Section 01
Cameras
The hardware as it stands — mirrorless bodies, fixed-lens compacts, film, and the lens market around them.
Start here · Compacts
Fujifilm Announced the X100VI and Could Not Build Them Fast Enough
The February 2024 announcement of the X100VI and the months-long backlog that followed, traced through Fujifilm's own statements and the used-market movement in CCD-era compacts. Argues that the demand was structural — a generation raised on phones wanting a fixed-lens object that was not one — rather than a product-cycle spike.
Compacts
two pieces-
Leica's Two Arguments for a Fixed-Lens Camera
The Q3 and M11 as two different answers to what a camera without interchangeable-lens flexibility is for — the Q3's autofocus 28mm and the M11's rangefinder manual-focus tradition.
Compacts -
The Ricoh GR IIIx and the Case for 40mm
Ricoh's GR III and GR IIIx as the pocket-camera alternative that predates the X100VI wave, covering the 28mm-versus-40mm lens choice between the two bodies and the GR line's design philosophy as Ricoh has stated it.
Compacts
Bodies
four pieces-
Forty Megapixels in a Body That Fits a Jacket Pocket
The Fujifilm X-T5's 40.2 MP back-illuminated sensor in the context of the X-series lineup — what Fujifilm traded (IBIS depth, video spec) to put that sensor in a compact chassis.
Bodies -
The Sony a7R V and the Resolution Ceiling Argument
Covers the a7R V's 61 MP sensor and the AI-based subject recognition autofocus Sony introduced alongside it, set against the a7 IV's 33 MP and different positioning.
Bodies -
Same Sensor, Different Ambition: The Nikon Z8 and Z9
A direct comparison of the Z8 and Z9 — same stacked BSI CMOS, different bodies, different price points, different grip and vertical-integration choices.
Bodies -
The Nikon Zf Knows Exactly What It Looks Like
The Zf's FM2-derived body design and 24.5 MP sensor, examined alongside the broader used-market move toward CCD-era compacts.
Bodies
Glass & mounts
four pieces-
Canon Kept RF Shut, Then Didn't
Canon's RF mount licensing position from launch through 2024 — initial closure to third parties, the subsequent limited licensing moves, and how that compares to Nikon's Z-mount openness and the L-mount alliance.
Glass & mounts -
Sigma Built the Lenses. The Mounts Were the Negotiation.
Sigma's Art-series primes and the third-party mount licensing landscape — Z, RF, L, and E mounts — and what Sigma can and cannot build for each system.
Glass & mounts -
Sigma, Panasonic, and Leica Signed in 2018
The L-mount alliance as a case study in shared mount licensing — the 2018 founding agreement, what each manufacturer brought, and how the open-mount model contrasts with Canon RF.
Glass & mounts -
A Lens Outlives the Mount It Was Made For
The case for adapting vintage glass — Voigtländer Nokton primes, Leica M glass on mirrorless bodies, Olympus OM lenses — and the adapter market around mirrorless flanking distances.
Glass & mounts
