Will Barton

The Sigma fp L is a strange little camera. Little because it’s barely larger than the the lens mount. Strange because it has a 61MP senso and some significant drawbacksquirks that you have to work around. But maybe that’s part of its charm.

I got it because I was intrigued by the size and the relative affordability it brought to that resolution. I’ve come around to thinking the fp L is the best camera for a certain photographic niche that I find myself in. It has exceptional image quality for lightweight walking/hiking travel, landscape and environmental photography. If you can work around those quirks.

At this year’s Wagtail Space US, a conference dedicated to the Wagtail content management system, my friend Tim Allen hosted a panel on (Wagtail) packages, the challenges of maintaining them, and the small joys of being a maintainer. It was a good discussion, and you should watch the full panel if you’re interested (once it’s posted). I have some reflections on I wanted to write up coming out of it.

After my successful effort to capture the eclipse in 2017 I was hooked. I made plans to see the total eclipse of April 8, 2024 early. I figured I’d take my full astrophotography rig since it totality would be driving distance from my home.

That was until I went out to practice setting up during daylight. Getting good enough polar alignment to allow me to track the sun during daylight was doable, but it was somewhat frustrating. The thing I learned in 2017 was that the solar eclipse is not a photo opportunity, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I didn’t want to clutter the experience with the tedium of equipment setup and alignment.

What I optimized for was: keeping the photography simple so I can enjoy the experience of totality. I think I did this somewhat less intentionally in 2017, but that became an overriding concern for 2024.