Loosing and regaining interest in old gear

Recently I've been inspired by other photographers and it lead me to grab my old 24-70mm f2.8 on a couple of shoots. The results were amazing and switching from my big, bulky, and heavy Fuji GFX50s to my much lighter EOS RP had made me loose interest in the 50MP beast and I was considering selling it off entirely.

Fuji GFX50s + GF45mm f2.8

So what's changed my mind? A few photographers, such as Wan Chaofan (author of: Yes, The River Knows ー Arakawa River), have inspired me to try something new with my old gear by focusing on what it can do that my other cameras can't; panoramas. The GFX50s is able to shoot the X-Pan ratio of 24:65 in camera, which is wonderful, and in combination with the 50MP sensor ends up producing a 25MP (8256×3048) image. To do this with the EOS RP, I'd have to stitch two images side-by-side. That's not an issue if you're shooting landscapes off a tripod, but virtually impossible if you're shooting on the street handheld.

Fuji GFX50s + GF45mm f2.8

I do recognize that these images really aren't much to look at. I took them on my way home without much thought, but I do think they prove the point that you can find inspiration when you look for it. In a sense, I was looking for reasons to not sell the GFX50s off. I was considering exchanging it for the Canon R5 or the Sony A7Riv since the only thing I was using it for was scanning film.

Fuji GFX50s + GF45mm f2.8

Switching to the Sony A7Riv has been on my mind for quite a while, but I do think that it would not inspire me to use it very much. It's too good in a way. The whole reason why I've gone back to shooting film is to be more in touch with the process of making the image rather than knowing that the camera will do everything for me and no RAW file will be unrecoverable if I screw up. All the stakes that made photography challenging seem to have gone in the past few years with technological advancement of cameras.

Fuji GFX50s + GF45mm f2.8