Within two weeks we have seen the launch of full-frame mirrorless cameras from both Canon and Nikon, with others set to follow. As I wrote earlier today, the dealers’ shelves are now getting crowded. And the previously select sector, underdog world of mirrorless digital is now entering the mainstream.
This brings a dilemma for a blog such as Macfilos. What to continue to cover? Up to now, our main focus has always been Leica — something of an oasis of calm among all these new developments. Panasonic, as a collaborator of Leica, is a natural second string, encompassing the world of compacts and micro four-thirds. We have also dallied with Sony because I know that many Leica fans have turned to the a7 series (and the successful RX100) as the second string to their bow.
Now, however, I feel I need to look more closely at the new world and reach a few decisions. This is an oddball site, comprising largely issues and products that interest me. It isn’t a general news site for the photographic world because there are plenty of those to go around. And I couldn’t hope to keep up with the news-gathering and reviewing capabilities of the bigger sites.
The new Canons and Nikons are interesting and, I am sure, will prove successful, but I really cannot see any possibility of our giving justice to them at Macfilos. Increasingly, I suspect, we will give attention to Leica because, as a niche brand, it provides a strong band of followers for Macfilos and it is a marque I understand very well. So please don’t think I am ignoring Nikon and Canon for any other reasons. It is simply that there aren’t enough hours in the day for me to become sufficiently knowledgeable about these cameras to express a meaningful opinion.
I will continue to mention Sony, Nikon and Canon (among others) from time to time but I shall not be actively pursuing the wider mirrorless world. That said, I am not averse to contributors recounting their experiences with all the new cameras. It’s just that I won’t be buying and therefore will not have valid opinions.
However, I am looking forward to talking about new Leica developments, even if the rumoured smaller full-frame mirrorless system camera doesn’t come to market.
With the strong possibility of an M10-D and an M10-M coming in the next year, there will be plenty to talk about. And, of course, we have our “vintage” line of X1, X2, X, X Vario digital cameras to worry about. John Shingleton, in particular, can keep the blog going singlehandedly when he mentions his beloved X1 or X Vario.
In a sense, this is a cop-out, a retreat into familiar territory, but it isn’t a blinkered approach. There are many great cameras out there, but the best I can do is concentrate on a particularly interesting segment of the market.
In the end, I will write about what takes my fancy — and there could be the occasional comment on other marques if there is a relevance. But what do you think? Carry on as usual or attempt to cover the whole market, probably badly?
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Hello.
I have followed here for years, so you must be doing something right..
And you are.
It is different here and relaxed, which makes a change.
However, perhaps you should consider new products after the first few months of promotion.
Such as, how does the new Canon thing sit with the Leica of similar spec.
Or how to cope with a lens the size of small dog…
Could be fun…x
keep up what you are doing. I found you when I was Leica but I am now Panasonic M43 and Hasselblad X1D and you are the first of only 5 blogs I check daily. Thanks Brian
FWIW, my modest comments… Macfilos is one of those sites I read daily. The last few days, however, I´ve been travelling with no Internet connection, and returned just hours ago. Every single photo-oriented site now has the ´news´ about the Canon mirrorless and the Fuji XT3, each with dozens of comments, mini review and similar coverage. Nobody with any interest in camera gear could possibly stay uninformed for more than a few hours…;-)
So, really no need for you to cover what everybody else does! What I, and obviously the majority of posters below, value in Macfilos, is the deep, insightful, and personal contents around what you so obviously know, love, and use. So, please keep on doing exactly that! Do remain an island of sanity and knowledge in a torrent of technical ´quasi-news´!
Mike,
I have been silent (re-writing my book) but no longer!
It seems to me that the sector you have been covering up to now is only one of the aspects of your blog which overall has many much appreciated strengths. So I think it makes perfect sense not to try and cover the whole new mirrorless spectrum in depth but as you suggest not to exclude comments about it. Quality not quantity is the key.
I look to your blog for great images and photographic sense from a community of enthusiastic photographers of whom you are the inspired conductor. As others say, this is by no means easy to find elsewhere. Thank you for creating this space and please may it long continue? Onwards and upwards!
At least some of us have arrived here in Leicaland as escapees from the various vargaries of (in my case) Canon, Panasonic and Sony. Having invested what for me is fairly heavily in Leica, I for one have no interest in my past. This site has proven a haven and again, I doubt if my story is an isolated one.
Dear Mike,
As Mr. Wilson said, keep it as is. You are doing us a favour already.
Joseph
Keep it as is, it is the calm in the center of the hurricane! I don’t know of any other site with so many knowledgeable contributors. So stiff upper lip and carry on. Thanks to all contributors I learn something new each day!
As a Feedly subscriber who is a Leica M and now a Digital CL owner, I enjoy reading all your articles. I enjoy the curation of this sector of the market, whilst appreciating your wider knowledge of the market sector in general. Leica fans enjoy the analogue nature of our cameras we do like to learn about what could be our AF second string… even if we decide to do little to change in the end.
All this to say, yes Leica naturally, Sony currently as they are spearheading the competition, when someone has a machine noteworthy, then yes off-course as that could turn out to be the next best thing.
An appreciative fan!
Kris
Stay the course!
To me the really valuable thing about macfilos is that it feels like a community of people sharing what they know about and enjoy, and you are the lynch-pin in that, Mike. So don’t feel any pressure to cast your net wider. Some of us can do bits of that from time to time. I think, for example, that balancing Leica and Sony (especially with Zeiss lenses) is worth doing, but others can do the Sony bit. In any case it’s the photos which count. Fuji gets an occasional look-in, too, and that’s very well worthwhile. And your tracking the panny-leica compact scene is valuable. Stick to your special "tone" and long live macfilos!
Hello Mike
funnily enough I was just wondering what you were going to do about nikon and canon mirrorless it would mean a very wide area to cover for you. Yes do what you do best and stay with the systems you know and understand, Leica etc. You do it well and seem to be able to get access to most of the cameras you need to make the blog work. Nikon and Canon will now doubt bring out new models at an alarming rate if mirrorless really takes over from SLRs and keeping up with that would be pointless. I must admit after a recent 3 days out walking / shooting on commission with 2 nikon slr bodies and four lenses I would be very tempted to go mirrorless at some point. May be let it all settle down for a while.
The pleasure of opening Macfilos with the gradually emerging diagonal shot of the Leica top plate cannot be replaced by any other – so stick with Leica – and a bit of Sony ( I did decide after trying both the Panasonic zs200 and the Sony Rx100vi) to go with the little Sony – more on that later….
Thanks for my lunchtime treat, Mike!
I feel a little uncomfortable making suggestions, when I rarely comment and only read blogs via a feed-reader (so my visits might never register in your blog stats).
However I wholeheartedly agree with what William Fagan and John Reynolds have already said. I read your blog partly because it’s so different to so much of the photography sites out there. Please carry on!
Best regards,
Don
Please carry on with what you are doing. I enjoy the perspectives in this blog.
You are part of the Leica community which values the feel photography gives them as much as the feeling that photographs can give others.
No other camera company has that sort of direction to the same extent, but they may have more focus on commercial aspects of photography where the image is also important. There are other communities that focus just on the technological aspects where the resulting image does not seem to be a concern.
What fits you best?
Mike! The hundreds of other photo sites can cover the non-stop rollout of gear… keep doing what you are doing. I come here daily because I like to read something from a passionate writer who knows their subject, not a string of press releases or reviews of stuff just because it was released.
Thanks Mike. I think that you should not impose any limits on what you cover. Camera brands just represent makers of products and they are not intrinsically interesting per se. Innovation is always interesting, but the best stuff on Macfilos relates not to the latest and greatest digital wonders, but rather to a wide range of topics which can be related to photography and various technology applications.
As for the new Canon, I have always felt that competition is good for any market. I was beginning to wonder, however, when the camera industry was going to run out of alphabetic acronyms for lenses. Canon have now combined Leica and Nikon alphabetic lens mount names with the new RF lens range, but for some of us folk an ‘rf’ lens means something completely different.
The future should be fun as the camera market attempts to stay relevant.
William
I have to agree with the comments already made. Keep it as it is.
Odd Ball is good.
Leica is Better.
S is coming too!
Mike
As a teacher for some 37 odd years now I can’t teach what I don’t like; I did try some time to be sort of mainstream but it has never worked so far. I guess it applies to almost everything in life , so keep the blog that way. It’s just wonderful the way it is.
Cheers
Jean
Mike,
Macfilos works for me because you cover things you are passionate about.
I don’t think you’ll go far wrong sticking to that.
John
Mike, I like this place because of what it is, so keep it as oddball as possible! I am not the least bit interested in the mainstream stuff from Sony, Nikanon or Fuji.
cheers, Nico