The Old Menace

There I was, first day into Camera Electronic to do some illustration for this column and the old menace turned up. A former camera salesman, he called my attention to the Fujifilm 16mm f:2.8 WR prime lens and then started pestering me to buy it. Try as I might to concentrate on the new Fujifilm X-T4 he just wouldn’t let me alone. Kept suggesting that with the short focal length and minimum aperture it would be perfect for the toy airplane shots I love to do. And that it could be placed closer to the surface that the camera rests on to make it seem a more realistic point of view. When he started in on the landscape possibilities I cut him off - I don’t do landscapes unless they are indoors and anyway we are not allowed to go to where they keep the wild ones - at least not yet. But it was no good because he kept urging me to take a test picture on the tabletop and imagine what it would be like at home in the studio. In the end I gave up and did the shot, and the depth of field was indeed wonderful, and the minimum aperture didn’t seem to have any diffraction. Well, to keep him quiet I finally did buy it and hoped to sneak off out of the place. Wouldn’t you know - As soon as I got in the car there he was and he kept on all the way home. Now he wants me to take more airplane pictures just to prove him right. I suppose I’ll enjoy myself and get good value for money, but the question arises; what other stuff is he going to pressure me to buy?