There are reflective looks when the person is aware of being observed, or senses or thinks that they may be being observed.
And there are reflective looks when it seems that the person is truly being reflective, and what is going on outside the person is just a buzz beyond the boundaries, outside the world of the current state.
I think it is a rare thing to be allowed to see, and it brings out a quite different feeling in us – a kind of fellowship, of love, of a sense of common humanity.
The last time I shot a parade with this body and lens combination was at the New Year’s Day Parade here in London. And I haven’t had the lens on the camera since then.
My memory of using the lens was that it is too heavy for the body. The X-T50 is very light as cameras go, and it weighs just 438g with battery and card. And it is small as well, the little brother to the X-T5.
My idea was to use it as a carry-around camera with a small lens on it to complement my big Canon R6, which weighs 680g with battery and two cards.
Then, after I bought the Canon I saw the cost of the long lenses and blanched. Boy, does Canon make some expensive lenses.
So I thought of other options and from an Andy Mumford video I saw ages ago, I thought maybe the Fuji 55-200mm lens might be OK.
So that was a maybe, but you never really know what the shooting experience is until you do it yourself.
And this time around was just the same as previously: Shooting with the lens at maximum focal length is like trying to hold a long stick steady in front of you when you are just holding one end.
The saving grace is that the camera has in-body image stabilisation. And the lens has image stabilisation too. Put the two together and the camera can pull off some shots that are in focus and sharp.
Here is a scene of a woman helping another getting ready for the parade, and then a close-up of the woman being prepped.
So there are two things – the performance of the camera and lens on the one hand and the experience of actually shooting it on the other side.
On a scale of one to ten, with ten being great, I give the camera and lens a solid 9 for quality and a solid 4 for actually shooting this waving stick of a lens on a small body.