Merry Christmas to All FujiRumors Readers!

Is there a shortcut to happiness?

Well, I don’t know. Maybe there is.

Is it money?

Maybe money can help you to get rid of some of the stress and worries in life. Unless you have to stress yourself to make that money in the first place and worry to accumulate and guard it later on. In which case money would turn from being your (good) servant to being your (bad) master, as Michel de Montaigne would say.

But what I can tell you is who are the most happy people I’ve met in my life.

The most happy people I have met in my life were not those with the most money, but those who simply and genuinely enjoyed their relationships.

And the most happy of all were the kids, for whom relationships are everything. Those I meet since almost 20 years of teaching in my classrooms, those I met during my volunteering work and, when I was lucky enough, the kid that I met inside myself.

Kids are superior beings. Superior, but also particularly fragile and sometimes at the mercy of unfavorable conditions they carry no responsibility for.

But luckily there are some, who made it their mission to take care of exactly those kids. I’ve met a few of them in my life, and one of them is Saveth from KNGO*.

Now, I am no longer able to travel nearly as much as I did in the past. Life got me. I have a family, jobs and responsibilities that simply don’t give me the freedom to continue that type of life (but they give me many other joys). And I guess many of you are also, like me, busy to make sure we get our own stuff sorted out day by day.

But there is still something we can do for people like Saveth and the kids they take care of: make a small donation.

Because money can’t buy happiness. But it can buy school books, pencils, pay teachers, build classrooms and more. Because what’s just a few bucks for us, can make a whole of difference to them.

This is why, if you haven’t done yet any donation this year so far, I can warmly recommend you to donate to our friends at KNGO.

Here is an indication on what can be done with your money.

  • 20 Euro – one student is provided with a one-year supply of school books, folders, and pencils
  • 50 Euro covers all costs for one student for 6 months
  • 100 Euro gives a one-year scholarship to one student (the option I picked also this year myself)

Thanks to anyone of you, who decides to make a small donation to KNGO.

*How do I know KNGO?
I was in Cambodia to make fair trade T-shirts made by the amazing guys at Tonle. During my travel I stumbled on KNGO and I loved their work so much that I decided right there to donate all profits from the T-shirt sales to them. We ended up raising $5,000 for them.

Note: in the video below I silence the moment when I say “Italia”, because it was a time when I still did not want people (aka Fujifilm ;)) to know where I am located. The kids were at the Los Quinchos project in Nicaragua.

UNORDERABLE: Amazon Cancels Current Fujinon GF30mmF5.6 T/S Order, Most Samples Go to Rental Houses?

Some FR-reader got a notification from Amazon, that their Fujinon GF30mmF5.6 Tilt Shift orders have been canceled. A FR-reader also passed me the following information he has received from Amazon.

Due to a lack of availability, we will not be able to obtain the following item from your order. We’ve canceled the item and apologize for the inconvenience.

The reader then wrote me:

Since my Amazon order was canceled, I’ve been looking for anyone who would take an order and put me in the queue. I got a message from Camera West that repeated the “only a handful coming to the US each month,” but added that those are all going to rental houses. Sales to consumers won’t start until June at the earliest.

At the time of this post you can’t order the Fujinon GF30mm f/5.6 T/S on Amazon anymore at Amazon.

Other stores like BHphoto here and Adorama here have not (and will not) cancel your order. But certainly it looks like you have to arm yourself with lots of patience.

It looks like we are just about to experience yet another of those wonderful Fujifilm-unique stories, where they are not able to ship gear they have announced for many many months.

One could start thinking that Fujifilm is having a “Kickstarter” approach, where they first look at how many orders come it, and then start the production accordingly. But let’s think “positive” and just say that Fujifilm vastly underestimated the demand for that lens.

What’s your experience with the GF30mm Tilt Shift? Did you get it shipped?

Fuji’s Tilt Shift Lenses

The Latest Gear

Tokina 23/33/56mmF1.4 Discontinuation Begins, but We Want THIS APS-C Mirrorless Lens from Tokina

click the image to find out which mirrorless APS-C lens Tokina should launch (already available for Sony E mount)
click the image to find out which mirrorless APS-C lens Tokina should launch (already available for Sony E mount)

Tokina X mount – The Missing Lens

First stores in Japan are starting to mark the following Tokina autofocus lens trinity as discountinued and in USA we have Adorama marking the Tokina 23mmF1.4 and Tokina 33mmF1.4 in “Closeout”.

I can’t really say I am surprised about it, as these are Viltrox clones at a higher price. And many other manufacturers offer autofocus lenses in that range too.

To make things worst, Tokina reacted to bad sales by increasing prices on their X mount lenses, which basically killed any chance for those lenses to sell in sufficient numbers.

And yet, there is one Tokina lens, for APS-C mirrorless, that could be very successful.

It’s already available for Sony E mount and it’s this lovely Tokina lens here.

Now, I hope Tokina won’t be discouraged to continue their X mount journey due to the bad sales of their first attempt, because I believe that the Tokina 11-18mmF2.8 would sell significantly better. The only true competitor in that range would be the Sigma 10-18mmF2.8, hence there would be still enough room for sales.

via asobinet