bird lens, I can take advantage of the third party lens families to reduce some of my future costs. Birding rigs are never cheap, but I can fill out the rest of my lens setup over time in a cost effective way as I find I need lenses. Still, it wasn’t easy to push the buy button, but it made sense to do it.
My bottom line: I feel like I’m getting just about everything I can from my Fuji gear, and I have few complaints about it, but I feel there is a next step forward in capability tehat I can get with Sony that I can’t get with Fuji, and I don’t see that techology gap closing in the next few years; it may well widen. May Fuji prove me wrong here, but I feel I have a better future with Sony, and it was time to make the shift.
A Few Final Thoughts
A few final thoughts here. I’m going to want to spend a few weeks learning the camera and then I’ll come back with what I like and don’t like.
Of course, this hasn’t just been buying the camera: I’ve also picked up a few key accessories where the fuji gear won’t come along: batteries and chargers (one inexpensive one for the travel bag, and the Watson charger I love for my office). I’ve also picked up a cheap L-bracket and shutter remote. I’ll probably at some point replace my existing filter set, but I’m still unclear what I want to buy into, although the Kase filter system looks really interesting.
The new system arrives thursday, and so hopefully by this time next week I’ll have my first images I can show and discuss the first uses of the camera. you can probably guess: they’re likely going to be of bald eagles…
