(The post you are about to read is part 4 of my Trips ’23 series that started with this post here. In essence, it’s a celebration of all my 2023 trips that took place following the relaxation of Covid restrictions).

Hoi An

Let’s spend a few paragraphs to talk about this place before diving into photography talk.

Hoi An is a small town in Vietnam, adjacent to Da Nang city. It’s an old trading port and the town is very well preserved. It’s a UNESCO world heritage site and now a very popular spot for tourists. So popular that – as always – over tourism and its impacts had become a point of concern.

Why we ended up here was quite accidental. There was this public holiday we wanted to take advantage of and my girlfriend was into flying out somewhere… Call it post-Covid revenge travelling.

It was just for a couple of days, weekend included, so this somewhere had to be close. Taiwan was not an option, because we already had a trip to Taiwan planned for the subsequent weekend (!)… Hence Hoi An felt like a good option. My other half had never been to Vietnam and flying to Da Nang from Macau it’s a less than 2 hour flight, so why not?

And what camera did I bring with me?

The Nikon Df. Currently the only DSLR from my collection.

Since the arrival of mirrorless I had always advocated against DSLRs. The mirror box and pentaprism – that super complex mechanism that takes the light from the lens all the way to the viewfinder – I called it obsolete ever since mirrorless cameras offered TTL view with much simpler electronic means.

Yet one day I realized EVFs, while they offer many advantages, they are nevertheless an electronic interface that exacerbate the electronic feel of a camera. Thus I stayed attached to my Epson R-D1x and my Leica M-E because of their optical finders. By the same token, I sold my everyday Fujifilm X-E3 to get an X-Pro3 for its trademark hybrid optical viewfinder. I was avoiding EVFs, in short.

When the Nikon Df was released in 2013, I felt it was a half baked attempt to get into the popular classic style camera segment. I explained my views in detail here in this review. But several years after its release, I gave it a second thought because I missed cameras that feel like a camera.

The mechanical feel of a DSLR, the click-clack sound and vibration of the mirror box, the optical finder. I realized a Nikon Df with old manual Nikon AI lenses could give me the same simplicity and pureness I get with my Leica M-E and Epson R-D1x. So I bought a second hand Nikon Df and the three lenses you see above. Care to know more about the lenses, you can check here.

Travelling with the Df

I bought the Df in 2020 during the Covid restrictions and never had the chance to travel with this camera. So I decided to bring it with me to Hoi An.

I took both 35mm f/2 and 50mm f/1.8 lenses with me. How did they perform?

Some photos below for a first taste:

First thing to note here is that every photo above was post-processed to taste. Which is not my usual practice, because normally my photos are straight out of camera. Meaning that normally I’m happy with the camera’s native outputs.

But not with the Nikon Df. And this felt like travelling back in time. I remember the days when every single digital file from my Canon DSLRs had to be adjusted and enhanced in Photoshop because straight out of camera files were not sharp and lacked punch. This was in the early 2000’s.

Sensor reflection

Maybe you are too young and did not experience this. When the first DSLRs came out, the selling point was that to jump from analog to digital, need not buy new lenses, only a new digital body. You could keep using the same system lenses. So they said.

Then later on people started complaining about flat and foggy photos from their DSLRs. Then someone realized in some situations the light hitting the digital sensor would bounce back to the lens. Light rays were ricocheting back and forth, something that did not happen with film.

Then these new lenses came out: DSLR lenses with a special coating to mitigate this problem, specifically produced for digital, which offered higher contrast outputs.

So we ended up burning our cash with new lenses made for digital. Because old ones lacked the proper coating and would produce foggy, grayish, low contrast photos.

Why am I referring this? Because some photos you see above suffered from this issue. Especially the ones taken outdoors under a bright blue sky: those came out flat. I had to edit and manually enhance the contrast, saturation and so on.

Using the Nikon Df with old Nikon AI manual lenses is good fun, very pure and back to basics. But there is a risk for this to happen. Funny enough, I did not notice this when using the camera years ago, even shooting outdoors. So it depends on the situation.

Is it the end of the world? Of course not, only need to spend a few minutes to enhance the photos, that’s all.

Strolling around Hoi An…

…with a Nikon Df was not very practical and after a few days I decided to leave the camera in the hotel. Why? Well, because I am no longer used to carrying a DSLR around for hours. Even though the Df is actually quite small for a DSLR.

The reality is that I’ve got so used to small, light and capable cameras that now it bothers me to carry a bulkier device for a full day. I love my small cameras like the Sony RX1Rii that I can’t stop praising. Or my Fujifilm X-Pro3. Or even my Leica M-E.

And in places like Hoi An, which are quite crowded with tourists, and you have to deal with the rain, the heat and the humidity… You really need to be in the mood for taking photos under these conditions, or else your camera becomes a burden.

Yes, this happened to me with the Df and it could happen with any other camera as well, I admit. But the Df being that little bit heavier and bulkier than other mirrorless cameras exacerbated the issue.

Having said that, the Df is capable of good outputs.

Who needs a camera anyway

Not really what I mean. A camera is always a camera, but if you decide to leave it behind, nothing stops you documenting your trip with your smartphone. As strange as it may sound, coming from an amateur photographer: going out without a camera actually liberates me. Feels like I take off the burden of having to take photos.

With the iPhone I was able to take the photos below of this museum in Hoi An. Indeed, an interesting component of Hoi An is that you can visit these old houses – they call them museums, which may sound like a stretch – where people and families actually live in. So it’s not that they are faking it, these things are genuine and well preserved, and open for the public to visit.

Hoi An town is basically made up of these houses. Fashion stores, bars, restaurants, museums. They all operate in these old one story houses with a narrow street front and deep land plot. Wood is abundant for construction: beams, flooring and roof structure. Some members show intricate decoration, others are plain.

Street atmosphere at night is quite colourful:

Both photos above taken with my iPhone. Below, for the sake of comparison, taken with the Df:

Last words

I’m probably not travelling with the Df again. I like how it looks, I like how it works, I like the feel of the old lenses, I like to manual focus. But perhaps I’m too old for this. Small cameras with AF are a better choice for travel. I’m no longer carrying DSLRs around for a full day!

With this statement, I’m closing this post… And meanwhile will find time to write my next post, the trip that took place a few days after returning from Vietnam: Taiwan with the Fuji X-Pro3.

Cheers!