ACJC.S
Haircut & Italian food
On a dark and rainy night, in case you are hungry and also in need of a haircut! The hair salon being just above the Italian restaurant.
In Japan, many hair salons, dentists etc stayed open at night for workers who typically have no time in the day.
Handheld shot on a rainy night in Osaka.
How do we protect ourselves from marketing hype and mis-influencers?
1. Most gear marketing sites masquerade as gear review sites and gear forums are typically infiltrated with marketeers, just be aware. How do we spot these people, for one these people are incapable of revealing anything less than positive about their haloed brand. Modus operandi; your current gear is no longer good enough and the newer stuff currently featured in review is much better.
2. Discount opinions from those without any decent photos to show. If they can’t take a decent photo, their words are just hot air. Proof of the pudding is always in the eating!
3. Refrain from buying new gear within 6 months of release, wait for field reports from reliable hobbyists because as always, initial reviews especially paid/sponsored reviews will never reveal the true flaws of the new gear. Initial fanbois froth and confirmation bias are also problems, best be patient.
4. Avoid buying 1st Gen products。
5. Japanese camera makers are like a cabal. They tend to compete non destructively at the expense of consumers and drip feed customers with features, releasing minor iterative upgrades or correcting faults in the previous model which should not have such obvious flaws to begin with. There is no real proprietary tech be it glass or software, any brand can have access to practically any feature, it’s mostly just a matter of price and economy of scale. Sensors, IBIS, special glass etc, all can be purchased from specialist manufacturers. Basic economics, the bigger the market share, the greater the base to spread out fixed costs and hence more flexibility in pricing. Choose wisely, especially those moving from DSLR to mirrorless, whichever brand of DSLR lenses we currently own is of low relevance. Finally it’s perfectly fine to skip 1 or 2 generations.
Right now, the best values are in used m43 (Olympus demise) and DSLR (move to mirrorless) as gear chasers dump them.
Haircut & Italian food
On a dark and rainy night, in case you are hungry and also in need of a haircut! The hair salon being just above the Italian restaurant.
In Japan, many hair salons, dentists etc stayed open at night for workers who typically have no time in the day.
Handheld shot on a rainy night in Osaka.
How do we protect ourselves from marketing hype and mis-influencers?
1. Most gear marketing sites masquerade as gear review sites and gear forums are typically infiltrated with marketeers, just be aware. How do we spot these people, for one these people are incapable of revealing anything less than positive about their haloed brand. Modus operandi; your current gear is no longer good enough and the newer stuff currently featured in review is much better.
2. Discount opinions from those without any decent photos to show. If they can’t take a decent photo, their words are just hot air. Proof of the pudding is always in the eating!
3. Refrain from buying new gear within 6 months of release, wait for field reports from reliable hobbyists because as always, initial reviews especially paid/sponsored reviews will never reveal the true flaws of the new gear. Initial fanbois froth and confirmation bias are also problems, best be patient.
4. Avoid buying 1st Gen products。
5. Japanese camera makers are like a cabal. They tend to compete non destructively at the expense of consumers and drip feed customers with features, releasing minor iterative upgrades or correcting faults in the previous model which should not have such obvious flaws to begin with. There is no real proprietary tech be it glass or software, any brand can have access to practically any feature, it’s mostly just a matter of price and economy of scale. Sensors, IBIS, special glass etc, all can be purchased from specialist manufacturers. Basic economics, the bigger the market share, the greater the base to spread out fixed costs and hence more flexibility in pricing. Choose wisely, especially those moving from DSLR to mirrorless, whichever brand of DSLR lenses we currently own is of low relevance. Finally it’s perfectly fine to skip 1 or 2 generations.
Right now, the best values are in used m43 (Olympus demise) and DSLR (move to mirrorless) as gear chasers dump them.