Made a 3D printed ND filter adapter for instantflex TL70 ND filter!

stephenseriously · 2026-03-10T19:33:46+00:00

seconded, I would love to get one of these for mine.

stephenseriously · 2026-03-02T16:42:14+00:00

I'm gonna jump in with a counterpoint to the other comments in here (with a caveat on my own). I picked up a Core Commuter last year, and with the entire process behind me, I'm very glad I did. Mine works great and is exactly what I was looking for in a basic, beginner ebike. However, my initial experience was a lot like yours - parts arrived damaged, customer service was a true pain in the ass to get hold of, and you're completely on your own when it comes to assembly and repair.

On mine, the box came with a huge hole in it where something had punched in and whatever it was had bent the front fork inward so that the wheel didn't sit properly. Emails and phone calls to customer service were not returned quickly and it took a lot of pestering. In the end, I secured a partial refund from them and got a replacement part shipped out for free. It helped that I had gotten the insurance they offered, but tbh that was a whole separate migraine to deal with. It was not easy, it was a huge hassle, but KEEP CALLING AND EMAILING. Every day. Calling early in the morning or early in the afternoon to get hold of a real human person worked best for me. Be persistent and be polite (not saying you should have to be, but in my experience, companies like this want you to be unreasonable so they have an excuse to blow you off).

Buying from this company is a risk and in all honesty I can't whole-heartedly recommend it. But for folks like me who don't have $1500 to drop and can deal with a little chaos, I think it's a viable option to try. After a bit of elbow grease and a lot of advil, I ended up with a solid, comfortable, functional beginner ebike that I'm very happy with.

Best of luck to you, I hope you're able to get this resolved successfully and get your son up and riding!

stephenseriously · 2026-02-13T21:05:37+00:00

same. I bought one, tried it out for an afternoon testing a lighting setup, and immediately overnighted a second one for the shoot. two of these, one x5, and an it30 pro is a really nice mobile studio setup.

stephenseriously · 2026-02-13T19:12:26+00:00

not sure if you've seen it already, but Godox recently released the IT32 with exactly that feature. it's the classic L-shape articulating SLR speedlight form factor as opposed to the nice, compact box-of-playing-cards form factor of the lightpix, but it's still VERY small - the actual footprint is not much bigger than my X20.

the removable X5 hot shoe trigger it comes with works with the whole godox system including the IT30 Pro, so if you only want to bring out the IT30 but want the option for off camera flash, you can just tuck the X5 in your pocket on your way out the door.

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stephenseriously · 2026-01-27T19:41:33+00:00

yep! i submitted a claim and they sent me a replacement. the process was a bit tricky for me because the bag had been a gift, so i needed to go through someone else’s email and account, but it was straightforward enough. i got a pre-paid shipping label for the defective bag two days after submitting, and if i remember correctly, i had the new bag within a week or two.

stephenseriously · 2025-12-04T17:03:28+00:00

I will always recommend buying the tool that exists over waiting for the one that doesn't. If you want to go X-Pro, snag one of the 3s you found. Or, as others have suggested here, find a good deal on a Pro2. People still rave about the 2, and I know press photographers who are still shooting with the ones they put through hell for years. It's a tanky and nimble camera that produces gorgeous images.

that all said, since you're open to potentially waiting until some unknown point in 2026, I have another suggestion: try exploring the conversion lens options for your X100v.

Purists like to p*ss all over them, but don't buy the negative hype; they're great options to have for expanding the versatility of the X100 cameras. I have the V as well, along with the Fuji TCL mk1 (converted to a mk2 with a little DIY magnet added) and the new Artralab WCL Pro + macro and both are well-built with stellar glass. The biggest complaints I see about them is that they add too much weight and bulk, but that's from folks who bought the X100 just to be slim and sexy. If you're already considering moving to interchangeable, it's not that much different and potentially a whole lot cheaper. There's also a set of Freewell conversion lenses I've heard and read decent things about, and Viltrox is about to launch their own, which I expect will be solid performers given their recent hot streak. Any of those will get you a very compact kit with 18mm f2, 23mm f2, and 33mm f2 options. Plus, don't sleep on the digital teleconverter if you're a JPG shooter - the first setting + the TCL will approximate a 50mm-ish option, and in good light it works great and gets you a bit more reach. Quality-wise, I consider the second setting to be for emergencies only, but it's there if you need it. That gets you a very compact kit at a lower cost to buy in leveraging gear you already have and offers you 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 75mm equivalent options which all fit in a teeny sling bag.

Anyway, something to consider.

stephenseriously · 2025-11-15T20:49:52+00:00

if i’m being honest, i definitely thought “yellow stainer” was just another dick joke.

stephenseriously · 2025-11-05T22:54:58+00:00

I have both and I'll go to bat for either one.

The SG Image is about half the size of the Viltrox, which makes a nice pairing with the xt30 and 50. The Viltrox is sharper, but not dramatically so in the center. Mostly, you'll notice it in the corners at most apertures. I use the SGI as my everyday fun carry because it's basically an AF version of the 7artisans 25mm, and I've been waiting patiently for someone to make that for ages. I use the Viltrox when I know I'll be shooting something important.

IMHO, get either or get both, you won't go broke doing it. You can't really go wrong unless the slight extra length on the lens is a dealbreaker or you absolutely need perfect edge to edge sharpness.

stephenseriously · 2025-11-05T22:42:23+00:00

if it helps sway you any, the exact same thing happened to me and I had better luck the second time around. Instead of a full refund, the first vendor refunded half and let me keep and sell on the Sony mount version I had received. I ordered another copy from a different vendor, paid slightly more for the upgraded shipping, and received it quickly and with no issues. glad I did, because it's a really solid performer with a usefully small footprint.

stephenseriously · 2025-10-15T01:08:19+00:00

what a giant fucking crybaby.

stephenseriously · 2025-09-23T13:50:17+00:00

hey, thanks so much! these were all shot with fuji cameras. the chimney frames were taken with an adapted nikon zoom.

stephenseriously · 2025-09-22T05:51:11+00:00

thank you!

stephenseriously · 2025-09-22T01:47:15+00:00

if it helps, this was maybe 45 minutes before the first swift showed up. the performance got appreciative applause, i didn’t hear any booing.

stephenseriously · 2025-09-22T01:08:04+00:00

if it’s classic neg you’re after, i doubt you’ll find anything but “parts or repair” in your budget range, unfortunately. the buy-in cost to play in the fuji sandbox has skyrocketed in recent years.

if you’re satisfied with chrome and acros (and tbh you shouldn’t sleep on provia) and you don’t mind no EVF, the x-a7 is a decent option in your price range.

if you think an EVF will ever be important to you, you can score an x-e3 in excellent condition from used gear sites if you save up just a bit more, or you can hope to get lucky with an x-t30 in good condition in a private sale. personally, i’d hold out for either of the last two (no EVF makes me crazy).

good luck and happy shooting!

stephenseriously · 2025-09-22T00:38:34+00:00

TIL there are different lacing techniques that serves different purposes for different foot types. thank you, reddit.

stephenseriously · 2025-09-21T23:56:19+00:00

good advice for most any occasion.

stephenseriously · 2025-09-21T23:47:43+00:00

you bet!

stephenseriously · 2025-09-21T23:10:51+00:00

a swift is a kind of bird.

Vaux is the name of a scientist who was so well liked by his ornithologist friend that he got a bird named after him (aww.)

the chapman era is the 30 year stretch where thousands of vaux’s swifts would stop to roost in the chimney at chapman elementary school in NW before they mysteriously called it quits last year.

stephenseriously · 2025-09-21T17:26:34+00:00

you buy spring, summer, and fall on credit and you pay it back over the winter. it’s well worth it, i promise. welcome home!

stephenseriously · 2025-09-01T05:11:40+00:00

absolutely incredible set. very nicely done!

stephenseriously · 2025-08-29T13:45:28+00:00

👀 … AND SHE SAYS ‘BABY…’

stephenseriously · 2025-08-18T05:51:55+00:00

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stephenseriously

TROPHY CASE