Hey, It's Seymour! GET HIM!

Gijinka ham posing with a rifle. Normal big ham is on her shoulder.

Wanted to try drawing Gijinka Ham in a cool pose #bighamART

A bottle I found on the ground on my walk

The label says Dear Momma Moisture Milk

You know how sometimes you’re playing a video game like Resident Evil and you see a bottle on the ground and you zoom in to read the label and realize that you’re not actually supposed to read any of the text and what you’re looking at is something surreal and confusing

I beat Resident Evil 9. Fun game! Missed one whole Raccoon Trophy though, guess I gotta go do that eventually

A 7Artisans 35mm f/1.2.

Hello fellow manual-focus 35mm lens haver

A shot of the FLCL Vespa from @stevendiazphoto on Instagram. I took this with the TTArtisan 75mm f/1.5 at I think f/8? and a KF concepts 1/8-strength diffusion filter.

But you can also stop down the lens (close the aperture) and get sharp-enough photos that still exhibit a lot of character; I love how this shot is rendered, it's one of my favorite shots.

A shot of Danisaurz with the TTArtisan 75mm f/1.5.

My absolute favorite lens, and one that you can put on pretty much any modern mirrorless camera with an adapter, is the TTArtisan 75mm f/1.5. Pictured here is the lens with a medium-format camera; it is far from clinically perfect, but remains one of my favorite manual-focus lenses. Cheap, too! $289

Oh that's what I forgot from my effortpost! As @wood-cube.bsky.social says, TTArtisan (also 7Artisans, Meike, Brightin Star, and so on) make a ton of cheap manual-only lenses with character. The X-E3 has focus tools that make it easier to manually focus over a DSLR.

A tiny replication of a couple sitting on a rooftop bench, watching a live band.

That's it! That's my effortpost and my recommendations! I'm ending on a miniature shot I took with the X-E3 and TTArtisan 27mm f/2.8.

It’s got a steep learning curve where you want to spend some time reading the manual and maybe watch a couple of tutorial videos, but honestly, you developed oldTwitter, I’m not worried about you at all.

For FOSS, and what I run now because I use Linux Mint, get Darktable. It offers pretty much everything you need and is extensible via plugins if you eventually want to give that a shot.

If you’re willing to go with a proprietary solution and if you run a Mac or Windows, Capture One. Fantastic software I’ve used for years, and the reason I don’t anymore is because I now run Linux as my daily driver. It's not cheap, though, even if the cost is one-time.

Don't get Lightroom. It's good software but it's subscription-only and I will never give Adobe a dime after what they've done to the concept of not-owning your software.

Straight-out-of-camera shot of a moonrise in Lake Flathead, Montana. Taken with a Fujifilm X-E3, with a Fuji 56mm f/1.2.

Finally, editing software. You can get great shots straight out of a Fuji with no editing, and this may never be relevant to you! But it’s good to keep options open.

That brings me to my next point: cost. At the time of this writing, keh is listing the X-E3 from $664-$821, and MPB is listing the TTArtisan 27mm f/2.8 at $119-129. That’s way below your $1.5k budget, which leaves room for you to get more lenses as you learn what you like to shoot.

A picture of a cat glancing shyly at the camera.

Why the TTArtisan 27mm f/2.8 specifically? It's a good walkaround lens that you can leave on your camera all day and not feel the weight. It'll also shoot well, it's inexpensive, it's not necessarily clinically perfect, and it's a good all-around lens.

Have a cat picture I took with it.

And there’s a bunch of third-party manufacturers that make affordable lenses, so as you shoot, you learn what you like to shoot, and you can often find affordable lenses by going third-party over getting Fuji lenses. Cheap 3rd-party lenses aren't clinically perfect, but who cares? Not you! Not me!

A picture of a bird I took in New York City. The bird is sitting on the table, in-focus. The background slightly swirls around it.

This has the tactile controls I want out of a lens (manual focus ring, aperture control), didn’t break my bank, and has character. The picture of the bird here isn’t straight-out-of-camera, but you can see that this lens does not take a clinically perfect picture, and that’s fine with me!

Inexpensive third-party lenses typically have more character (that is, less clinically perfect) than first-party counterparts; I generally go around with a TTArtisan 27mm f/2.8.

The good thing is that if you’re not seeking clinical photo perfection, that’s generally reflected in the lens more than the body, and that’s where third-party lenses come in.

As to where, I would recommend buying from either keh.com or mpb.com; I’ve bought a number of gear off of keh. Both of these sites’ standards for used gear are high so even bargain-ranked stuff is still usable.

That's why I recommend the X-E3; I bought mine new in 2017 and I don’t regret it. It’s small enough for me to take around, and it has a nice selection of both third-party and first-party lenses; not as necessarily as extensive as Canon/Nikon/Sony, but plenty for someone who’s just getting started.

I like how tactile their cameras are; being able to switch exposure controls manually (shutter speed and aperture, some cameras offer ISO control via manual dial as well) adds an experience I think is worthwhile.

Plus their cameras look good, too.

I primarily shoot Fujifilm. I like how their shots look both out-of-the-camera if I choose not to edit them, and they're famous for having a bunch of film simulations baked into the camera, along with communities who make custom film simulations that you can then punch into the camera.

I usually recommend a used DSLR from the late 2000s, but a used mirrorless opens up some fun lens options that aren’t clinically perfect and that are easier to pull off on a mirrorless than a DSLR imo. Plus, mirrorless cameras are generally less bulky than DSLRs so it’s way easier to carry around.

At $1.5k that puts you squarely in the “used mirrorless” budget, which is a lot more than I usually have to work with when I’m recommending cameras to first-timers.

Used mirrorless cameras are good!

My Fujifilm X-E3 laying flat on a table, with a Meike grip for added grip. Attached is a TTArtisan 27mm f/2.8. There is a leather strap attached to the camera.

tl;dr Fujifilm X-E3 with a TTArtisan 27mm f/2.8 lens, which is what I use as my carry-around camera; if you find it too small in your hands add a grip to it, get both used on either keh.com or mpb.com. For editing software, either budget for Capture One, or go FOSS and get Darktable.

🧵

Joewari da, boss

Oh I got suggestions for this but it depends on your needs:
* First camera?
* Budget?
* Okay with older tech from the late 2000s?

Sometimes you don't and that's also okay

I'm glad Resident Evil 9 runs well on Linux, these are strides I couldn't have imagined five years ago