I took some pictures in Egypt

stickyfiddle

We had a recent trip to Egypt. What a brilliant place. Everyone is super friendly, even the market stall guys outside the tourist places. We didn't have an ounce of trouble the whole trip apart from our internal flights getting delayed. They say tourism is picking up but it's still extremely quiet compared to 10 years ago. I highly recommend now as a good time to go if anyone fancies it.

And I got some great pics! 

cruxiform

Have a wow. Stunning pictures.

terada

Lovely 

JezWynd

Beautiful pictures. Love the second pic esp (the ws fields). Great work. What camera did you use?

stickyfiddle

JezWynd said:

Beautiful pictures. Love the second pic esp (the ws fields). Great work. What camera did you use?

Cheers. That was actually our view for breakfast in the place we stayed in Luxor. One of the old houses built for the archaeologists at the turn of the century! 

Camera wise I'm on a Fuji XT1. One of the best things I've ever bought

Wazmeister

Great photos mate, but I'm thinking about a new camera and this isn't helping the gas !!

JezWynd

The B&W of the silhouettes is another stunning picture. I love Fuji, their film look settings and the lenses make really painterly pictures.

TTony

Excellent stuff Mr Fiddle.

thumpingrug

Was in Egypt in 07, fantastic place with incredible history.  Great pics, thanks for bringing the memories back. 

VimFuego

great pics. Looking at the pyramids you can't help but think there's no way the could've made those with the use of alien technology.

what, what I say?

ThePrettyDamned

Great place. My girlfriend went a while back and wasn't so keen on the wolf whistles and regular hassles from locals, but the sights were stunning. 

Nice shots those fuji cameras are great, huh? 

Philly_Q

Fantastic pictures.  I'd love to see those places, but only if it could all be done as a day trip.

TheBlueWolf

Have a wow from me too, those pictures are awesome!

Dominic

Luxor ones are great
Pyramids/Giza are too but they are the perfect example of the tourist fairytale - you shoot from one angle and it looks like the mysterious Arab fantasy or a shot from a 1970s Frys Turkish Delight Advert..........if you shot from the other you see this strange sight of 3 Pyramids and a Sphynx growing out of a Cairo suburb surrounded by cheap hotels and hostels, tourist markets ,coach stations and a semi slum .
 Pompei is a similar situation in a Naples suburb.
 Great Camera work .....the Nile delta ones are wonderful too

Unorthodox

Nice photos, you've got yourself another flickr follower  

stickyfiddle

Thanks all. 

@Wazmeister @ThePrettyDamned I rate the Fuji stuff very highly. I wouldn't go back to DSLR now unless I was shooting sport and my life depended on it. The X-T2 is supposed to have the high-speed stuff covered pretty well too. There isn't a huge number of lenses but all the ones that do exist are fantastic

ThePrettyDamned

stickyfiddle said:

Thanks all. 

@Wazmeister @ThePrettyDamned I rate the Fuji stuff very highly. I wouldn't go back to DSLR now unless I was shooting sport and my life depended on it. The X-T2 is supposed to have the high-speed stuff covered pretty well too. There isn't a huge number of lenses but all the ones that do exist are fantastic

Yeah, I considered it. I think I'm heading to mirrorless - I don't think it'll be fuji, though. I think the x100s is seriously one of the best cameras I've ever used though. 

I also *love* the micro 4/3 system. It's actually the only real system that truly is smaller and weighs less than dslr in a meaningful way (fuji xt1 + 56mm 1.2 is probably heavier and more expensive than a d610 and 85mm 1.8). Bit less bulky though. 

I really ignored mirrorless as I was going to be doing some events and portraits and I wanted a solid flash system. The yongnuo yn685 for nikon is *flawless* but I found I basically never use ttl and a manual system (like the yn 560iv/660) would be absolutely perfect anyway. I could just buy one ttl flash for run and gun. 

Then I tried a Panasonic gx80, olympus em10, fuji xt1 and Sony a7ii and realised mirrorless isn't really about being smaller (micro 4/3 was the only one that's truly a smaller, lighter system once I've substituted my lenses for equivalents). The quality is phenomenal - the lenses are fantastic, and the evf is one of those things that, now I've tried one, I can't forget about. Just an incredible development for photography, and imo, the future. Canikon will struggle - they've only just started using touch/flippy screens! 

Battery life, I realised, I could live with. I grip my bodies anyway, which helps enough for everything I do. 

stickyfiddle

ThePrettyDamned said:

stickyfiddle said:

Thanks all. 

@Wazmeister @ThePrettyDamned I rate the Fuji stuff very highly. I wouldn't go back to DSLR now unless I was shooting sport and my life depended on it. The X-T2 is supposed to have the high-speed stuff covered pretty well too. There isn't a huge number of lenses but all the ones that do exist are fantastic

Yeah, I considered it. I think I'm heading to mirrorless - I don't think it'll be fuji, though. I think the x100s is seriously one of the best cameras I've ever used though. 

I also *love* the micro 4/3 system. It's actually the only real system that truly is smaller and weighs less than dslr in a meaningful way (fuji xt1 + 56mm 1.2 is probably heavier and more expensive than a d610 and 85mm 1.8). Bit less bulky though. 

I really ignored mirrorless as I was going to be doing some events and portraits and I wanted a solid flash system. The yongnuo yn685 for nikon is *flawless* but I found I basically never use ttl and a manual system (like the yn 560iv/660) would be absolutely perfect anyway. I could just buy one ttl flash for run and gun. 

Then I tried a Panasonic gx80, olympus em10, fuji xt1 and Sony a7ii and realised mirrorless isn't really about being smaller (micro 4/3 was the only one that's truly a smaller, lighter system once I've substituted my lenses for equivalents). The quality is phenomenal - the lenses are fantastic, and the evf is one of those things that, now I've tried one, I can't forget about. Just an incredible development for photography, and imo, the future. Canikon will struggle - they've only just started using touch/flippy screens! 

Battery life, I realised, I could live with. I grip my bodies anyway, which helps enough for everything I do. 

Mirrorless is absolutely the future. I'm not so convinced by M4/3 though. So many have no viewfinder at all, which is a major issue, and I actually find most I've tried a little cramped in my hands, where the XT1 is perfect (a hair over 900g for an XT2 with 56mm btw, against 1200g for the Nikon + 85mm, btw )

I don't find the battery life an issue either. I just switch the thing off when i'm not using it. It boots up in the time it takes me to raise it to my face, and because all the controls are on manual dials.

I'd love to try an X100F, but I'm seeing amazing photos from the new 23mm f2 lens which would cost half. THough the second body aspect would be nice...  

57Deluxe

nice pics and benefiting of one essential factor - good overhead light!

boogieman

Great pics Sticky. 

ThePrettyDamned

stickyfiddle said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

stickyfiddle said:

Thanks all. 

@Wazmeister @ThePrettyDamned I rate the Fuji stuff very highly. I wouldn't go back to DSLR now unless I was shooting sport and my life depended on it. The X-T2 is supposed to have the high-speed stuff covered pretty well too. There isn't a huge number of lenses but all the ones that do exist are fantastic

Yeah, I considered it. I think I'm heading to mirrorless - I don't think it'll be fuji, though. I think the x100s is seriously one of the best cameras I've ever used though. 

I also *love* the micro 4/3 system. It's actually the only real system that truly is smaller and weighs less than dslr in a meaningful way (fuji xt1 + 56mm 1.2 is probably heavier and more expensive than a d610 and 85mm 1.8). Bit less bulky though. 

I really ignored mirrorless as I was going to be doing some events and portraits and I wanted a solid flash system. The yongnuo yn685 for nikon is *flawless* but I found I basically never use ttl and a manual system (like the yn 560iv/660) would be absolutely perfect anyway. I could just buy one ttl flash for run and gun. 

Then I tried a Panasonic gx80, olympus em10, fuji xt1 and Sony a7ii and realised mirrorless isn't really about being smaller (micro 4/3 was the only one that's truly a smaller, lighter system once I've substituted my lenses for equivalents). The quality is phenomenal - the lenses are fantastic, and the evf is one of those things that, now I've tried one, I can't forget about. Just an incredible development for photography, and imo, the future. Canikon will struggle - they've only just started using touch/flippy screens! 

Battery life, I realised, I could live with. I grip my bodies anyway, which helps enough for everything I do. 

Mirrorless is absolutely the future. I'm not so convinced by M4/3 though. So many have no viewfinder at all, which is a major issue, and I actually find most I've tried a little cramped in my hands, where the XT1 is perfect (a hair over 900g for an XT2 with 56mm btw, against 1200g for the Nikon + 85mm, btw )

I don't find the battery life an issue either. I just switch the thing off when i'm not using it. It boots up in the time it takes me to raise it to my face, and because all the controls are on manual dials.

I'd love to try an X100F, but I'm seeing amazing photos from the new 23mm f2 lens which would cost half. THough the second body aspect would be nice...  

900g plus a couple of batteries extra, but that's surprising actually! I'd grip either too, which probably makes the weight difference even greater. Hmm! 

Try an x100s or t. Same lens as x100f and still has the nd filters and leaf shutter (the best bits), slower autofocus and less pixels and stuff but it's not for action anyway, and the sensor is the same as the xt1 so images will be consistent for processing 16mp, properly exposed with careful processing, would happily print a  massive photo. I've done a 30 inch from a d200, a 10mp old style ccd sensor. Sharp as hell and looks great I'd happily go further with it. 

I loved the m4/3. The autofocus speed was, literally, instant, even with a fast prime. I didn't find the Panasonic gx80 cramped at all, although I do have tiny hands to be fair, the gx80 is a mid range one with viewfinder (which was gorgeous) and touchscreen autofocus (which was so much more useful than I would think!). It's a bigger body, but the lenses are comparatively diddy until you reach physical limits (300mm 2.8s are always going to be enormous). I think I tried it with a 20mm 1.7. 

The Sony and fujis were my favourite though. Either is more than enough for me (or most people tbh). Sony get criticised for poor handling but I found it very intuitive to use once I assigned iso to a button, and the autofocus was extraordinarily accurate (if not blazingly fast)
 with eye focus engaged. Perhaps not as nice as the fuji, and I do love aperture rings, but I would never say the Sony had poor handling. And I'd probably sooner have a ricoh gr or fuji x100s for street anyway so probably no m4/3 in my future.