It's been pretty quite around here lately. The weather turned from summer to fall to winter in about six days and we've been scrambling to cope with the fast plummet into dark days and cold rain. We don't have any travel dates lined up until November when we head back to Ohio for the annual visit home. So, we've been hanging around locally and spending a lot of time cycling (trying to stave off the inevitable holiday chub as long as possible, ha ha). Of course, this time of year is probably the most dramatic visually. I've been taking the camera out as much as possible when we get a break from the seasonal monsoon. We did a quick shoot on Sunday and I got out early one morning this week when there was some fog on the river. The rest of the time it's been pretty wet or we've been out on the bikes.
Every weekend morning when we're home we're cycling. We also hit the roads a couple of weekday evenings after my husband gets home from work. We see a lot of incredible stuff on the roads and paths and, of course, the light is always at its best when the sun is just coming over or heading below the hills. I don't take a camera with me on these rides, just my iPhone, and that's starting to bug me. It's very difficult to balance the two things I love to do when they both need the same time of day. The X-E2 is too big to carry in my jersey pockets, and I don't want to carry it strapped to my back (because a. that's not cool and b. it's pretty uncomfortable). So, I've been using my iPhone. Every time I pull it out of my pocket to get a shot of a great sunset, like the one below, I curse the absence of a real camera in my hand. Sorry, Apple fans, they still don't make a phone camera that can stand up to a real camera.
It's raised the question of what my gear priority should be. Like a lot of X-Series photographers, I'm waiting and waiting for the official specs on the X-Pro2. In the meantime, I'm kicking around adding a compact to the collection- something small enough to slide into a jersey pocket, but better performing than the iPhone (which wouldn't take too much.) I originally looked into a waterproof sports camera, but their capabilities aren't too much better than a smartphone. Plus, they're designed mostly for underwater applications. So, keeping in mind that a compact wouldn't be weatherproof, I started to check out some models with higher end glass and a few other features that I would like to have access to. That's dumped me at the door of Sony and it's Cyber-shot RX100 III (yeah, I realize there's a IV but the older model is cheaper). It's small, has a slick pop-up view finder, tiltable screen, multiple shooting modes, WiFi, and good optics from the Zeiss lens. It's a tantalizing choice. The price, though, isn't. Knowing that I will be adding another X-Series body for my regular shooting sometime next Spring, the cost of an RX100 III would dip into the budget quite a bit. But, I'm missing a lot of shots while out on the bike...
Decisions, decisions...
While I ponder this dilemma, I'll keep heading out on the paths with the X-E2 in between the deluges. It has been absolutely stunning out there lately.
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