12 expensive gift wishes of a passionate photographer

by viktor pavlovic · Published December 4, 2017 · Updated December 4, 2017

Milý Ježíšku…

Dragi deda Mraze…

Dear Santa…

Mon cheri Piere Noel…

and friends…

I know that I haven’t been the best photographer in the 2017 and that I haven’t made many good deeds nor I was the best father or husband. I tried hard however, I can promise you that much.
Here is thus a list of my wishes, but remember that it all comes after the greatest wish – health for my family and my friends. No exception and no trades of.
So even if those wishes are crazy, you can at least read them and have some fun. You deserve it old mate!

Three digital cameras that I will never buy but would love to own.

1. Leica M-D

While I am not a Leica fanatic, I have to admit that they are making sexy things. My film Leica M6 TTL is a fabulous camera and it makes photo shooting entirely different experience than with the digital camera. It’s a teasing, even thrilling moment, when you take a look at the first contacts, in the photo lab. But shooting film becomes more and more challenging and expensive. This Leica camera, while having a digital sensor, comes as close to the film shooting experience as possible. It is lacking LCD display and there is no EVF, just an optical rangefinder viewer.

So you can shot all day, but unless you take the computer with you, you will have to wait to see the results until you get back home.

2. Fujifilm GFX 50S

I am resolution maniac and the size matters to me. The sensor size I mean. Fuji 50S is the relatively affordable entry ticket to the world of digital medium format photography and I would love to play with the set. However, while the body itself is within the reach, in order to switch to the system completely, I would have to sell most of my other equipment and then I might miss a lot of things such as long focal length or a fast AF for tracking subjects.
But if you – generous Christmass Entity consider to gift me one, I would certainly be a very happy little man.

3. Sony A9

I couldn’t afford its initial price since it is not the camera that I will use regularly, but I was impressed by the speed and quality of the images. I ordered new A7rIII because I can have more use out of that model, but A9 will remain high on my wish list.

Three film cameras that I will never buy but would love to own

1. Hasselblad 905 SWC
Hasselblad did many great cameras and I’d love to have (almost) any of them. 500C series is a great and very reliable. 905 SWC is specific because it has fixed wide-angle Biogon 38/4.5 lens. And this combination produces one of the most appealing 6×6 wide angle shots that film ever recorded. Simplicity and quality of the system are very appealing but the price is very discouraging.

2. Plaubel Makina W67
Another wide angle medium format (6×7) film camera. I own very old Plaubel Makina II and it is a mechanical marvel. Makina 67W is equipped with a fixed Nikon 55/4.5 lens and it is capable of great quality wide angle images.

3. Hasselblad X Pan II
I always wanted to have one of those. Shooting across fields on 35mm film, making the panorama in just one shot. This is by far the most exciting landscape camera in the 35mm format that I know about.

Three new lenses that I will not buy anytime soon but would love to own

1. Zeiss Otus 55/1.4

There is a little to be said about Otus lenses, except that they are the best you can get for the standard format in terms of optical qualities. We might spend hours debating if there are lenses with better bokeh, cheaper but almost as good, lenses with autofocus and much lighter etc. There are. But then, there is Otus. Enough said.

2. Zeiss Otus 28/1.4

Imagine all I wrote above in the even larger but wider lens. There is hardly anything like it and probably won’t be anytime soon. I have Otus 85/1.4 so those two will fit exceptionally well into the collection 😉

The current ZEISS Otus lenses are uncompromising in their imaging performance.

3. Laowa 12/2.8 in the Nikon mount

I love this lens. I love it so much, that I will probably buy it on my own if it doesn’t find its way below X-mass tree.

Three old lenses that I will never buy (well, two of them for sure) but would love to own

1. Angenieux 50/ 1.5 Type S21

Crazy price for the very rare lens. I had the similar lens – Angenieux 50/1.8 Type S1 but had to sell it to support this web. It was a great legacy lens, probably best legacy 50 that I ever tried.

2. Hugo Meyer Kino Plasmat 75/ 1.5

Another lens with the insane price and insane reputation. There are many legacy lenses that I would love to have, but this one I will surely never buy. Maybe I find it in someones attic one day.

3. CZJ Pancolar 55/1.4

I will buy this one, I just can’t find it in the mint condition. Yet.

Maybe you can find some inspiration in these rather expensive wishes, or you might learn about one or two lenses that you never heard about.

There are many other gifts that I would like to get, but in a reality, I am getting the most exciting gift from you – my readers and followers. By reading my articles and leaving comments, you are giving me satisfaction and energy to keep going. I love you all and wish you Marry X-mass and Happy new year! If you have any special wishes, put them in the comments below. Who knows what those X-mass Saints are following on the internet 😉

Here is a little gift for you – 10% off the new RAW software – Luminar 2018 and New HDR software Aurora HDR. On the checkout just add BIGLOBO in the coupon code and you should get 10% off. Check the links below, there is a money back guarantee, so no risk if you are not satisfied. I tried briefly Luminar and it looks like an easy to learn and operate but still a very powerful package. Will try to make a short review soon.