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So much of life is mindset. My momma is in her later senior years and still acts 25 in many ways (in a good way lol)

As you get older, ppl younger than you just seem youthful at ages you’ve already passed. You’re very young yet, don’t even be stressing it for a long time to come

Bruh. Whether or not they are Nazi’s isn’t the crux of the issue. The fact that they are invoking Nazi symbolism and behaviours at all is the issue, and any self-respecting American should take issue with the invocation of something Americans claim they helped destroy (to be clear, fascism and Nazism in WW2).

Not OP, but I come from a place where this is the case. Can confirm, it is a valid observation

Secret good guy MS - get everyone onto Linux and tank their stock price 😂

Ironically, I’m Canadian and am more likely to die in the humid heat than the brutal cold 😂 granted, wet cold like you’ll find in Chicago and Toronto are special kinds of hell, no thank you

And honestly I just got away from following my own thread! Luckily it’s not too late - Christmas bills slowed me down haha.

Okay cool, good advice. I think I’ve seen that complaint come up a number of times with budget and midrange cameras. I understand some of the Fujis I’m looking at are designed to manage some settings (iso and aperture spd I think) and the modes, so maybe addresses what you’re trying to dig at? But if I don’t go the Fuji route I’ll keep that in mind!

This progressed downhill so quickly I gave it an uptoot

I think they’d set you up pretty nice - nice digs and lots of play money. Not 80 mil, but enough to not work and have some real fun. Taking out the leader of a sworn enemy is doing them a solid. Fully agreed you’d be their pet for life though

Hahaha ever since I saw your msg I’ve been wanting to use the phrase: You want to disabuse me of the notion that this is a one-and-done purchase. I like it, what I’m learning as I read and review responses is that there’s a lot to learn, a lot of growth to be had, and a lot of money to be spent.

I’m glad to hear that the cropped sensor is a reasonable starting point, and maybe even a little overdoing it - I can live with having a few functions that remain mystical for a while!

Thanks for sharing about the issues you had with Fujis, it sounds like they’re at least decent cameras with largely foreseeable issues across the years? Based on your comments and some of the known issues with the X-Ts, it seems like they’ve done this before.

I love the story of how you got to where you are, I see a reflection of how I think I’d want to approach this - with intent, both in the photos and learning/buying the equipment. Even as I’ve started talking about this, I’ve already started looking at things a little differently - seeing much smaller photo opportunities around the city, moments that would have been fun to capture.

All this to say, I don’t mind learning the camera/lenses, their advantages and drawbacks. If you’re gonna spend more than 2k on any given item, might as well get to know its abilities - I think the lenses are gonna be a danger to my pocketbook after looking into them a bit hahaha. Man, they get expensive. I think my hope is that the X-T5 (which I seem to be settling on) will be a solid all-rounder for at least a couple of years, to investigate the hobby further, build my skillset, and see what I actually end up using it for. While I started at landscapes/slow-moving nature, as I mentioned above about seeing small opportunities, it seems to be evolving just by talking about it.

I really appreciate this last bit of advice. Its a good philosophy that I keep coming across - it’s not just about the camera, it’s about the person behind it and how they use it.

That’s a great point. I was quite worried about the Autofocus on the recent X-Ts, early reviews indicated they did a lot of searching for nothing haha - my love of sticks and leaves is great, but usually tapers out around the time I’m busy admiring a bird or smtg. It sounds like at least a few reviewers have found Fuji has dialed it in in the past little bit. But also that if I want --AMAZING-- AF, just to go with Canon or Nikon(?).

Is there any particular setting/requirements that you’d recommend looking for in a camera when it comes to ease of focusing modes?

As I talk about this, I’m realizing that I will want some attn to go to wildlife and potentially some low-light photography (e.g. dusk-time animals in a field comes to mind), but more of an opportunistic thing than the dedicated daylight shots/landscapes/etc. I absolutely plan on hiding behind the AF for a while, but do hope to make use of some of these settings as I improve.

Dude, thank you.

Sorry it took me a bit to get back, wanted to give this my full attn. You’ve given me a lot to chew on, but reading this, I think my major takeaways are: a) image quality and getting there reign supreme (go full frame), b) recognize that my needs and priorities will evolve as I get deeper into the hobby (e.g., lens collection, post production, printing), and c) spending the $3-5k on a comparable full frame and some good quality lenses/attachments will be worthwhile, but lifespans on some gear are not as long as they once were. I hope that doesn’t cheapen the value of your comments. Full disclosure, I hadn’t given any real attention to printing (your highest recommendation), I was just excited at the prospect of better photos!

A couple of questions then:

a) I did a some research on full vs. cropped and their +/-, and compared two comparable-ish cameras (XT-5 vs. Sony A7 III/IV full frame), at least in price point. Is the cropped a reasonable intro for now, as I develop my eye for detail/style/preferences? Your comments suggest it’s just not worth it. My thinking is, coming from a phone, everything should look better for a while, and I have a steep learning curve ahead. STEEEP lol. Does this seem like a reasonable interim approach? Or would you still just push for a full frame/end game camera?

b) I love your comment about how it feels in the hand and the joy of use. The comments on the X-T series suggest this is a pretty fun camera to use, which drew me to the X100VI initially (before realizing X-Ts are a better fit). I think on top of ergonomics, fun to use sounds important. Can you share some thoughts on your ergonomics/fun to use experiences with the X-Ts vs., for example, the Leica?

c) More of a comment: I’m mindful of the allure of Leicas. Even before this venture, I had heard of Leica, and decided against early on cuz they absolutely destroy anything like my budget lol. Since your camera history mirrors my potential future, did you find Leica lenses were good with an X-T? Or was it the apparent gap that made you go “screw it, getting a Leica full frame”?

Duly noted about the 70-200mm range, thank you! Also, I looked at lens prices and I see what you mean by out of control - holy crap.

Thanks again for your feedback, and sorry for deluging with more questions - just getting my bearings on what is turning out to be a rabbit-hole :)

This is a great thought! From my understanding, the 16-50 is supposed to be a remarkably good kit lens, so in discussion with the local shop, I’d initially planned to run that and maybe pick up a pancake/prime lens (not sure if I’m using that right) too.

But it sounds like maybe the 50 is a little short for wildlife shooting? This might be a lack of familiarity on my part of the “effective range” that lenses have.

I’ll make a point of digging in a bit more detail on telephoto lenses - thanks!

I’ll piggy back on your comment, I was gonna say something similar (and I fully agree with it 😊)

With only the information you provided, it sounds like you’re potentially navigating some high functioning depression, maybe some meaninglessness. They can go hand in hand, and much of the joy of life is lost when/if you’re depressed with no personally meaningful direction.

Therapy is a good starting point, or even just some gentle self analysis of what may have led you to these feelings (as opposed to the symptoms of it, which it looks to me like what you described).

It’s a process, and it can take a very long time to learn how to be gentle enough to listen to yourself without judgement. So in addition to therapy, I’d add meditation to allow yourself space and journaling with personally directed questions (e.g., what do I feel, what may have led me to feel this way) that might grant you insights. Dig for what means something to you, and find a way to make it your reality.

One final thought - do try getting out there and connecting. It’s hard, irritating, and exhausting. But sometimes we spend so much time in our own space/heads that we ruminate ourselves into a quagmire. Ppl and activities corner that rumination to fewer hours of the day, and gives us a break from our own thoughts.

As poster above said, you’re not even 40 - lots of years of beauty, hope and meaning to be found and loved, though it can take time to really get there :)

All the best, OP

Yup, second on this one. Exact same change made, and the gf and I love it. We even walk when it’s minus 20 (though after that we’ll drive). Many days afterwards we’re both too beat for much more of a hard workout, so I’ll hammer out some pushups to failure or smtg

So it’s safe for my takeaway from this to be that I CAN get a modern crystal decanter? This conversation had me leaning away hard until your comment 😂

I think this is the most accurate answer. Trump and Musk have a direct impact on ppls’ day to day, and has the impact of the countries politics to be considered. Putin is just the big bad guy that’s always been there for Americans, so maybe a bit of a novelty affect for the other two too.

Oh for sure, just a PSA - once I found out there were cards I wanted some, then found out I couldn’t have them lol

Damn, can’t buy this pack of cards outside the USA