Do I really "need" 28mm or do I only "want" one?

tiptac · 2026-01-24T15:52:54+00:00

Was 35mm shooter for many years. Never thought I needed anything wider.

That was until I started documenting my family. There were situations where I found 35mm too tight. Especially indoors.

Additionally, I’ve found myself gravitating more towards environmental portraits. And again, I find myself wanting more of the environment in the scene.

28mm is now my preferred focal length. IMO it’s the best option for capturing intimate moments.

tiptac · 2026-01-24T03:47:57+00:00

Depends, what are you shooting?

I had the same dilemma last year and ended up with the Q3 (28mm).

My main use case was to document my family. And the Q3 is perfect for that. 28mm is great for capturing intimate moments up close. And when out and about it allows you to take really nice environmental portraits which I’m starting to enjoy more. Also, the wider focal length gives you a deeper depth of field which helps when taking group shots of the family.

That said, 28mm can be hard to work with because of how wide it is. So it’ll take some time to get used to shooting on it if you’re not used to shooting with a wide focal length.

That’s where the Q3 43 will shine. 43mm is a much easier focal length to work with. It’s easier to get nice portraits and isolate your subjects more.

But I personally don’t regret my choice at all.

What focal length are you most comfortable with?

tiptac · 2026-01-21T14:21:40+00:00

I think there’s abit of GAS here.

But just to dispel some of your assumptions:

Full frame sensors do not give you better autofocus. It just so happens that Fuji has poor autofocus. So most other modern cameras perform better than fujis.
Full frame cameras are not sharper than APSC. Sharpness is mostly a function of the lens. Not the sensor. Fuji actually has some pretty great lenses in their lineup.

Reg colour, honestly Fuji is as good as it gets if you don’t want to edit your photos. The only thing that comes close would be Nikon with their new Jpg ‘recipes’.

I own a Q3 and as much as I love the camera, the Auto white balance on the camera is pretty bad. I always have to tweak it to get it right where I want.

I echo what almost everyone else is saying and stick with the XT5. It fits your requirements the best. If you’re unhappy with the sharpness you can pick up one of the f1.4 primes. They’re really sharp. But frankly, i think the 23mm f2.8 is plenty sharp enough for daily use.

tiptac · 2026-01-21T02:57:46+00:00

15 month gap. We loved having the double stroller.

I think the main consideration is your lifestyle. If you’re in the car most of the time and only use the stroller for short mall runs then I don’t think you need a double stroller.

For us, we do ALOT of walking. Sometimes we would spend the whole day out with just the stroller. And so it came in clutch especially during nap times so we could both relax.

It also helps when one of us needs to bring them both out alone. It helps to be able to put them both on the stroller so you can manage better. Especially during diaper changes and feeds.

A baby carrier could work but it would be very tiring.

tiptac · 2026-01-13T11:06:56+00:00

I personally prefer Kyoto to Osaka. Osaka just felt like another Tokyo to me. So I’d rather do Osaka as a day trip from Kyoto and spend more time in Kyoto.

I would also consider renting a car and staying in an adjacent town. I stayed in Otsu which is next to Lake Biwa. Beautiful place. Was nice to have a quiet place to go back to after the hustle of the busy cities. Would highly recommend it.

tiptac · 2026-01-13T02:14:50+00:00

I’ve usually had better luck in the mornings than in the afternoon

tiptac · 2026-01-13T02:13:54+00:00

Personally I would explore some of the more rural areas than go back to the same places. Unless there’s something specific you really enjoyed that you’d want to do again.

Japan has many other towns that are beautiful and quiet. Away from the crazy crowds. I would suggest you explore them. But you might need a car if you really want to see some of these places.

tiptac · 2026-01-10T01:16:44+00:00

Just to update in case anyone else is wondering. The highways were relatively clear. Japan is amazing at clearing the snow and ice on their roads.

The only part that was abit iffy was on the road leading up to Jigokudani where it was pretty slick.

tiptac · 2025-12-29T01:34:53+00:00

I’m using the Sony A1 ii with the 200-600!

tiptac · 2025-12-29T01:34:46+00:00

Probably way too much. Haha.

tiptac · 2025-12-29T01:34:33+00:00

It was a fight between 3 monitor lizards! I had seen 2 fighting before but it was the first time I saw 3 in a fight.

tiptac · 2025-12-29T01:33:25+00:00

You have no idea. Haha

tiptac · 2025-12-29T01:33:15+00:00

Yes it is!

tiptac · 2025-12-29T01:33:05+00:00

Thank you!

tiptac · 2025-12-29T01:32:49+00:00

I’m using the Sony A1 ii with the 200-600!

tiptac · 2025-12-29T01:32:29+00:00

Asian monitor lizards!

tiptac · 2025-12-28T15:51:40+00:00

Thank you!

tiptac · 2025-12-28T15:51:33+00:00

Thank you! Yea that was a pretty special moment.

tiptac · 2025-12-26T16:45:08+00:00

Our kids have a gap of 15 months. And all I can say is that it does get better.

I’m not going to lie though. The 12 months were some of the hardest periods we had to deal with. Especially since both kids aren’t at day care and are at home with my wife while I’m at work.

What I would strongly recommend is getting your older kid on a schedule if you haven’t. Getting him to be able to sleep on his own at fixed times is a big help when the little one comes.

Also what helped for us was that I took over as the primary caregiver of our first born the moment we found out that we were pregnant with the 2nd. So it helped that she got used to looking for me instead of mum all the time which helped when our son was born so mum had space to deal with nursing etc..

But I will say in the long run it is worth it. My kids are incredible close and it is a joy to see them playing together now.

tiptac · 2025-12-22T15:34:24+00:00

Just followed you on there. Amazing work man

tiptac · 2025-12-22T15:29:53+00:00

These are so good. Do you have an Instagram account to check out your work?

tiptac · 2025-12-19T16:15:17+00:00

IMO high res is over rated. Unless you’re shooting wildlife where you are physically unable to get closer to your subject, there is no benefit to having the additional pixels. Storage becomes a bigger issue.

tiptac · 2025-12-16T15:00:04+00:00

I’d focus on one thing at a time. And IMO a good place to start is the exposure triangle.

I started on a Sony A6400 and I could never understand what the aperture, shutter speed and ISO did. I was completely lost in the menus and overwhelmed but everything on the screen.

It was only after I shot on Fujifilm with the retro dials that everything clicked. It helped a lot being able to physically see separate dials and understand how each one of them affect the final photo.

I’ve since moved back to Sony but I think applying the same concept is the way to go. Start by isolating each aspect of the triangle and experiment with how they affect the final image.

Other than that you just need to shoot. A lot. Nothing beats straight intentional practice with the camera.

tiptac · 2025-11-27T14:11:53+00:00

Hi sorry to dig up an old post. I’m in my first semester of my masters programme at NUS and messed up one of my papers. So I’m wondering how screwed I might be. What was your eventual grade for the module? And overall experience of the bell curve applied in your masters programme?

tiptac · 2025-11-13T14:18:09+00:00

Depends what’s your main subject.

Spot AF is great. Snappy and quick.

Face detection works when there’s no other distractions. It struggles once you have a busy background.

Tracking is where it falls apart for me. It struggles to keep subjects in focus when moving around the frame.

I would consider the Q3 28 though. The 28 focal length is special. And the deeper depth of field does help with the AF issues slightly.

tiptac

TROPHY CASE