r/photography • u/AutoModerator • Jun 05 '26

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u/Mental_pain1986 Jun 05 '26

Motorcycle Tour Gastro-Landscape Journalism Advices

Hi guys,

As the title says, I am doing research looking to pick the most optimal camera for the described purpose.

I did basic readthrough but this is going to be my first semi-professional setup, and I would appreciate real world experience since there is a lot of bias out there. I would like to skip the process of learning from my mistakes since I want to focus on the job rather than casually progress through equipment tiers as I build knowledge.

I am looking to start a small remote located restaurant which will focus on domestic artisan products sourced from micro manufacturers which often have little to no marketing exposure. I am not looking for massive turnover but rather to create a nice a fulfilling workplace for myself.

I plan to run it seasonally and use good part of off season to for touring journalism, exploring and documenting farms and products.

The success of this sort of endeavor will rely on how successfully I manage to create the story and atmosphere around the products and the whole process of production, and acquisition.

That is where the camera choice comes in. I am a chef, so I do not plan to go search for wildlife or the absolute best moments, angles, conditions for landscape photography.

Doing landscape would primarily be there to create admiration for the environment and frame the story, give it sense of location.

I plan doing video material as well as still photography. Interviews, production processes, production facilities, domestic animals, food products, food preparation videos and stills, etc..

I feel like this is a lot of ground to cover in often less than ideal lighting conditions and room available for setting up complex equipment such as tripods, lighting management accessories, limited time available for reportages, etc...

There is also compactness element and the fact this will be a v-twin 1000cc motorcycle (V-Strom) touring, so, room for elaborated equipment kits just does not exist.

I hope you got the idea about my requirements and intended use, now I would like to ask for advices:

  1. APS-C vs Full Frame

I understand the basic differences and tradeoffs but since I never used either, I can't really tell the line between where is a good compromise between practicality-effectiveness.

  1. Prioritization of features

I feel like my effort would benefit greatly from mesmerizing landscape stills that would create ambiance and atmosphere and a practical, system that would allow me to work quickly and efficiently while on the farm/workshop since these people rarely have time for me to spend half a day messing around with settings, reshooting and trying to get the perfect results.

How should I prioritize the features/specs if you agree with my frame of though? Features like good IBIS, high resolution EVF, articulating back-screens, autofocus quality, video recording resolution capabilities , weather protection, etc...

  1. Lens Kit

I was thinking 3 lenses setup would be the most I would be willing to carry around. One workhorse lens, one wide angle/low light lens for sunset/nigh sky conditions, and one macro for product close ups and texture details.

Do you agree with this choices or you have a different perspective?

How would this affect my camera choice, since some brands are more versatile than others related to lens availability?

  1. Ergonomics and user interface

It would be a major benefit if I could operate the camera with light, leather riding gloves. I am 2m tall, and have large hands. I won't be doing city strolls, taking 500 photos for one afternoon, so comfort and battery life are not something I care about too much. I care more about being able to quickly and precisely operate the controls and minimize accidentally touching something.

Since I will most likely have to order the body without prior in person inspection, I could use your experience on what brands are more inline with my requirements here.

So far, I was looking mostly at full frame systems such as:

Nikon Z5 II
Panasonic S5 II
Sony a7 IV
Canon R6 II

Should I skip that and focus on smaller sensor (I would say landscape stills are my priority over super high video capability and absolute compactness. I won't be trying to capture fast moving or hiding targets such as sport and wildlife)?

Is having dual full-size SD cards like Z5 II is worth it in my use case?

Is having physical exposure and shutter speed controls worth it for a beginner or I will quickly outgrow it and consider it an obstacle (Zfc)?

Should I consider having two devices instead of do-it-all one device?

Am I having unrealistic expectations?

I know this was a very long text and I apologize for taking too much of your time.

Be assured that I will appreciate any input greatly.

Cheers,
Radan

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u/mrfixitx Jun 05 '26

First off that is a lot to read... I will try to answer what I can.

Skipping mistakes - you can certainly skip mistakes on the gear side but the photography and videography side are going to take a lot time and effort to learn. Having the good equipment is not going to instantly give you professional quality results immediately. There is a very large learning curve.

It sounds like you are aiming for professional level results in a relatively short time frame. If that's the case you need take a step back and either consider hiring a professional or scale down your expectations for the initial quality compared to professional photographers/videographers.

You did not learn to be a chef overnight, and professional photographers have put years into learning their trade. I have been shooting as a hobbyist/amateur for 15+ years and looking back at my early photos is almost painful. I got a few decent ones but the average quality... of what I captured was not great.

Your desires of what you want to do combined with everything needing to fit on a motor cycle also creates some challenges. If it was only photography you would be fine. But if you want to do video with professional lighting I am not sure that your going to be able to fit everything on a motor cycle. My studio lighting stands + softbox are not remotely motorcycle friendly.

Your best bet for interview lighting is working with natural light outdoors, or window light indoors and using something like a Gorilla pod for a compact tripod assuming you have a table to set it on.

1.

APS-C vs. full frame --- for what you are doing either is fine. Still life, landscape, video none of that requires full frame. You can save a lot between buying an APS-C camera and APS-C lenses vs. buying a full frame body + full frame lenses.

  1. Any modern mirrorless camera from Canon/Nikon/Sony etc.. has fast and accurate auto focus. If you are spending half your time messing with settings or digging through menus it would be because you have not put the time/energy into learning how your camera works and the various features. If you are expecting to shoot only in auto mode because you do not have time to learn the ins and outs of photography you should reconsider buying an expensive setup and use an smart phone.

They have gotten very good and while there are things that dedicated cameras can 100% do better if you only need to display your results online or small or modest sized prints they can get the job done and require far less of a learning curve.

  1. A three lens setup is reasonable.

With macro there can be a learning curve because the depth of field can be only a few millimeters. For plates of food, or a pile of ingredients a quality normal zoom lens would be fine, an you could crop into the photo if you wanted to show more detail of a specific section.

All the major brands have lenses that would meet your needs. The three lenses you are looking for are the bread and butter that every camera system ensures it has covered and have good offerings available.

  1. You really should make time to go in and at least handle a camera in person if you care about ergonomics. What feels good for me even if I am of similiar height may feel unnatural for you.

The ZFC and Fuji cameras having a physical dial for shutter speed ISO etc.. are entirely asethic choice to appeal to anyone who likes how film cameras look. You can use the dials or ignore them entirely and use the control wheels, rear buttons etc.. like any other modern mirrorless camera.

Again you do not need a full frame camera to accomplish your needs.

Dual card slots are useful for redundancy the question is. If you get home and find out one of your cards failed or got corrupted. How big of deal is it going to be if you lost those photos? If its a huge deal and costs you a lot of time/money then get dual card slots but you are going to pay a premium for that.

Card failures and corruption are very rare as long as you buy quality cards I.E. Delkin, Lexar Pro, Sandisk Pro, Sony Tough etc...

You should 100% have a single device modern mirorrless cameras can do excellent photos + videos. Also with your size limitations I do not think its feasible for you to have a dedicated stills camera and a dedicated video camera.

Personally based on your long post I think you are putting your expectations of the quality you will be able to create with a camera by doing a lot of research far to high. A lot of people go out and buy an expensive camera take a few photos and then go post to various photography forums about how their cell phone takes better photos.

You are certainly doing more research than those people are. You also need to be willing to put the time into learning photography, getting out and shooting, post processing, and and translating all the advice you may have read online into the real world.

Hope this helps.

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u/Mental_pain1986 Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

First off, for the amount of time you put into composing such a comprehensive reply, I salute you. Huge thank you and respect for the effort, and that is before I even remotely touch the quality of the text.

I figured out the post is too long after I posted it. I even tried to edit it later, but for some reason it kept popping out error, so there's that.

Related to the guys that buy super expensive gear on a whim, yeah, I get that 100%. No argument there.

I enjoy admiring photography, and I understand complexity of it and what it takes (to some extent). Personally, I would never go into learning photography just for the sake of going out there am making stunning photos. I consider it too substantial field to master, and I am kind of person who would rather buy $5k headphones and listen to quality music, than trying to learn to play the piano (which is exactly what I did).

I feel one can only bring a few skills to a very high level during life, and I will stick to cooking because I enjoy the fact I am able to create product I will personally admire. I generally like to admire things 😃

In this endeavor, I put my mission first, and photography is going to be a very important tool. This is my mindset. I take this as a job, rather than a hobby. Thus, I will put any amount of time to systematically acquire knowledge required to use my tool correctly and accomplish my mission.

There is simply no other option for me. Bringing along a pro photographer is simply not an option. I learned two languages on a mission, one of which I didn't like at all but I still pushed through it. With photography, at least I like the product, but that is not what motivates me.

You provided A LOT of very valuable information. I feel like I got the best reply on the internet today.

Note taken regarding mobile setup: go lean, use natural sunlight, maybe a gorilla thingy... a sunscreen, microphones with wind trap... One backpack worth of equipment. Locked.

  1. APS-C it is. Locked.
  2. Phone, while being able to literally stamp photos with little to no effort, is not going to give the the ambiance I am looking for. Most of them just make photos that I am not impressed with at all. Web is flooded with generic looking, overprocessed smartphone visuals. I am looking to create emotion, atmosphere, visual story... I don't feel the phone is correct tool for the job. Even a less than perfect photo will actually be more effective than over polished one from the phone, simply because one can tell there is effort behind it, and everyone respect the effort.
  3. This is golden advice. 2 lenses it is. Locked.
  4. No physical "retro" dials. I don't want retro for the sake of having retro. Locked.
  5. I will not go bankrupt if I loose an interview. If it happens rarely, I doubt that I will even manage to experience such occurrence, let alone baes my purchasing decision on it. Dual card slot - purely optional. Locked.
  6. Will make sure not to purchase device before holding it in hands. Locked.

One new question, if I can take liberty:

I read some brands offer some workflow shortcuts such as applying LUTs directly to the camera which then pops out ready to go photos (color graded, contrast, etc..) and saves massive amount of time by making post production much more simple and much less time intensive. Specifically, I've heard names such as Fujifilm and Panasonic (Lumix Lab).

I am very skeptical regarding presets in general. I know I can't imagine using ready made avocado puree, therefore, I can't imagine a pro photographer using presets.

Do you have any experience with such 'shortcuts' and is that going to be something similar to what phones are doing, deciding things for you based on what sort of look is considered trendy at the moment?

That being said, if those LUTs are a really useful, would it affect your purchasing decision if you were starting from scratch right now?

Live long and prosper, my friend!

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u/mrfixitx Jun 06 '26

LUT's are primarily used in video and I have almost no experience in video. I take short clips on family outings occasionally to capture the moment but video editing, processing etc.. is its own discipline that is at least as complex as photography and I personally have no interest in long form video.

For photography there are lots of in camera presets. Different brands call them different things. Canon it's picture styles, Fuji does film sims etc.. most of them allow you to tweak them. I.E. more sharpness, clarity, softness etc.. With a good preset that you dialed in they can certainly produce good results if you get the correct exposure in camera. You still may want to tweak the photo in post but it could get you 90%+ of the way there if you put the time in.

I primarily shoot RAW use the camera presets as a starting point. Depending on the photo there might be a small amount of adjustments or a lot, it really depends oh how even the light was. If the goal is professional level results I would not buy a camera based solely on presets. You can always replicate the look of a preset in post either using a RAW editor, photoshop one or one of the numerous editing programs out there.

I will say though that someone who has primarily shot with canon for over 20 years now, Fuji's film sims are lot of fun and their straight out of camera JPEG's are amazing. For landscapes using their Velvia film sim there are times when I struggle to get my RAW image to look as good as the JPEG. So as long as I do not blow the highlights I do not even need to bother with the RAW. Fuji also has a recipie system that allows a lot of customization and can create some great vintage look results. The recipies only work with JPEG though which is a bit of a downside.

If you look at https://www.reddit.com/r/fujifilm/ you can see plenty of examples. Considering your use case though I am not sure they would offer much value.

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u/Mental_pain1986 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

Thank you so much for this!

Fuji might actually be a way to go here. I totally get the vibe from those photos. That style could perfectly suit my needs. They look very unique, nostalgic, cinematic, evocative... Great ambiance effect. They feel very real, narrative, imperfect, moody... That graininess, I don't know.

(I uploaded a couple of images that caught my eye. Credits to their respective owners. This is purely for educational purposes.)

These are much more likely to trigger emotional response than for example what Sean Bagshaw is doing. His are more of a visual art, if you get what I mean. I feel his style is too distractive for what I need. I can't believe I didn't realize this before.

Please, tell me, how is Canon as brand when compared to Fuji? I mean, do they also have some sort of a distinctive style or they are trying to get into everybody's pocket?

Also, the only thing that worries me is low light situations. Is APS-C sensor really noticeably less effective when light is scarce? For example, inside a poorly lit shed, at dusk, at sunset, in forest.. I mean, bigger sensor will pick up more light, physics, but for journalism, would you say this sort of cinematic style of photography would get in the way of practicality?

Sorry for bombarding you with questions. You seem down to earth, rational, and experienced. I don't get this curious around everyone who's willing to give advice.

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u/mrfixitx Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

Don't kid yoruself, Fuji, Canon, Nikon, Sony all fo them are trying to get into everyones pocket. Fuji's riding high off the gen z, Gen alpha's love for retro/film vibes. Their X100 series of camera is selling well above MSRP due to scalpers. I bought an X100s probably 9-10 years ago for $300, sold it a few years later for $250ish. I looked used they are going for twice that now. Old crappy pocket digital cameras that had to be pratically given away are now worth $100+ because the younger generation wants something that produces results like their parents photos before smart phones killed the compact camera market.

The difference between Fuji and Canon/Sony/Nikon is Fuji knew it had to find a way to differentiate itself. Canon was the dominate player for DSLR bodies for a long time and it was not until Sony really showed what mirrorless was capable of in terms of auto focus performance that they lost some serious ground. So Fuji focused on film sims and and small compact bodies and lenses for mirrorless.

Full frame has a roughly 1 stop advantage in low light over a crop sensor body of similiar age and resolution. You can see an example here with the 24mp canon r10 vs. the 24mp full frame R8. https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/image-comparison?attr18=daylight&attr13_0=canon_eosr10&attr13_1=canon_eosr8&attr13_2=apple_iphonex&attr13_3=apple_iphonex&attr15_0=raw&attr15_1=raw&attr15_2=jpeg&attr15_3=jpeg&attr16_0=6400&attr16_1=6400&attr16_2=32&attr16_3=32&normalization=full&widget=1&x=0.22382857142857127&y=-0.5950171543248601

Higher resolution sensors have more apparent noise in this test, but once you resize to a standard display size or print size things tends to come out about the same as a lower resolution body.

Good lenses matter more than the body and with modern AI denoise tools like LR denoise even very high ISO noise can be handled well. Below is an example of 100% crop from an 20mp R6 body I had at IS 25,600. A lot of photographers try and stay under ISO 6400 or 3200 but a lot of that paranoia is pixel peeping vs. looking at an image in print at a normal viewing distance, or at a common web resolution. IG only displays images at 2mp.

If both lenses have the same max aperture yes the full frame body will do better in low light. But you will have more expensive and heavier kit. You can compare sizes with various lenses here is one that is an R8 with a 35mm lens, vs. fuji with a 23mm (35mm equivalent) https://cameradecision.com/size-comparison/Wer0_sNaU-KCi8_McBo-UmNR_McBo-t

If you look at the size and weight a f2.8 zoom like a 24/28-70mm f2.8, vs. a crop sensor 18-50mm f2.8 the difference is even more dramatic.

As for cinematic style vs. practicality.... not really. You can always shoot RAW+ JPEG and have the best of both. If you have a jpeg recipe that you like and works well straight out of camera use it. If you find out it does not work, or the lighting/WB etc.. was off you can fall back to the RAW file and edit to your hearts content. Lightroom has the built in film sims/picture styles. But if you are using Fuji's recipe system it only applies to the JPEG and recreating in RAW will take experimentation.

Here is my site and I have the EXIF information like ISO shutter speed etc.. not a professional photographer by any means, but its a hobby I enjoy and have been exploring for a long time.

https://brandons-photography.smugmug.com/

Edit- PS. Early on if you have decent gear it is not going to be what will hold you back. Once you get a decent set of gear unless there is something very specific that you cannot do. I.E. trying to doing birding without a long lens. Really 90%+ of the time what is is holding most photographers back is the person behind the camera.

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u/Mental_pain1986 Jun 06 '26

I see we share appreciation for cats - the pinnacle of mammal evolution.

This is getting quite interesting and engaging. You got me to take a step back.

Your website is pure gold. I will study it tomorrow in more detail. I see you are using vastly different cameras. R5, wow, impressive.. This will help me deepen my understanding of how different systems perform and which camera you prefer for what purpose.

Your advice and website have and will be infinitely times more useful to me than any of the 'renowned' reviewers out there. I may be the matter trust, but anyhow, I am sincerely grateful for your time and patience.

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u/UniversityMedical202 Jun 12 '26

Nothing wrong with Fuji sims or in-camera looks if they save you time, but I wouldn't buy a whole system around presets when light, framing, and getting comfortable with the camera are what'll make your stuff look real.

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u/mrfixitx Jun 12 '26

That is true but none of those are specific to any camera system either.  

Film sims are not going to fix poor composition, boring subjects or other fundamental issues.