I took a break from this blog but now I’m back. 

This wasn’t by choice, but because I was working my day job while packing to move to Japan . . . Yep, I’ll be in Japan for a while.

Here are a few photos and an explanation as to how and why it happened.

This year, Fujifilm has given us a new look called Eterna. Eterna is built for the videographer or cinematographer using Fujifilm cameras that wants a very flat, low saturation look that offers more flexibility for post color work.

With the new Fujifilm X-H1 and eventually after some firmware for the X-T2, we have the option to do both. F-log and a flat film profile called Eterna. Pretty cool, but as a photographer should you care?

The Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 35mm  f0.95 II is a relatively small but incredibly fast APS-C prime lens for mirrorless cameras.

It’s built of an all metal body with a declick aperture and an incredibly fast f0.95 aperture. The lens excels in low light conditions but also functions as a very beautiful art lens for incredible bokeh and shallow depth of field.

Performance is all around good for a lens this fast and it will perform well in most situations.

The Handevision 75mm f2.4 lens is a small lightweight manual lens designed for mirrorless camera systems including the Leica. The lens features 5 elements in 5 groups for incredible contrast and color rendering and a 6 blade rounded aperture for butter smooth bokeh at f2.4.

You might be wondering, who is Handevision? are Handevision lenses good? Is this Handevision IBERIT 75mm worth it?

Today I want to talk a little about this hidden little gem of a lens, the Handevision 75mm f2.4.

Full review coming soon, but since those take forever to build, compile and process, I wanted to share a little bit about why this lens is unique and why it’s totally worth it.

So the big question, since there are so many lenses out there for both Sony and Fujifilm, what’s the point of these Handevision lenses? What makes them special? Especially this 75mm f2.4?

Last week we took a ten-hour bus tour through Hokkaido during a crazy blizzard. I guessing it’s always a blizzard in Hokkaido during the winter months, especially Sapporo which is the second most snowiest place on earth. I lived in the Rockies for several years back when I was in high school and I’ve never seen it snow like it did for the week I was in Hokkaido. The snow was so thick you could sometimes only see twenty to thirty feet ahead of you.

I’ve been so busy traveling, dealing with a crazy two-year old and posting technical stuff like updating the memory card speed tests of the Nikon D850 and the Canon G1X III, that I’ve hardly had time to focus on photography as an art. 

In the next coming weeks, I’m going to try and focus a little more on doing little sets of photos on what I can get while I’m in Japan. It’s not easy traveling with a two-year old, especially when it’s 20 degrees outside and they catch a cold. Lesson learned.

The 7Artisans 35mm f2 is an all metal full frame lens with 10 aperture blades designed for mirrorless cameras.

When I first picked up the 7Artisans 35mm f2, I spent a few days shooting, walking maybe a total of probably 8-9 miles just shooting. After the first day before really reviewing the images, I just wasn’t really impressed and wanted to send it back. Then I got into Lightroom and man, I have to say, I’m liking it.

After collected more than a few lenses over the years and learning the hard way that some lenses can be great buys and others can be complete garbage, I wanted to report on my worst experience with a lens company and their lenses.

So what lenses are good and what lenses are terrible?

Handevision is a joint venture between German lens manufacturer IB/E Optics GmbH and the Chinese Shanghai Transvision Photographic Equipment Co who produces high-end adapters under the trademark Kipon. Today Handevision is making some interesting full frame manual lenses for mirrorless and Leica cameras, including the fastest lens ever made the 40mm f0.85 (a gimmick . . . yes), but are these lenses any good?

Here is a quick overview from a few weeks of using several of their lenses.

A few weeks ago I did a post showing how Sony has improved its color engine to give better white balance and color accuracy, especially in mixed lighting situations.

Today I wanted to do a very quick comparison between the colors of the Sony A7r III and the Fujifilm X-Pro 2.

As most know, Fujifilm is legendary at handling colors, but since nobody talks about camera colors, I thought this would make an interesting discussion.

It would seem almost every year some new Chinese company joins the ranks of lens manufacturers. While there are already a lot of options out there from various lens manufacturers, these Chinese companies are doing something that the main lens designers are not – making little niche designs at some great prices that don’t exist anywhere else. For example, this 7Artisans 25mm f1.8 aluminum lens for only $80.