Recommended Equipment - A Camera For Shooting Thailand, Fights and Training First Trip to Thailand

[MangoMuayThai]

Hey all!

I am just reaching out because I recently booked my first trip to Thailand this fall. I plan on training and fighting for the few months that I am there. My girlfriend and I would love to capture our private sessions and fights in high quality and also share an interest in photography. We would like to bite the bullet and purchase a camera for the trip, just something capable of capturing high quality images and video. I understand the lighting isn’t the best at a lot of these events. Are there any lenses I should purchase along with the camera? We don’t want anything overly complicated and would love if it fell into our budget of $1000 or less. With so many different brands and models and having never purchased a camera before it is a bit overwhelming. I am new here so if this is not the correct place for this post please let me know. Any recommendations or advice is greatly appreciated!

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

I'm not really experienced with cameras outside of the few I've owned from Fujifilm, but I'm super in love with them. It's not a camera that I've owned, but I've had similar, maybe the Fujifilm X-T30 II would be something to look into. It has a good sensor, shoots 4K video, and gets you into the X-series lenses, which are great. I'm not sure what focal length you have in mind, but the Fujinon F XF 16MM.F2.8 R WR is a great, somewhat fast wide lens for coverage, and the XF 56 mm F1.2 R WR is absolutely gorgeous, and very fast for any mid-portraiture. You'd have options to work up in lenses in the future if you chose, though this would put you over budget. If I recall the kit zoom lens was solid. I love the old school camera design of the x-series cameras. They also make a Fujifilm X-S10 with a deeper, more modern grip (and image stabilization).

Fuji generally has very classic design approaches, with physical knobs that turn, a throw back feel for the camera which I really like. I'm not really a photograph through a screen guy, and don't enjoy touch controls. Once you settle in its enjoyable to shoot. But, if its just specks vs specks I'm sure other makers like Sony would have strong offerings. For me its Fuji for design, its reputation for color, and the X-series lenses.

edit in: I've had the Fujifilm Fujifilm X-T3 and X-T4. These were the cameras I really loved. The models have gone up to X-T5 now, so maybe you could get either of them at a decent price. I really love the X-T4. It's a very strong camera.

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

I'd add here, more generally, to hear of your excitement for photographing what you'll be experiencing is awesome. Just as a personal observation, in our day and age when phones take better and better photographs, and images become more ubiquitous, in order for photography to go beyond this and separate itself out you want to move into a different kind of experience. For me the Fujifilm approach to design moves you as far as possible from the phone snapping photo. You feel in your hand a certain kind of designed thing, or at least I do. And, the lenses have distinctive character and traits. The camera and using it has qualities. So in a certain sense, if you are moving away from a high end phone (which is also an option), you want to feel a the camera, and its lenses differently than you would if you had a flat rectangle in your hands, otherwise just shoot the phone which can be quite capable. For me, the Fuji experience combined with moving the photos for edit into a program like Lightroom Classic was a big artistic difference. It felt like choices were being made. But...this probably moves you well past your ideal budget of $1000. A good phone is going to have image stabilization for video, pretty decent low-light performance, and even some high pixel files. If you are spending the money to move away from a phone you have to think about all the whys you are doing that, and find a way to tap into those whys.

edit in: I'm not actually putting down phone photography in this, just to be clear. With improved specs, some subtle computational advancements, and the big convenience of just having it with you so much (which can impact your subject matter and process), a phone is really also an interesting option. I'm just saying that if you are going to shun the very capable phone (which can create its own artistic options) then its probably good to think about all the ways in which one moves away from what the phone offers.