I love shooting with my Fujifilm cameras.

Of course, I'm neither a professional photographer nor an amateur with professional ambitions; I just enjoy it immensely. A big part of this are the cameras I use. I have a Fujifilm X-E1 and a X-T1 and it's a pleasure taking pictures with them.

I started out with the 18-55 mm (27–82.5 mm equiv.) kit zoom, which is really good. Shooting with the XF18-55, I found out quickly that my preferred focal length was somewhere around 23 mm (35 mm equiv.), which caused me to shell out the money for the XF23mmF1.4 R only a couple of months after I bought the X-E1 and it's the lens that I shoot with most of the time.

Recently, I became interested in experimenting with different focal lengths but didn't want to shell out the € 700 it costs to get a 15 mm equiv. lens on the Fujifilms, so I did a bit of research and quickly stumbled across a good number of old lenses that, while not as objectively great as many of Fujifilm's current offerings, would allow me to try and find out which focal lengths I really like using.

The X-series cameras use an APS-sized sensor and thus have a crop factor of about 1.5, meaning that I have to multiply the focal length of any lens I put on the camera with 1.5 to find out the 35 mm equivalent focal length.
This isn't much of a matter when it comes to optics like those used for portraits, but it makes it really hard to get the super-wide-angle feel.

The solution was to use a focal length reducer, which can almost negate the crop factor of the sensor (meaning that a 20 mm lens won't be a 30 mm lens on an APS-sized sensor, but somewhere along the lines of a 21.6 mm focal length). I heard about this kind of piece of kit on Jonas Rask's site and the same article made me want to buy a Helios 44 lens. My last holiday took me to Hong Kong and one of the points on my agenda was to get the recently announced successor to the focal length reducer Jonas is using.

Now, I can't say a lot about the optical quality of the Mitakon Lens Turbo II and I suspect that it's still not as good as the original Metabones Speed Booster (the product it is based on) but you know what? It's a ton of fun! I haven't noticed any major shortcomings and the build quality is really good, much better than I'd have expected for the price.

The two lenses I use with the Lens Turbo II right now are a Helios 44M-4 2/58, an old Soviet lens with a very particular bokeh—as seen in the photo at the top of this article—and a Tokina RMC II 17 mm ƒ/3.5 ultra wide-angle lens from Japan.

I haven't had a proper chance to really put the Tokina lens through its paces, but the Helios has already seen some good use. Below are some more pictures I recently took with it during a walk.

Two great tastes that taste great together.

When I bought the Goruck GR0, I wanted a sturdy daypack with enough space for a (1, 2, 3) day trip. I figured that I would use it to carry my Fujifilm X-E1 as well, but didn't give much thought to how the camera would rest in the backpack. My solution for carrying the X-E1 in the GR0 looked like this:

A cushioned LowePro wrapping cloth and a simple cotton string pouch for the batteries, SD cards and a few other small items. This was bad for several reasons, but the most annoying one was my gear shifting positions in the backpack, forcing me to hunt for it when I wanted to retreive the camera or a fresh battery.

I started looking for a different solution and stumbled across great ideas like using the insert from a Bilingham Hadley Pro inside the GR0, as shown by Jon Adair. Three things stopped me from going this route:

1. The insert for Billingham Hadley Pro is quite expensive in Europe/Germany, costing around € 80.-
2. The insert would rest at the bottom of the pack, making efficient packing a bit harder when carrying more than the camera gear alone and potentially preventing quick access, too.
3. The Hadley Pro insert is of little use outside my GR0.

I kept looking, trying out a few other camera pouches and inserts, like Crumpler's Banana Bowl and solutions by LowePro and less well-known companies. The issues I had with the Banana Bowl were pretty much paradigmatic for all the other products I found and/or tried:

• They were either to small with < 3.5 l or too big with > 5.5 l in volume and the outer measurements would've made it difficult to place them in the GR0.
• The materials used weren't particularly desirable (like the neoprene on the Banana Bowls).
• Very few had grips or attachment points for straps to use them as small camera bags outside the GR0.
• There was no way to easily fix these camera inserts in place in the GR0.

I had almost given up and started thinking about ways to modify a Goruck GR2 Field Pocket as a camera bag insert and even considered making my own padded Cordura 500 den, MOLLE webbing-equipped insert (I'm not completely inept with fabrics and a sewing machine).

Then I stumbled across a company called f-stop and their Micro Small ICU (Internal Camera Unit). This company was entirely unknown to me but apparently they make really good gear, as reviews like this one show. Scouring their site for measurements and volumes (because the above insert was still a bit too big for my needs) I found the Harney Pouch.

The dimensions (W × H × D) are 28 cm × 18 cm × 10 cm (11" × 7.1" × 3.9") with a volume of about 5 l.
It was a perfect fit for the GR0 (11.5" × 17.5" × 5.5") or in fact any GR-series bag, because all of them are about 11.5" wide.

The Harney Pouch's outer fabric is 330 den Double Ripstop Nylon, it has a foam-cushioned and customisable main compartment, and two smaller and flatter compartments on the front (for less bulky accessories like batteries, memory cards, lens caps, and straps). It also comes with a light and comfortable shoulder strap, enabling use as a standalone bag. The bottom is reinforced and coated with a non-slip rubber.

The real kicker however is the backside of the pouch. Originally meant as an accessory to one of f-stops other carrying systems, it has straps on the back that are compatible with MOLLE webbing:

It fits the GR0's internal MOLLE webbing almost perfectly. There are only two things to observe when attaching it to the GR0:

• The middle vertical strap on the Harney Pouch can't be used (it's not really a MOLLE solution), and

• for the best possible fit, the vertical strap should be pulled through the topmost horizontal row of webbing on the Harney Pouch first and then through the topmost horizontal row of the GR0's internal webbing. Like this:

Attaching the Harney Pouch the regular way (by pulling the vertical straps through the GR0's topmost horizontal row first) will result in gap at the top of the pack, which can't really be utilised.
The method described above places the Harney Pouch perfectly at the top of the Goruck, making it very easily accessible while not wasting any space.

Size-wise the Harney Pouch really hits a sweet spot for me. I'm a photography beginner and don't have much gear — I also don't plan to build up a massive arsenal of lenses and cameras. Here's what's inside the Harney Pouch:

To the left there's the Fujifilm Fujinon XF 18-55mm F2.8-4 R LM OIS with the lens hood. The X-E1 rests in the middle, with the XF 23mm F1.4 R including the lens hood and an OP/TECH 'SLR Wrist Strap' attached. On the right there's the shoulder pad of my OP/TECH 'Utility Strap – Sling' (which I reviewed here), the charger for the X-E1's batteries and the charger cable.
In the frontmost compartment I store spare batteries and the memory cards and the middle compartment houses parts of the OP/TECH strap and some accessories for it as well as a spare lens cleaning cloth.

When I'm certain that I won't be using the camera during transit, I also store a rocket blower in the Harney Pouch.

As far as I can tell, there's enough room in this camera bag to accomodate a mid-sized SLR with one additional lens or an even smaller mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (like the Sony Alpha 5000) with two additional lenses and some accessories.

When attached to the GR0, it effectively eats about 1/3 of the usuable volume (5 of 21 available litres). It also makes the ruck rather top-heavy, causing it to collapse into itself when not fully packed. However, this isn't necessarily much of an issue: when trying to retreive something from the Harney Pouch while out and about, I usually stand the GR0 up straight, leaning it against one of my legs, or hoist it over one shoulder in front of my chest.

This is what the GR0 looks like when I'm going somewhere without my laptop:

For reference: Light waterproof jacket, 0.5 l stainless steel bottle, Tasmanian Tiger TacPouch (used as an organiser for smaller items), specs case for my sunglasses, and a specs case that I use for my earphones.

If I take the laptop with me, it's stored in the appropriate compartment in the back while its accessories and backup hard drive are organised in a medium-sized Cocoon Grid-It! organiser and stored in the main compartment. With all of the above already in the Goruck GR0, there's still enough space for some food and a light fleece sweater.

In larger Goruck backpacks the volume of the Harney Pouch will have a comparatively smaller impact on the available space of the backpack. And if I really need the internal space of the GR0, I can also attach the Harney Pouch to the outside of the GR0.

In conclusion I can say that it's hard to imagine a more fitting solution to carry my camera gear within the Goruck GR0 than the f-stop Harney Pouch. Inside the backpack it gives me quick access to my camera gear while staying out of the way when I pack my stuff. Outside the GR0 it is a sturdy, well-made, versatile, spacious (enough), and comfortable camera bag. Considering what it does, $ 75.- (I paid € 55.-) isn't too much to ask.

When I bought my first good camera a few months ago one of the big questions was how I wanted to carry and use it. Before the Fujifilm X-E1 I used a Panasonic DMC-LX3 and always carried it on a wrist strap. The X-E1 is substantially bigger and heavier and I wasn't sure whether to get a wrist strap as well, or rather a neck strap or one of those new-fangled sling straps.

During my search I was introduced to many products by many companies: Crumpler, Gordy, BlackRapid, SunSniper, LowePro, Artisan & Artist, Joby, Clik Elite, Luma Labs, and many more.
The raw utility, customisability, and the quality varied as heavily as the prices and the more expensive products usually weren't the best or nicest looking ones.
The general consensus regarding neck and sling straps seemed to be, that tripod-mounted solutions came loose more often than one would expect and didn't inspire confidence.

One company that was often mentioned in passing was OP/TECH, a U.S. company that has apparently been around for years. A few quick checks at the major online retailers revealed that its products were generally well-liked, sturdy, and reasonably priced.

Out of curiosity I purchased the Utility Strap - Sling, and the SLR Wrist Strap from OP/TECH. (The price for both items and a few additional connectors was lower than the price of one BlackRapid sling strap.)

At first I was a bit anxious because they use quick disconnects and like many people I've had the occasional bad experience with these kinds of connectors from other companies. These, however, seem to be exceptionally sturdy and well-made, locking in place with a satisfying CLICK and no wiggle room.

It turns out that my anxiety was unwarranted. I've been using the two straps for about three months now, during hikes, walking around town, a few (business) trips and pretty much everywhere I took my camera to and at no point did I fear that the straps or the couplings would come loose on their own.

I can't say that the OP/TECH gear is the nicest looking solution, but it's certainly the most versatile and functional I've seen (having tried products from BlackRapid and Crumpler in the meantime). I can quickly change between having the X-E1 dangling from my wrist, to having it on the sling strap, to attaching it to one of the shoulder pads of my Goruck GR0 using a spare OP/TECH connector and a carabiner.

Someone in the movie industry must still think that 3D movies are a good idea and I think this person needs to be told to take a step back, then another step back, a few more steps back, leave the building and never come back again.

The most recent movie I watched in 3D was 'Captain America — The Winter Soldier'. Why did I watch it in 3D? Because it's not being shown in 2D and I wanted to see it in the cinema.
Or to put it another way: I was pretty much coerced into watching it in 3D because no cinema in the region shows the movie in 2D. To be allowed to pay to able to watch it in 2D, I was going to have to wait for the BluRay release.

Tell me how that makes sense? The movie industry is essentially telling me that I will love 3D even if they have to force me love it.

3D is nice in theory but there's only one movie I watched so far that did 3D "right" — in the sense that you can make 3D right and feel like something more than a novelty. That movie was 'The Hobbit'. It was filmed in 3D from start to finish and it's the only movie where 3D didn't feel like it was a tacked-on feature to get that badge on the movie poster.

The Hobbit was also best case scenario for 3D. Here the feature felt like a fun addition that didn't make me enjoy the movie more, but it also didn't diminish the movie watching experience.

Every other time that I watched a 3D movie in the cinema I was annoyed

• by the stupid glasses which are uncomfortable and limit your viewing positions, thus making me tense up,
• because the 3D doesn't match with the filming style of the director and makes the movie feel hectic and all over the place,
• by the mediocre post-production 3D effects that look bad, have wrong perspectives, and unnatural depth of field effects,
• by the fact that the price mark-up for 3D movies is ridiculous,
• because the glasses are single-use and produce unnecessary waste.

With that in mind I decided that I won't watch 3D movies anymore. I wanted to watch the second Captain America movie because it ties into the recent Marvel releases and I like what they are doing here in terms of the story. Still, I'm not going to watch the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' movie in 3D, even though it, too, ties into Marvel's larger storyline. Luckily the latter is not the case with the new Spider-Man movie and the new X-Men movie or Godzilla. I'm not going to go and watch them in the cinema if they're not being shown in 2D, or any other movie for that matter.

So…

Dear cinemas, movie distributors, movie publishers, movie studios, movie studio executives,

I love going to the cinema. I love handing the cashier in the cinema my money. If the movie looks promising I even shell out the obscene € 10.- for some popcorn and a soft drink without hesitation.

I won't, however, watch any more 3D movies. They're just not worth it.

Cheers,

Alex

For the past six years my primary computing devices have been iPhones, iPads and Apple computers. Five days ago I was given an ASUS Nexus 7 by my employer for testing purposes. Here are some of my first impressions.

The Device

• The form factor of the Nexus 7 feels strange. Having used iPhones and iPads for years a 16:9 screen feels alien for browsing the web and reading books and other written content.
• The build quality is good. To be honest I was surprised by this. It's not comparable to current Apple tablets or even the Microsoft Surface 2, but on the other hand the Nexus 7 costs a lot less. With the exception of the SIM card slot I'd equate the build quality and the perceived density of the device to an iPhone 3G.
• I'm not a fan of soft-touch coatings on devices and the Nexus 7 is no exception. They feel interesting for a while, but when they wear off the devices look crappy. Admittedly the coating on this tablet is among the best I've seen so far and I'll reserve my judgement for when it has been used a few months.
• The cameras, both front and back, are decent but nothing to write home about — which is perfectly fine for me as they only need to deliver good video quality for video calls and the occasional snapshot.
• The display itself is stunning; colours are great, viewing angles, too. Watching videos on it feels more natural than reading articles on the internet.
• The speakers are lousy, but at least the headphone port is decent.
• The buttons on the side are nice and firm and react precisely.

The Operating System

• One thing I noticed immediately was that the interface is a bit laggy. This tablet is one of the fastest Android devices out there, yet iOS 7 on my iPad 2 from 2011 feels more responsive.
• The system (Android 4.4.2) is a bit overwhelming to be honest. The amount of customisablity—some, it seems, just for the sake of it—often has me second-guessing myself. I won't deny that Android is powerful, but it demands a lot from the user. The learning curve is very steep and I think that the average user won't ever scratch the surface of what it can do.
• The way Android approaches home screens and applications reminds me very much of Windows. Instead of a number of apps I have five small desktops that I can customise to a certain degree, but all my apps still reside in the applications menu (like the start menu). Another system I feel reminded of is my old Psion 5mx running EPOC32, the precursor to Symbian.
• I'm not thrilled by the widgets. I already installed a good number of apps but with the exception of a few, widgets are rarely more useful than an icon with a badge. I have a good weather widget installed and the GMail widget, but most widgets seem to have been designed as an afterthought. Google's widgets show that there's potential, but I've seen nothing really compelling so far.
• The way notifications are handled is great. Same goes for quick access to core features of the device. Apple has nailed the latter with Control Center in iOS 7, but it's very clear that Android was the inspiration. Notifications are something that Apple definitely needs to work on, because right now it's neither here nor there.
• Having access to the filesystem has certain upsides but also a lot of downsides. Personally I like not having to deal with a filesystem in iOS, but it's great that on Android more than one app can access the same file without requiring me to move it between apps. Allowing an app to see, open and modify all files it's capable of opening on the entire device, is something I will need before I can truly start replacing my laptop with an iPad.

The Software

There are very few applications I miss. The ones I do miss are pretty specialised apps that not many other people will find useful, but the most important ones all have fairly decent equivalents or acutal counterparts. The biggest drawback I see in most apps is that they don't integrate (well) with the third-party services I use (like Pinboard) but your mileage may vary.

• RSS: On iOS I use Reeder 2 syncing with Feedbin. On Android I found Press. It's only a few bucks and possibly the best RSS reader on Android right now. It reminds me heavily of the old Reeder on the iPad and I really enjoy using it.
• App.net: Riposte + Whisper is what I use on iOS for ADN and ADN private messages, on Android Robin is my app of choice at the moment. It looks great, makes even greater use of the tablet's screen (especially in landscape mode) and is very responsive. The only oddity is that I can't seem to filter out conversations as well as in Riposte.
• Twitter: Nothing beats Twitterrific on iOS for me, on Android Falcon Pro seems the way to go, even if setting it up is more than convoluted thanks to Twitter.
• Movies: AVPlayer HD might have a slightly odd interface, but has very meaningful gesture controls and deals well with different file formats. On Android the VLC beta is the way to go for now.
• Skype: I use the service very often and the Android app is not only a lot nicer than the iOS app, it's easier to use and more responsive. It was a very pleasant surprise.
• Dropbox: Similar to Skype, the Dropbox app seems a lot more useful on Android than on iOS and the UI is much nicer.

So, these are my first impressions of the device and the software. In a few weeks I'll write some more, once I've really gotten to know both.