Fuji X100V
I have a properly beautiful mirrorless camera. The picture quality is out of this world. I love it. But it’s big and heavy and I never take it anywhere.
So I picked up a second hand Fuji X100V1. It’s solid, but slips into my coat pocket without difficulty. It’ll fit into the back pocket of my jeans if needed. It’s always there.
It’s not a zoom lens: it’s fixed at 35mm. I have to move myself. This is great: it’s teaching me to compose properly. Also I shoot in JPEG and do as much in the camera as possible, which is a new challenge after years of being Mr Lightroom.
It comes with a load of picture ‘styles’, which I have never paid any attention to in the past. Who cares about fixed colour presets, right? Turns out the Fuji ones are quite lovely. Maybe it’s because they mimic the old film colours I used back in the day. But I’m using them a fair bit.
It’s surprising how much better than the iPhone it is. It’s not so good in the dark. But it’s lovely in the day.
Ultimate Hacking Keyboard
I never had any interest in mechanical keyboards. They click, right? Seems annoying. Anyway, I was wrong.
The Ultimate Hacking Keyboard is just so tactile. You get physical feedback on every keypress, and the texture of that feedback is super pleasing. They clack and click and resist you for just the right amount of time. So nice.
(Being a newbie I got the Switch Tester first so I could decide which types of keys I like best. I chose Box Brown.)
There’s also the trackpoint attachment, which I like because trackpoints are the greatest. You can get a trackball too, if you’re one of those people.
The whole keyboard splits so that you can put your arms where you want. This is also better than you might expect. I had no trouble adapting to one hand each side of the keyboard – I think I touch-type that way anyway.
It is very very not for everyone. There are no arrow keys, and a bunch of the other buttons have dual purposes. You have to rewire your brain to use the mod key and the ‘home’ row. This is maddening for a few days, and has a long tail. After 6 months I am 80% of the way there: I can do arrows intuitively, but Home/End/others, not so much. I’m still climbing the mountain, but I believe the view from the top is great.
That said…I have the new UHK 80 – arrow keys included – on pre-order.