#APS-C

Work the Image, with the XF 35mm F2!

They used to say to first get y‘self a “normal” (i.e. 50mm full frame equiv.) prime lens when starting out in photography. Gonna help you “learn how to see”, they maintained. True, however since the advent of the ubiquitous “kit” zoom lenses the new tune is that zooms can do that even better: Giving you a wide angle, and tele, and everything in between on top of that “boring normal focal length”. Way more opportunities, man! Sounds tempting, but dude I tell ya that’s total BS. Marketing hogwash. You’re getting snowed, right there! Please read on to find out why sticking on to that single, “boring” normal focal length is gonna kick start improving your photographic vision!

Façade mosaic: XF 35mm F/2 R WR on X-Pro3 @F/8, 1/420 sec, ISO 320

Before continuing I’d like to sincerely apologise to my faithful readers for not having posted anything here for so long, at least those of youse who ain’t ditched me yet 😉 (jeezus it’s been close to 4 months now …): Combination of increased day job workload (partly incl. weekends), moving house to a new apartment, taking care of my wife needing surgery on her shoulder, and of course the ongoing Corona situation (yeah, everybody’s kinda using “The Corona Excuse®” nowadays for anything screwing up & needing excusing, so why not me too?)

Ok, back on-topic: You’re an inexperienced photographer starting out or a pro in a rut, not able to find photogenic motif’s? I kid you not, that “normal” prime lens’ll shamelessly expose your photographic deficiencies and by that will force you to learn and adapt. Coz images created with a “normal” focal length approx. the same length as the image diagonal (that’s around 43mm diagonal / 50mm focal length on full frame and 28mm diagonal / 33mm focal length on APS-C) tend to offer a bit of a bland perspective, barring any optical effects. Point is, with a ‘normal’ lens the visual impact of your image needs to come from your seeing & composition skills, not from your lens. Where a wide angle would allow you to get closer to your image, creating a more exciting ‘steeper‘ perspective or a Tele would push you back from your subject, compressing your image, the normal lens does none of that. It just faithfully depicts the scene before you. Nothing more, nothing less! So it’s a lens which is gonna teach you how to see (photographically), provided you bring up the patience to work your images and learn & grow with it, that is!

Waterflow: XF 35mm F/2 R WR on X-Pro3 @F/16, 1/30 sec, ISO 160

In today’s blog for example I’ll only use Fuji’s diminutive but excellent XF 35mm F/2 R WR (53mm FF equiv.) to demonstrate the “work the image” concept: Look at the first image in this post, it lives solely off the geometric shapes and contrast of interacting façades and their textures. No fancy “effect” or anything! Because I could not “zoom” I had to walk forwards and back, bend up and down, try different framings … In the end I shot around 10 images until I’d nailed it! That’s what I mean with “work the image”: A process of moving around, using different perspectives and angles, and experimenting with the frame to drive your learning of photographic composition. Check out this great book Magnum Contact Sheets. There you’ll see that even the world’s greatest photographers don’t just walk around and magically capture iconic images with a single press on the shutter button. No they also work the image, often needing 20-30 attempts until all elements of the composition are perfect!

Digital cameras further support the learning process by giving immediate feedback via their LCD screen, speeding up the image composition optimization (In my analogue days long ago it sometimes took a week until I could see the results after getting my exposed images back from the lab …)

The value of immediate feedback: In the above image of a city fountain I at first used a higher shutter speed of 1/250th of a second. Didn’t like it when I reviewed the image on my X-Pro3’s fold out screen (well, the folding out of that screen somewhat nullifies the “immediate” aspect, but that’s a different story …). Then with a 1/30th of a second slower shutter speed the water comes out slightly blurred and creates those beautiful mosaic shaped transparent reflections! Again the normal lens’s quiet character w/o fancy effects pushes its owner to experiment more, in this case with different shutter speed / aperture combinations or with varying points of view and perspectives

Back alley: XF 35mm F/2 R WR on X-Pro3 @F/8, 1/80 sec, ISO 320

So you see, it pays to be patient and refrain from immediately buying a tele- and/or wide angle lens to give your images added oomph! Then you’re just relying on optical effects to make your images more interesting. Limiting yourself to one lens for a while will allow you to get to know that specific lens’s character and rendering. By experimenting with various distances in combination with the image framing you’ll learn to get the best composition which suits your motif. Of course if you already have many other lenses, just throw them away and your images will improve dramatically (just kidding, folks 😉). Alternatively ask your wife to lock ‘em up (she’ll love that!) or just don’t always take all your lenses with you every time (your back will thank you for that!). I found the above image by moving around until I’d found the optimal position from which the various lines in the frame (roof edges, drain pipe, shadows, wall, …) were in balance. It gave me a similar satisfaction as when pieces of a complex puzzle click into place to finally reveal the picture!

Of course you can work the image with any lens, but from my point of view the “normal” lens is best suited for this because it’s mild angle of view offers the most possibilities. With a wide angle your range of movement is limited because small changes of position dramatically change the image content: Take a step back and you’ll see lots of unwanted elements entering the frame, step forward and lose key parts of your image. On the other hand a tele lens is less sensitive to your position, limiting the potential benefit of moving around.

I hope y’all enjoyed today’s post, advocating return to a more simple, uncluttered approach to your photography - ideally focusing more on using your “normal” lens as the basis for your entire system and for learning to see (again) to optimize your composition!

Please leave me note in the comments below or on my ‘about’ page if you have any remarks, suggestions wishes or ideas!

Wish you a relaxing Sunday evening and a good start to the holiday season, please stay safe & healthy!

Kindest regards,

Hendrik

If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!

The XF 16-55mm F/2.8 - Born to be ... a Brick!

I did it. Finally. A couple months ago I bought the “Brick” (again). “Brick”? That’s the short name for Fuji’s Pro F/2.8 24-85mm full frame equivalent zoom. Fuji calls it the XF16-55mm F/2.8 R LM WR. Now why would having a zoom be such a big deal? Coz I’m a prime guy. Don’t like zooms. Then I went out and got one regardless … And it has taught me what a “Love/Hate Relationship” is. Please read on to find out more!

City park contre-jour, taken with X-H1 and XF 16-55mm F/2.8 R WR @16mm, F/8, 1/100 sec, ISO 400

Look at the above contre-jour picture taken in our city park during the early morning! I tell ya, images taken with this lens are tack sharp. Always! So, full disclosure here: I had it already back in 2017, on my X-T2 (my main camera at that time). But then sold it (despite loving its image quality), coz I found that it was not suited to low light photography in the golden hours at the beginning and end of the day having a max. aperture of “only” F/2.8. That’s 2 (two whole!) stops below my F/1.4 primes, without any OIS (optical image stabilisation) to compensate the loss of light. That’s why it’s a Brick! Or have you ever seen a Brick with image stabilisation? No? Well, I ain’t either. So, it’s a Brick. Now why would I buy a “Brick” again?

For sure y’all have heard of the “definition of insanity”: Doing the same thing over and over again and getting the same result, but expecting a different one. This quote is often attributed to Albert Einstein (also to Ben Franklin and Mark Twain …). But it was neither from those nor from Einstein, coz that quote would contradict the laws of thermal dynamics & chaos theory. Those teach us that it is actually highly unlikely that you get the same result when doing something the same way over & over … Go try shuffling a deck of cards in the same way several times and see how often you can get the same card to come out on top. See? It ain’t gonna happen, not if you’re not a halfway good magician … ;-) Actually this “definition of insanity” first appeared in 1981 in a document published by Narcotics Anonymous: A guide book to help narcotics overcome their addiction by persuading its members that it’s a futile exercise to continue using narcotic drugs and expecting to be able to stop on their own

So, maybe I ain’t “insane” after all - I got a real reason for buying “The Brick” again! Coz of what’s meanwhile changed: Fuji gave us the X-H1, first time sporting IBIS (In Body Image Stabilisation). So, on the X-H1 the “Brick” is stripped of its main reason for being a Brick: With the X-H1’s IBIS I can now use the Brick in a “Brick-less” environment (twilight, IBIS+F/2.8 @1/8-1/15 sec, comparable to no IBIS+F/1.4@ 1/30-1/60 sec). So, the X-H1 has given the Brick the chance to taste life as if it wouldn’t have been a Brick! Below another image I liked because of the subtle gradations from pure white to deep black:

White & black cars, seen with XF 16-55mm F/2.8 on X-H1 @55mm, F/8, 1/400 sec, ISO 200, -1 EV

Ok back to topic now. What are the pro’s & con’s of the XF 16-55mm F/2.8 and why do I have a “Love/Hate Relationship” with this lens?

Here the Pro’s (the “Love” relationship):

  • Fantastic image quality, comparable to Fuji’s F/2 primes already from max. aperture F/2.8 onwards. Only at its longest focal length you can find some very slight edge softness (no issue)!

  • Max. F/2.8 aperture over the whole zoom range & aperture values marked on aperture ring

  • Versatility: The 16 - 55mm range (substantial wide angle to portrait telephoto) is perfect for all-round photography, esp. when you don’t wanna change lenses (wedding, travel, dust, rain, …)

  • Flexibility: Y’all can switch from overview to detailed images at the turn of the zoom ring!

  • Excellent, extremely robust build (mainly metal, only front tube of high quality plastic): No play, no wobble. Rings have just the right resistance. Zoom doesn’t extend with lens pointing down

  • Build quality: Well centred, no dust / smears on inner lens surfaces (as some Fuji lenses have)

  • Completely weather & dust resistant (special seals to prevent sucking dust in when zooming)

  • Good close focus of 0.4m (0.16x magnification): You can take a frame filling image of your hand!

This is the kind of image I love this lens for: No need to change lenses when documenting festivities (weddings, anniversaries, parties, …) & superior, prime-like image quality from F/2.8 onwards:

Anniversary “selfie”, captured on X-T2 with XF 16-55mm F/2.8 @23mm, F/5.6, 1/30 sec, ISO 1600, flash -0.3 EV

The above image of me & my pretty wife at our anniversary was taken using the zoom’s moderate wide-angle setting of 23mm by hand-holding the camera with Brick and flash in “selfie” mode - quite a stunt to hold that rig steady at arm’s length weighing nearly 2kg (4.4 lbs) ! ;-)

And now the Con’s (the “Hate” relationship):

  • Even if the X-H1 takes care of image stabilization it’s still a Brick, as in big and heavy: Strap that Brick onto your X-H1 and you’re holding nearly 1.4kg (that’s 3lbs!) in hand! All the time …

  • This lens has no image stabilisation! Means it is less useful on non stabilised bodies (X-Pro2/3, XT-3, …), limiting how far you can venture into the golden twilight hours w/o a tripod. That’s why it was born to be a Brick! w/o image stabilisation the max. aperture of F/2.8 is just not enough …

  • It has a seriously intimidating effect on people (with a 77mm filterø it’s in full frame territory!). Try pull this thing out and point it at someone - people dive for cover and the person you wanted to take an intimate portrait of best case gives you a somewhat irritated smile & feels sorry for you!

  • I’ve a tendency to use this zoom mostly at its focal length extremes (i.e. at 16 and 55mm), less in between. This negates its flexibility a bit as I could just as well run around with 2 cameras with the XF 16mm/1.4 and YF 56mm/1.2 bolted on them!

  • I got the feeling that images taken with this multi-element zoom (17 elements in 12 groups!) somehow come out a bit “flat” (lacking the 3D pop that my primes exhibit). Just a feeling …

Edit 2020/7/20:

On the last item above, regarding tendency of multi-element zooms to maybe generate a bit “flat” image rendering … I really dunno, but if I look at below image taken with my XF 23mm F/2 in very similar circumstances as the first image of this post, I do kinda get the feeling it has more “3D pop”. Maybe I’m just imagining stuff … So, y’all please decide & let me know your comments! Take a look:

City park contre-jour, X-Pro2 with XF 23mm F/2 @F/8, 1/40 sec, ISO 400 - amazing “3D-pop”!

As you can see I’ve got quite an ambiguous relationship with this lens … In fact I don’t really use it that often, despite it’s fantastic image quality! It mostly only gets used when I absolutely need the flexibility of a zoom and/or need to work in dusty / wet environments, where changing lenses would freak me out (remember? I’d risk getting PTSD if any dust’d get onto my sensor!). The main issue I got with this lens is it’s (full frame-esque) size & weight. Holding those 1.4kg (3lbs) continuously in one hand gets annoying rather soon. If I compare this to taking along my 2 camera / 2 lens kit (2 X-Pro2’s with 23 & 50mm F/2’s attached in my compact Think Tank Hubba Hubba Hiney), I get a much more balanced kit for only 200g extra and only around 15% larger bag size. In this setup I have one camera in hand, that weighs only around half (!) of my X-H1 + Brick combo: It’s just way easier to hold only 800g in your hand over longer periods of time! Meanwhile the other camera/lens is in the bag nicely distributing the weight

Anyway, see below image I did with the 16-55 zoom. Especially architecture photography works well with zooms as you have to adjust the angle of view all the time & need in-between settings to match the image to the frame:

Town house, on X-H1 with XF 16-55 F/2.8 @17mm, F/5.6, 1/550 sec, ISO 400

Well, that’s about it with my short review of Fuji’s XF 16-55mm F/2.8 R LM WR lens: It’s undeniably THE best mid range zoom I’ve ever had (and I’ve seen ‘em all), at a very fair price of just over a grand. IF you can live with its weight & size handicap, that is. Ideally you’d combine it with an image stabilised body (X-H1 or X-T4) to enable low light hands free photography, despite the F/2.8 max. aperture

Please head over to Philip Sutton: He’s an avid user of this lens & you can learn a lot from his beautiful people photography! Actually he triggered me to buy the 16-55 again, thanks Philip!

As always, if you have any questions or would like to leave me some comments (constructive critique is always welcomed ;-)) please do so in the comments section below or send me a message via my “about” page. I will answer every one, I promise!

Wish y’all a good week & hope you stay safe & healthy,

best regards

Hendrik

If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!

Fuji ... Quo Vadis?

Today I’d like to share some thoughts and concerns on the direction Fuji, my camera brand of choice seems to be taking lately … Despite all the hype & dust kicked up over recently launched models I am absolutely NOT interested in 2 of the latest offerings (and consequently I will not “upgrade”. Ever. No sir). So, dear Fuji, in case you should one day happen to stumble on to my blog and read this, I hope you will appreciate my humble feedback and take note! For all others, please read on before you pull the trigger to maybe prevent being disappointed!

On the bike, captured by X-H1 with XF 56mm F/1.2 @F/8, 1/220 sec, ISO 200, developed in Capture 1

“Quo vadis?” is a classic Latin phrase meaning “Whither goest thou?” (or in contemporary English: “Where are you going?”). So, with this open letter I wanted to address precisely that question to Fuji … After trading in one of my X-H1 bodies around half a years ago to help finance a medium format GFX50R with a couple lenses, instead of getting one of Fuji’s brand new exchangeable lens bodies (X-Pro3, X-T4), I last week actually went out and got m’self another X-H1! Again (and it was a helluva bargain at 800 bucks too, if you bear in mind that one initially used to sell for more than twice as much!)

I mainly use my X-H1’s with my 23mm/1.4 and 56mm/1.2 lenses bolted on ‘em (as you might know I’m a paranoid about changing lenses … ;-). With these large aperture lenses coupled to the X-H1’s great in body image stabilisation feature, I can really enjoy my twilight & night photography w/o needing to lug a heavy tripod around … Now, there for sure gonna be some of youse out there sayin’ “Jeezus, how stupid can he be? With the fan-tas-tic X-T4 just launching as we speak, including image stabilisation and latest sensor and what not … WTF?” (remember Fuji saying some time ago the IBIS feature ain’t never gonna be possible in the more compact footprint of the X-T line?). With all the “ambassadors” & “influencers” parroting all over the net that the X-T4’s the next best thing after sliced bread, the very best of, THE one and only, yada, yada … Hey, that “hendriximages” guy must be totally nuts. Crazy. Must’ve just gone off the reservation by sticking to his antique X-Pro2’s and buying that miscarriage of an X-H1, despite all these shiny new “pure photography tools” (X-Pro3) and “Jack of all trades” (X-T4) being available … Might wanna go out and get some professional help right there, he should!

Yeah, well I actually use my X-H1’s. A lot. And I really like them, they’re very comfortable in hand & they got a great user interface. Sadly the internet don’t seem to agree - also the X-H1 seems to be a ‘www hate magnet’, just like the XF18 F/2 R is …

Town house triangle, seen by X-H1 with XF 23mm F/1.4 @F/8, 1/1300 sec, ISO 200, developed in Capture 1

Anywayz … For me just about the only thing Fuji did right with their latest new APS-C camera launches was the X100V. With a significantly improved lens, added weather resistance and a subtle, visible fold-out LCD, carefully evolving its design as to not lose the X100 line’s heritage, this one solved the main misgivings of the previous models & ticked all the boxes for me. For me it’s an absolute winner, finally delivering on the initial promise of a street photographer’s dream. I love my X100V and she’s always with me (especially when I’m not on a planned photo op, and then some!). Thanks God they didn’t put that crummy hidden LCD on there …

But the X-Pro3 or the X-T4? No. Those ain’t gonna be for me. Sorry Fuji, I’m just ain’t interested. Not at all!

So, if you’ve somehow managed to continue reading up to here w/o heading straight over to my comments section below to shoot me down in flames, please gimme a chance to explain! I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for rangefinder style cameras, because of their optical viewfinder (OVF) allowing for an unobstructed, realistic view of the subject, including the world “outside the frame” (great for environmental, documentary & street photography). I use that OVF for composing around 30% of my images and its existence is one of my main reasons for being faithful to the Fuji brand (no other mirrorless camera maker has this feature …)

Now let’s start with the X-Pro3. I really can’t imagine what demon took possession of product management over at Fuji when they decided to cripple the X-Pro3’s OVF (Optical ViewFinder) by restricting it to only one magnification level (0.52x). The consequence of this renders the X-Pro3’s OVF completely unusable for me. Useless. Like totally! If they were doing this to save costs they might as well could’ve better gotten rid of the OVF all together. That would’ve saved ‘em even more cost and a lot of trouble too … So, why’s the X-Pro3’s OVF crippled? Well, it kinda only really works with the 23mm lens. With the the shorter focal length of the 18mm the frame lines are outside the viewfinder’s boundaries (Ok, seems nobody ‘cept me and a couple other crazies likes that 18mm lens anywayz …). And with the 35mm (THE documentary lens, the one you might use most often) the frame lines are so small & lost in the middle of the viewfinder you kinda need a microscope to see what’s going on in there. Hell the area outside the frame shows more than the actual picture you’re trying to frame (and btw you can just forget about the 56mm or anything beyond). On the other hand my X-Pro2’s OVF with variable magnification allows 3-4 lenses to live happily in it (18mm, 23mm, 35mm, and even the 56mm in a pinch). Whereas the X-Pro3’s crippled OVF only works with 1-2 lenses, the 23mm & the 35mm (kinda)

I probably could somehow learn to live with the other 2 “upgrades” of the X-Pro3: The missing D-pad and that weird “hidden” LCD (meaning you can’t even compensate the lost custom function slots due to the missing D-pad via touch screen gestures when the LCD is hidden). OK, OK I get it, y’all can’t do no “pure” or “serious” photography if the LCD’s not hidden … But IMO all that ain’t ever gonna justify the X-Pro3’s approx. 2 grand price point. No way. Note, you can still get a new X-Pro2 (w/o the crippled OVF & w/o that dorky “hidden” LCD gimmick) for half that price, and then you even get slightly better high ISO & shadows noise behaviour to boot. And I promise, you will not not notice any difference between the 26 and 24 MP sensors either (actually I even prefer the rendering of the X-Pro2’s / X-H1’s X-Trans III sensor over the X-Pro3’s one). So, it’s kinda a “no-brainer”, if you ask me! Take a look at the beautiful shades of white below:

White in white street, X-H1 with XF 56mm F/1.2 @F/8, 1/800 sec, ISO 400, developed in Capture 1

Ok, so what about the upcoming X-T4?. Feature-wize it’s quite amazing what Fuji has packed into a still very compact body for a reasonable price (approx. 150$ less than X-Pro3): The X-T4 includes all the goodies contemporary camera tech can offer, so it’s quite impressive from a business proposition point of view. The single reason why I ain’t gonna put down my money for this one is ergonomics (or better lack thereof …): The X-T4’s shutter button is placed at a larger distance rearwards vs. the grip, and w/o forward inclination compared to the X-H1, see below image:

x-t4 vs x-h1 shutter button position.png

So, pressing the shutter requires an awkward contortion of your index finger respective to your hand holding the grip. Furthermore for my (medium sized) hands the X-T line’s body size is too small for a camera with a central viewfinder (DSLR style) layout. My X-H1’s grip is more comfortable and due to the increased width of the camera the viewfinder is in a better position. These at the end were the reasons why I never really could get used to my X-T2, subsequently selling it and never ending up buying an X-T3 (compared to which the X-T4 is even worse, because its grip is protruding even more out from the front of the body)

A more critical issue for me is the X-T4’s new “multi-angle, reversible LCD screen”. While this may be great for the vlogger- & selfie crowd it is a downright hinderance to serious stills photography. Why? Firstly it takes far longer time to fold out the LCD 180° from the right all the way to the left and then rotating it upwards if you want to look down while shooting from waist level (ideal for street photography). It can’t be slanted up- or downwards while on the back of the camera! And when folded out the whole LCD screen is sticking out to the left side of the camera like a sore thumb, making handling the camera quite a fiddly & awkward affair compounded by the complicated manipulation of the LCD screen. On my X100V I can switch between viewfinder and using the LCD at waist level in a split second - I just quickly need to pull out the bottom of the LCD a few cm in one fluid movement to slant it and can immediately look down to enable unobtrusive shots in the streets, without having to lift the camera to my eye (do that & people will immediately notice you. forget any spontaneity right there …). Apart from this you might get worried that the X-T4’s LCD’s hinge could easily break off by leveraging the exposed LCD screen against the body, while moving around to get a good perspective. To be fair I haven’t yet been able to physically try an X-T4 out, but I know all about this problem coz I had such a folding / twisting LCD in Nikon & Panasonic point and shoots a long time ago & and it freaked the heck outta me …

Summarizing, while I commend Fuji for having the courage to try out new things, for me the development direction of Fuji’s 2 new top-of-the-line ‘Flagship’ cameras has taken a completely wrong turn. On the:

  • X-Pro3 by crippling precisely THE key feature inherent to a rangefinder style camera (the OVF!)

  • X-T4 by an awkwardly placed shutter button and a cumbersome 3-D articulating LCD screen needing a time consuming manipulation and with the risk of damage due it’s exposed position when in use

These user interface & ergonomics misgivings may just be my subjective perception, but for me they’re a major blocking point to purchasing these cameras because they are a hinderance to a fluent & unobtrusive photographic process. Furthermore in my point of view the other “improvements” of these new models are not a sufficient upgrade vs. my current cameras to justify the requested price premium

Fuji PLEASE get this right on your next generation cameras, then they most probably will become unbeatable photographic tools! One of Fuji’s core strengths is listening to its consumer base. If they want to continue getting my hard earned cash they will have to quit playing around and go back to focus on core usability and ergonomic aspects of their cameras for serious photographers! All this trying to create a one-size-fits-all concept which attempts to suit everybody (photographers, videographers, vloggers and selfie aspirants) - kinda “Jack of all trades, master of none” approach will require major compromises from everyone and satisfy no one (because the requirements and processes of all these applications are so different). For me there are 3 distinct target groups, for which Fuji would do better to create dedicated solutions for and focus in fulfilling their key needs:

  • Serious still photographers

  • Videographers & film makers

  • Vloggers & instagrammers / selfie aspirants

If Fuji don’t respect these user groups’ diverse requirements they for sure risk losing their consumer centric heritage and added value vs. other brands, risking to drive loyal customers to jump ship. However I do think that the first two groups can be combined by a using a separate dedicated (stills/video) menu system, like the X-T4 has. Only, at least PLEASE go back to the X-H1, X-T2/3 type articulating LCD screen! Fuji you listening?

Sun pavillon, observed by X-H1 with XF 23mmm F/1.4 @F/8, 1/100 sec, ISO 400, developed in Capture 1

I hope this has been helpful to solve your own personal dilemmas as to what to do. I strongly advise y’all to think it over very carefully before you trade in your X-Pro2’s or X-H1’s (or X-T3’s for that matter) for the new X-Pro3’s and/or X-T4’s. There’s no way back and you might regret it, so, maybe you get a chance to try them out thoroughly side-by-side (rental or borrow a demo kit from your AD), before deciding! For me they are in no way worth their price premium!

Please leave me any questions and/or remarks in the comment section below or on my “about” page, Have a great Sunday, stay heathy and be safe!

Thanks for your interest & support, cheers

Hendrik

If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!

A Lens with Character, the XF 35mm F/1.4 R

With this post I wanted to share with y’all my love for the “oldest but goldest” of Fuji lenses: The XF 35mm F/1.4R. Despite all the great stuff which Fuji brought out after it, this first lens is the one which IMO has the most character, please read on to find out more & enjoy!

Chairs in the sun intertwined with their shadows, X-Pro2 with XF35mm F/1.4 @F/8, 1/420 sec, ISO 200

“Character” … so, whassat mean now? OK, I headed over to Merriam Webster, but they got like 10-15 meanings for it. So I guess I gotta be more specific! Basically the character of something or someone describes specific distinctive qualities and/or conspicuous traits which differentiate that individual from others and drive its personal behaviour and style. What differentiates Fuji’s XF 35mm F/1.4R lens from others is the way its rendering transitions from the sharp part of the image in the focus plane to the unsharp areas in the image to the front & the rear of the focus plane

On modern lenses with internal focussing only a few elements inside the lens are shifted to achieve focus. The advantage of this is that the lens can be more compact, its length does not change & nothing moves on the outside of the lens. However as the distances between the lens groups inside the lens change when adjusting focus, optical designers need to apply stronger correction to compensate aberrations. This (over)correction tends to generate harsher foreground bokeh and restless, more nervous (obvious) background bokeh. This can be observed in the “bokeh balls” having a defined circumference (“onion rings” in photography jargon). This occurs especially at closer focus distances and is exacerbated in case the lens employs additional aspherical lens elements to achieve that higher degree of correction. Older lens designs (to which I count Fuji’s XF35mm F/1.4R) use what Fuji calls “All-Lens-Group (ALG) Focussing”, meaning that distances between lens groups do not change. Therefore these can do with fewer aspherical elements (the XF35 mm F/1.4R has only 1 aspherical lens element):

“All-Lens-Group (ALG) Focussing” technology, courtesy of Fujifilm Corporation’s X-System Guide ©2019

“All-Lens-Group (ALG) Focussing” technology, courtesy of Fujifilm Corporation’s X-System Guide ©2019

Here the whole lens system is shifted to achieve focus, without changing the distance between the lens groups. While this tends to increase the size of the lens, reduce the focussing speed and results in the front lens barrel moving in an out of the lens body during focussing, the lens requires less correction and can deliver smoother bokeh: Case in point, Fuji’s newer XF 35mm F/2R WR lens requires 2 aspherical lens elements to achieve sufficient correction of aberrations, even it is one stop slower than the older, single aspherical lens element design of the XF 35mm F/1.4R. Please see below the beautiful, subtle rendering of out of focus areas, the blurred structures in them are much less apparent compared to internal focused lenses with several aspherical elements:

Spontaneous pic of my pretty wife, captured on X-Pro2 with XF 35mm F/1.4R @F/2, 1/2000 sec, ISO 200

Like for so many Fuji’s X100 line (it was the “S” for me) was the entry drug into a more spontaneous, carefree kind of photography, uninhibited by tons of heavy gear “ballast” and continuous choices on what lenses to take with you. “The best camera is the one you always have with you”, and the X100S played that role for me. However, while being in principle happy with its “standard” wide angle (35mm full frame equivalent) field of view I’ve always preferred the slightly tighter perspective of a “normal” (50mm full frame equivalent) lens. Soon I was a proud owner of Fuji’s exchangeable lens version of the X100S, the X-Pro1, together with the XF35mm F/1.4R. I don’t know what magic sauce they dipped this one into - the way this lens renders is just incredibly beautiful, especially at apertures of F/2.8 and larger, see also the image below:

Orchids contre jour, exposed with X-Pro2 with XF 35mm F/1.4R @F/2.8, 1/2700 sec, ISO 400, EV +1

I immediately loved this lens’s “normal” undistorted field of view, ideal for documentary type photography. Since then, “lured” by the image quality promise of Nikon’s new D850 I sold my Fuji kit and went thru a short phase of full frame photography. After a short honeymoon I ruefully returned to the Fuji fold, when I (re)discovered that full frame, even delivering amazing quality, again meant lugging a major piece of heavy kit around. Result: My photographic activity wound down, I just couldn’t be bothered & my camera often stayed at home. No camera, no images, please read also this story! I tell you, after this you learnt to appreciate the compactness of APS-C. A Fuji X100V and even an X-Pro2 with a compact XF 35mm are sufficiently small that you can always have them with you, resulting in spontaneous, lively images. See below an image of this sceptical little guy I met during a recent Sunday afternoon walk (yes, even I sometimes do cat photos …):

Little tiger in the sun, seen with X-Pro2 and XF 35mm F/1.4R @F/5.6, 1/200 sec, ISO 400

Here you can see it again, even at F/5.6 the background dissolves in a gentle blur without any disturbing artefacts, resulting in a 3 dimensional rendering of the the little tiger! Although I love the XF 35mm F/1.4R’s image quality the AF noise is quite loud (in this case quite helpful as it caught kitty’s attention 😉)

In case you enjoyed reading this article, I would like to welcome you at my website hendriximages.com for more information on my style of Black & White photography. Looking forward to seeing y’all there!

Please take care & stay healthy, OK?

Many thanks & cheers,

Hendrik

If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!

PS: If you’re interested in inspirational photography please also be sure to head over to Fuji X Passion, they got loads of interesting articles with great images to enjoy & learn from!

All You Need is LoVe ... for the X100V!

“V”, as in X100V and by the way it’s the 3rd letter in the word “LoVe”! Now it ain’t my intention to try explain what love is here, so let’s just head over to Merriam Webster (dictionary). They got a fitting definition I’d like to share with y’all: Love is … “a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties”. Another? Ok, so in this case it ain’t a person, but it’s the X100V! Please check out my user review, tips & recommended settings below after nearly 4 weeks of extensive use:

Twin lamps’ shadows, captured on Fuji X100F with 23mm F/2 @F/8, 1/350 sec, 160 ISO

See the picture above? Somehow I never seem to find that kind of images (or should I say the image found me? ;-) when using my exchangeable lens cameras (X-Pro2, X-H1, GFX 50R, etc.) … Maybe it’s the increased creativity spawned by the X100V’s limitation to one lens only or its smallness & unobtrusiveness? Whatever. Look at the image below, another example. OK, I do concede this kinda images don’t qualify as artistic masterpieces by any measure, but they do elicit a strong emotion in me, which most of my other, documentary style photography don’t. It’s somehow got something to do with how the X100 series cameras influence my approach to photography: These little cameras make you want to try out new things. Their fixed focal length animates you to experiment with light & shadows, perspective & point of view, rather than fussing around with focal lengths. You start to intensely feel the world around you, rather than just taking pictures of it. The whole experience is similar to the impressionist painting style: Impressionists like Claude Monet, or Pierre-Auguste Renoir are known for their flurried brushstrokes, they paint the scene as if they had only glanced at it for a moment. It’s just a quick, spontaneous “impression”. That spontaneity is also the core attribute that justifies the X100 series’ value for me! Below another surreal motif which captured my fancy. It’s defined by the stark contrast of the puddle’s inky blackness vs. the bright white pillars - looks like the black puddle is “leaking” from those pillars:

Pillar puddle, seen by Fuji X100V with 23mm F/2 @F/8, 1/80 sec, 200 ISO, -1 EV

Fuji’s original X100 launched in Feb 2011. It went on to become a game changer in the world of photography, mainly due to its promise of “A compact take-everywhere-with-you camera with pro-level image quality output”. Despite its undeniable (retro) charm it did however have several quirks and bugs, many of which were subsequently solved by numerous firmware updates. Since then Fuji has also launched several camera upgrades, all of which have since accompanied me for parts of my photographic life, building the aforementioned “kinship” & “personal ties” in my opening “Love” statement: After the initial X100 came the X100S = “second”, X100T = “third”, X100F = “fourth” and now, after 9 years Fuji’s fifth iteration called X100V is here (the Roman numeral “V” indicating the “fifth”)

Below night image benefitted from using the X100V’s tilting rear LCD screen. I could unobtrusively frame the image properly and wait for the right moment before firing the shutter:

Nightly bistro rendezvous, observed by Fuji X100V with 23mm F/2 II @F/2.8, 1/40 sec, 6400 ISO

The X100V is the one, which in my opinion finally fulfils the original X100 model’s promise, due to following 5 major upgrades:

  1. Weather Resistance (provided the lens is protected by a good UV filter attached to the AR-X100 adaptor ring): Finally this gives me the peace of mind to really always have the camera with me & take photos in all conditions (hey, usually that’s when you find the best images!)

  2. Articulating LCD Screen: Finally the LCD screen can be tilted. In combination with the X100V’s fast autofocus this allows me to discreetly & unobtrusively snap quick pictures from the hip while remaining in full control of image composition & lighting (no more guesswork). The slightly lower point of view also results in a more pleasing perspective in people shots. Raise the camera to your eye? People notice immediately & gone is the spontaneity!

  3. Significantly Improved version II Lens: Honestly I was never unhappy with the X100 series’ original 23mm F/2 lens: But it’s definitively no match for the improved 23mm F/2 version II on the X100V! At max. aperture it’s already sharp over the full frame! And there’s no more close focus softness nor weird lens flare patterns around bright highlights

  4. More Intuitive ISO Dial (and user interface in general): This may be a small change technically but it completely transforms the usability, as you can now leave the ISO ring in the lifted (unlocked) position & fluidly change ISO w/o needing to take the camera from your eye!

  5. Beautifully Designed & High Quality Sleek Housing: Ok, so this one don’t really influence your images but the latest iteration of this camera feels so solid & looks so beautiful, especially the silver version - you just can’t put it down anymore & constantly need to take photos … ;-)

There’s one more upgrade which is the slightly higher resolution BSI (Back Side Illuminated) X-Trans IV sensor with 26MP and 160 base ISO vs. the previous 24MP X-Trans III sensor with 200 base ISO. However I can’t really see a big difference here so for me this one don’t really qualify as a substantial upgrade … The new sensor even demonstrates slightly higher noise levels at higher ISO’s, but you really need to look very closely to see the difference, see below example taken at 1600 ISO - still perfectly OK if you ask me:

Grey vase found by Fuji X100V with 23mm F/2 @F/2.8, 1/40 sec, 1600 ISO

Unfortunately there are also 2 “downgrades” compared to the X100F which I’m not so happy about:

1. NO infinity target indicator box in the OVF (Optical ViewFinder) when using “Corrected AF Frame”:

Screenshot 2020-03-22 at 14.57.00.png

This means you lose any indication of where your AF target box will be at distances larger than your current focal position, making AF focussing using the OVF less predictable: No way of knowing to where the AF target box will jump when refocussing from near to far. If you’re at a point A on a map and you don’t know how far away point B is, how’re you supposed to know when you’ve passed 1/3, 1/2 or 2/3 of the distance toward point B? On the X100F the always visible near & far target boxes make it more easier to judge!

2. Missing D-Pad: This is partly mitigated by the ability to use gesture swipes on the rear LCD touch panel

To be fair the X100V’s EVF has a higher resolution compared to the X100F (3.69 mln dots vs. 2.36 mln dots) & it offers a more smooth viewing experience than the EVF on the X100F. Below image was composed by using the EVF (I needed the precise limit of the frame on the right side to exclude a building crane from intruding into the image & I didn’t want to have to crop afterwards … ;-)

Early morning sun on town house façade, Fuji X100V with 23mm F/2 @F/8, 1/680, 320 ISO

OK, so I can live with those lesser downsides. Not to forget there are still 2 big benefits inherent to the X100 series compared to other mirrorless cameras: A super quiet leaf shutter allowing flash sync up to 1/4000 sec shutter speed and a built in (4 stop) ND filter

In overall I gotta say that the above mentioned improvements make the X100V the most significant upgrade of the whole X100 series ever (from my point of view). The X100V finally fulfils the brave promise of Fuji’s original X100: A compact, always with you everywhere camera delivering pro-level image quality. So, how about some images of brick walls to demonstrate that “pro-level image quality”? Sorry, I ain’t a brick wall photographer really. Y’all just gonna have to believe me on that one … the X100V’s new version II lens is phenomenal. Totally rad. Simply awesome! Don’t trust me? No problem, there’s like a million of brick wall photography specialists roaming the net - just head over to them & pixel peep to your heart’s content!

There are some reports on the web about the camera heating up and the manual focus ring making grating noises. While I’ve not experienced the former I did have to exchange my first camera to get one without the grating noise of the manual focus ring …

Summing up I can without any reservations highly recommend the X100V and rate it with ***** (five stars) … It’s ideal for all kinds of documentary & street photography and for social, family and wedding photography I’m sure y’all will have a wonderful & fruitful experience with the X100V. FYI for me the X100V is a “her” coz I got an emotional connection to her & absolutely love shooting with her (her name’s “Irene”, crazy huh? ;-)

So, before I close this post I’d like to share my preferred personal Fn (function) button allocation with youse (don’t worry, it’s totally for free, kinda like a “bonus”)

These Fn button settings give me a seamless adjustment experience while using the camera, minimising the interference on the image taking process (please excuse the less than perfect image quality of the X100V’s LCD screen off my iPhone, but it’s good enough to see the settings I think):

X100V Fn Allocation 1.jpg
X100V Fn Allocation 2.jpg

  • Fn1 ………… Shutter Type

  • Fn2 ….…….. Face / Eye Detection Setting On/Off

  • T-Fn1 ……… Photometry

  • T-Fn2 …….. ISO Auto Setting

  • T-Fn3 …….. AF Mode

  • T-Fn4 …….. Natural Live View On/Off

  • AELAFL …. AE Lock Only On/Off

  • R-Dial ……. Focus Check (press to Zoom in)

  • Selector … ND Filter (pull to the right & hold for 3 sec to activate)

  • Q …………… Quick Menu

If you have any questions and/or any comments / suggestions please leave me a note in the comments section below or on my “about” page (your email will not be disclosed), I’ll answer every one of your messages!

Many thanks for visiting & reading and hope you enjoyed it! Please take care & stay healthy,

Best regards,

Hendrik

If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!

Format Battle: Fuji APS-C vs. Medium Format

First off I wish all of you a very happy & successful new year! My start into the new year was characterised by going “Full Fuji”: I traded in all my full frame kit (Nikon D850 / Z7) to get a Fuji medium format camera with a couple lenses. This means that next to my APS-C format gear (X-Pro2 / X-H1) for journalistic & documentary work I now also have a larger than full frame camera (GFX 50R) for more thoughtful, higher image quality photography. Really? How much more do you need than the already impressive image quality Fuji’s APS-C sensors provide? And be aware, the larger sensor also introduces several challenges & some disadvantages, to coin a phrase: “It’s one small step in format, but one giant leap in adapting your photography” (compared to full frame). Please read on to find out more!

Vertical shadows play on the wall, X-Pro2 with XF 23mm F/1.4R @F/5.6, 1/2700 sec, 400 ISO

Stepping up from an APS-C X-Pro2 with the XF 27mm F/2.8 R to a medium format GFX 50R with the GF 50mm F/3.5 R LM WR (both rangefinder style mirrorless cameras with their most compact “pancake” lens mounted) is quite a “leap” actually … It will increase your kit size by approx. 15%, the weight by approx. 85% and nearly double your cost (and the lenses will cost approx. 3x of what you’re used to with APS-C … 😅). Woah! To add insult to injury y’all should be aware that to get a similar depth of field on medium format compared to APS-C you’ll need to stop your lens down by nearly 2 (two!) stops more. So a F/5.6 on your X-Pro2 will need a dim F/11 on your GFX. OK, you can partly compensate this by allowing a 1 stop higher ISO (w/o seeing any negative effects), but still. Low light photography w/o tripod becomes a bit of a challenge. The next thing you gonna notice is the different aspect ratio. The above image was taken on my X-Pro2 on 3.2 aspect ratio (quite a “long” format 😉), with the veritable XF 23mm F/1.4 R attached. Based on the relation between length of sensor diagonal and focal length I’d need a 45mm lens on my GFX 50R to achieve the same (diagonal) field of view as with the XF 23mm on my X-Pro2 (both corresponding to a 35mm full frame equivalent field of view)

Now, Fuji is so kind to offer us a GF 45mm F/2.8 R WR which would perfectly fit the bill, but that one’ll set you back by another approx. 1800$ … So on account of that eye-watering price I unfortunately don’t (yet) have such a lens (Jeez, with those kinda prices you don’t just “go out and buy a lens” … 🙃). So, I tried it with my compact GF 50mm F/3.5 R LM WR instead (corresponds to a 40mm full frame equivalent field of view), see the resulting image below:

The same shadow play, on the GFX 50R with the GF 50mm F/3.5 R LM WR @F/11, 1/340 sec, ISO 200

Interesting, even Fuji was telling me the correct medium format lens to compare to the XF 23 would’ve been the GF 45mm, the width of the images appear to be very similar: Compared to the X-Pro2’s APS-C sensor with its quite “long” 😉 3:2 aspect ratio, the GFX 50R’s medium format sensor has a more balanced “shorter” 4:3 aspect ratio. But if you frame to the same width and crop (shorten) the APS-C image to the same aspect ratio as the medium format sensor you get nearly an identical image, see the direct comparison below (OK, the position of the shadow on the right side is shifted between the 2 images, but that’s due to the change in the sun’s position - I took the second image a few minutes later):

X-Pro2 image, now cropped to 4:3 aspect ratio

GFX 50R image, same as above

So how did this all play out? We wrote the year 2016, fall 2016. @Photokina Fujifilm effectively turned the world of photography upside down by launching a larger than full frame “medium format” mirrorless camera system at a significantly lower price point (-30%!), compared to any other medium format competitor. They boldly just overstepped full frame and went straight to medium format, coming from their APS-C format X-series range. Of course I was intrigued! But at that time an 8 grand entry ticket into the medium format game was still too high for me, so instead I went full frame in April 2018 (Nikon D850, see here, here and several posts thereafter …). The definitive advantage of full frame vs. APS-C is the narrower depth of field at comparable aperture, combined with the in general higher max. aperture and less high ISO noise. But in the end I had to concede that the increase in image quality (which in some cases was even not really evident, see here) was too much offset by the significant higher size & weight compared to Fuji’s APS-C offerings. Last but not least I so much prefer Fuji's user interface to the Nikon setup!

So at the end of 2018, when Fuji announced a ‘rangefinder-esque’ version of their medium format sensor camera in form of the GFX 50R at an even lower price point (around 6 grand with the standard lens), I knew I had to get my sweaty hands on one! Weighing less and more compact than my D850 / Z7 and FTZ adapter with comparable lenses at only an approx. 10% higher price? I was sold: The GFX’s medium format files demonstrate an amazing depth, tonality & 3D pop; it has traditional dial based ergonomics (like all Fuji’s); the viewfinder is on the left of the body (rangefinder style) and it has a tilting touch screen allowing discrete photography with the camera at waist level like I did with my Hasselblad C/M long times ago … Hey, what more do you want?

Before continuing the comparison between Fuji’s APS-C and medium format I should clarify that in reality Fuji’s “medium format” is actually a cropped medium format, you could say like a “macro” four thirds ;-) see the comparison of the sensor sizes below:

Sensor size comparison, courtesy of photographylife.com

Moving from APS-C to Fuji’s medium format obviously brings a massive nearly 4x increase of sensor size, whereas you only get an increase of 1.67x vs. full frame. So you could expect that image quality-wize full frame and cropped medium format are roughly comparable and both visibly better than APS-C. But when analysing my test shots I was surprised to discover that there is actually a visible improvement from full frame (Nikon D850 with AF-S 35mm F/1.4) to Fuji medium format (GFX 50R with GF 50mm F3.5)! Check out the crops below:

Crop from APS-C test shot, with X-H1 and XF 23mm F/1.4 @F/2, 1/850 sec, ISO 200

Crop from Full Frame test shot, with Nikon D850 and AF-S 35mm F/1.4 @F/2.8, 1/250 sec, ISO 64

Crop from Fuji medium format test shot, with GFX 50R and GF 50mm F/3.5 @F/3.5, 1/125 sec, ISO 320

Coming back to my original question as to how much additional value this (cropped) medium format brings vs. full frame I think there is no clear cut answer. It depends as always on your priorities & preferences! On the plus side you get fantastic files off Fuji’s medium format sensor (btw the sensor has a Bayer layout, so no demosaicing issues in Lightroom). They sport amazing detail and clarity, with beautiful dynamic range and tonality. Vs. full frame DSLR’s you get the benefit of a hi-quality EVF (electronic viewfinder), and not needing to bother with AF micro adjustment, all at a visible higher image quality level while in a comparable size package vs. full frame (and all that at a very reasonable price!). The compactness of the Fuji GFX 50R, especially if coupled with the smaller lenses (like the aforementioned GF 50mm F/3.5 R LM WR) even allows you to do some street photography (provided you have the time to get the focus right) …

On the down side, If you do chose to go the medium format route (vs. full frame) you need to accept that you will not get the creamy bokeh full frame sensors with large aperture lenses are capable of. Fuji’s medium format lenses, while delivering amazing image quality all just don’t have very large max. apertures. These modest max. apertures mean you already lose approx. 1-2 stops vs. full frame lenses of comparable focal lengths. To this you’ll need to add nearly another stop (vs. full frame) to achieve a comparable depth of field. So be aware you are looking at 2-3 stops less light gathering capability! However, due to the better high ISO performance of the medium format sensor (see also interesting comparison here) you can recover around 1-2 stops by dialling in a higher ISO value. Another challenge is depth of field. When using medium format you have to select your focal plane very carefully as the sharpness fall-off from sharp to unsharp zones is much more pronounced than the smaller formats (no worries with APS-C btw!). Also note that focus speed is quite a bit slower than you were used to on full frame …

With this 1st post of the new year I hope I could give you some food for thought and help y’all in your personal decision process! Please leave me a message in the comments section below or on my ‘about’ page if you have any questions or there’s anything I could help to clarify for you. Many thanks joining the discussion and for visiting! And once more all the best for your photographic new year!

Best regards,

Hendrik

If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!

Where Shadows Fall ... There’s Light, Merry Xmas!

First off, with this post I’d like to wish a merry Xmas to my faithful followers, and to any of youse who’ve visited my site thank you for looking by! Also a special thanks to all of youse who’ve left positive and critical comments here over the last year, by that giving me the opportunity to learn & improve my photography! For today I wanted to share some thoughts on how the fall of shadows manifests the existence of light, and how that’s also a good analogy for life (… a fitting topic for the season, don’t you think?). Anyways if interested please read on!

Deck chairs sparkling in the sun, captured on X-Pro2 with XF18mm F/2 @F/8, 1/150 sec, ISO 200

I discovered the above motif while enjoying a few days vacation with my wife in our beloved Italy (isola d’Elba to be precise): It was early in the morning and the first rays of the sun were just coming over the mountains, lighting up these old deck chairs around our B&B’s pool and casting their first light into the dark shadows with the promise of a lovely day to come. Of course you never know if that day’ll really turn out nice but it don’t harm to think it will & look forward to a great day with a smile on your face regardless! I wanted to animate people looking at my image to always think positive & look eagerly forward to what’s to come … To create that analogy my exposure was based on the bright reflections of the sun on the metal bars, thereby plunging the shadows into deep blackness (i.e. I was actually underexposing by about 1.5 stops vs. a ‘correct’ exposure). Trust Fuji X-Trans! The impressive dynamic range of that sensor ensured I didn’t loose all detail in the dark areas of the image and I could easily recover sufficient detail in post by upping the shadows slider!

Bicycle wheel shadowcast, seen on X-Pro2 with XF18mm F/2 @F/8, 1/550 sec, ISO 200

For me the above image goes the opposite route. Whereas in the deck chairs image the first sunlight was carving details out from the darkness, the shadows in the above image are actually covering them: Look at the pavement - the low angled sun’s rays are revealing every detail of the cobblestones. Only where the shadows of the bicycle’s wheel fall the details are obscured. The life analogy to this is for me that there are some dark sides to every situation. Be aware of them but don’t stress too much over them and especially don’t let them spoil your day! So in this image I actually over exposed a bit and then used the highlight slider in post to bring detail back into the highlights. Of course that works best in RAW but being an old (Fuji ACROS-R) JPEG aficionado I found that Fuji’s JPEG’s have sufficient dynamic range to pull that stunt off!

White sofa in the afternoon sun, discovered with X-H1 and XF23mm F/1.4 @F/5.6, 1/550 sec, ISO 200

Finally, in the above image I was confronted with quite an extreme contrast but wanted to still see details in the shadows and the highlights. So I exposed for average grey (ignoring that my histogram was freaking out on both sides) and hoped that my JPEG’s dynamic range would still cover it (knowing that I’d still have the RAW file to save my a** if it wouldn’t have been enough 😉). Luckily it was still OK (barely) and I could recover some detail in the darkest shadows and brightest highlights by maxing out Lightroom’s shadow and highlight sliders. So it’s the JPEG you see here, actually quite amazing! As I’d already said many times I just love Fuji JPEG’s in combination with the ACROS-R film simulation because of that simulation’s tonality dependent grain effect, which is very similar to what I was used to in the old days when using film (remember Tri-X? Man the images shot on that film had such beautiful grain!)

OK, with that I’d like to wish y’all a very merry Xmas (crazy how fast time’s flies, it was ‘just’ Xmas yesterday and now it’s the 25th again 🙃!) … and of course I wish youse a great start into the new year - may your photographic (and other 😉) dreams all come true and may you have all health, fun and success in 2020!

If you got any questions, or wish me to cover a specific topic in one of my next posts, please leave me a message in the comments section below or on my ‘about’ page - your email will not be disclosed & I promise to answer every single message! Thanks so much for visiting and wish y’all a wonderful holiday season,

Best regards,

Hendrik

If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!

Sailing Away? A Desert Island Kit!

Planning on getting stranded on a desert island? I say “planning” coz ya normally don’t “plan” to get stranded & therefore ain’t gonna be able to prepare for it, unless you got your “desert island kit” on you like 24/7/365 … and FYI “desert” don’t mean that island’ll be arid & dry (as in a Sahara-like desert), in this context “desert” is an archaic form of the adjective “deserted” (meaning devoid of people, uninhabited). Furthermore, the phrase “desert island” isn’t a recent invention derived from some ghetto slang, it’s been in the English language since around 1200 A.D.! With all that outta the way please read on to find out what’s IMO the best Desert Island Kit!

Schooner bowsprit in contre-jour morning light, X-Pro2 & XF 18mm F/2 @F/8, 1/125 sec, ISO 200, +0.7 EV

Coming back on the “planning” bit … If I’d have to move to a desert(ed) island & could only take ONE camera & ONE lens with me, it’d be my X-Pro2 with my beloved XF 18mm F/2 stuck on it (provided I’d have a solar powered battery charger to go with it - no ‘lectricity > no photography with that one!): Anyway the XF 18mm’s ideal for any & all kind of documentary photography: Wide enough to show y’all the environment but not too wide (just) to not distort people in the image. That’s of course only in case somebody else unexpectedly turns up on your deserted island 😉!

Schooner mast and rigging just before dawn, X-Pro2 & XF 18mm F/2 @F/8, 1/60 sec, ISO 200

So, if only one lens, why then take a camera where you can exchange the lens? Well, maybe I’d encounter a camera store on that desert island and then I’d get myself an XF 35mm F/2, to photograph those people which were gonna turn up unexpectedly! And while I’m in that store I´d get m’self a second X-Pro2 to prevent having to change lenses too often with all that dust blowing around on my island (see, I’m paranoid about changing lenses since changing over to digital 😰). So there you have it: My “desert island” kit would be two X-Pro2’s, one with an XF 18mm F/2 R and the other with an XF 35mm F/2 R WR - fits easily in a small shoulder bag (dimensions - around 6” x 5” x 4”, like the Hama Monterey 130)!

Tugboat’s & dinghy’s stern (= rear end ;-) … X-Pro2 & XF 18mm F/2 @F/8, 1/100 sec, ISO 200, -0.7 EV

As you can see in the above image, the XF 18mm has an amazing depth. Especially when using it in portrait format, here the rather long 3:2 aspect ratio of the APS-C format stretches the image from near to far. Due to the greater depth of field of the smaller format everything’s in focus already at F/8!

Hope this post has given you some inspiration and will animate you to go out and take images with an unobtrusive high quality kit fitting in a small bag. A desert island kit, with which you won’t really miss anything!

If you have any questions, please put them in the comments section below or leave me a note on my “about” page. Look forward to the discussion!

Wish y’all good shooting & a very nice Sunday!

Best regards,

Hendrik

If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!

Square Affair - with the X-Pro2!

Originally wanted to title this post “It’s Hip to Be Square”, like the refrain in the 1986 song “Hip to Be Square” by the American rock group Huey Lewis and the News … but it wouldna been appropriate. Any of youse know why? In that song the singer’s saying he’s starting to conform to the establishment coz he can’t stand the stress of being a rebel no more: i.e. it’s Hip (= cool, fashionable) to be Square (= conformist, following the rules). In photography most images have a rectangular aspect ratio (3:2 or 4:3). Using a square image frame (1:1) is therefore relatively rare, so you actually gotta be a bit of a rebel & break outta the rules if you wanna “go square” 😉!

Lantern and its shadow, seen with X-H1 and XF 90mm F/2 @F/8, 1/210 sec, ISO 400

Since 2010 Instagram has enjoyed a great success as online image sharing platform - until August 2015 only square images were allowed, driving somewhat of a renaissance of the square format: As Instagram is mainly viewed on smartphones, using a square image format means you aren’t required to turn your phone sideways for landscape images, allowing for a more ”smooth” user experience…

But the square format was there long before Instagram came along: Around 1930 first professional larger square format cameras appeared (Rolleiflex, Voigtländer and Hasselblad to name a few), using a reflex mirror to project the image onto a matte glass plate which could be viewed from above. This image was upright but laterally reversed. So if the camera would’ve had a rectangular image format it would have needed to be turned onto its side for portrait images, which would then have resulted in an upside-down viewfinder image! To prevent this inconvenience the manufacturers of the time stuck with a square image format

Interestingly enough there does not really seem to be much older history of the square format, eg. dating back to the times where images were still painted (at least I couldn’t find anything …)

Anyway, with the advent of the digital age came a greater flexibility regarding image aspect ratios, allowing the photographer to choose already in camera or afterwards in post production from a plethora of image formats from 16:9 to 1:1

You can apply the square format during image capture (obviously this works only for JPEG´s - the RAW image always uses the full native format of the camera) or in post production. I usually prefer to decide that when developing the image in Capture One Pro - some images only lend themselves to the square format at a second (or third) glance!

Original image, with 1:1 square crop

For example, take a look at my first image of this post. I only saw the potential for a tighter square image format when preparing it for uploading to my blog (inspiring me to create this post “Square Affair” on the square image format 😉) On the picture with the blue square frame you can see how it looked originally: Cropping it to a square shape has left out unimportant parts of the image, focusing on the main elements, lines and shadows. I imagine this has just always been a square image just waiting to be discovered! What do you think?

So, what’s behind all this “square” talk? Basically the main quality of this frame is that it creates a natural sense of balance, stability & symmetry. None of the sides is favored, preventing any distraction from the image content. The square composition allows you to eliminate negative space & superfluous elements in your image - excessive space in an image invites a viewer’s eye to wander away from the subject & makes your subject look a bit lost. The square has an inherent classic & beautiful design, which if carefully applied will make your images stand out from the crowd! Because the square lacks any horizontal or vertical bias the viewer’s eye tends to be guided in a circular motion, often converging towards the centre of the image

Wall with shadow of another lantern, captured on X-H1 with XF 90mm F/2 @F/8, 1/600 sec, ISO 400

In the above image I could leave out the right side of the rectangular frame because the shadow of the lamp already tells the story - don’t need to have the lamp itself inside the frame no more 😉)

Original image with 1:1 square crop

See here the original framing on the image with the blue square frame. In this case I was not really happy with my initial picture - should’ve gone a bit closer to leave out the white strip on the lower edge of the frame … I learnt from this that you gotta “work” the image more - instead of just one or two frames per subject it would be better to try out different perspectives, distances & framings, giving you more material to work with and increase the chance of getting that perfect image!

As you can see in the image with the lamp below the square format also circumvents the otherwise ubiquitous “rule of the thirds”: The square frame gives you more freedom to place the central element of interest - usually a slightly off-centre position of the main subject is enough to create sufficient tension in the composition!

Lantern surrounded by canvas roof, discovered with X-H1 and XF 16mm F/1.4 @F/5.6, 1/5 sec, ISO 400

Here you can see another example: The original image is nice, but includes too much empty (= “negative”) space on the left and right sides. Cropping it to a square focuses on the essential part of the image: The steps with their diagonal lines and railings. As you can see, the content of the left & right borders does not really add anything to the image & I think you will agree that the square image is much more powerful: The square frame gives the image a much more dynamic & interesting look!

Original image with 1:1 square crop

In this case I have to admit that I was planning to put this image into a square frame all along. By the way, using the full rectangular native image format and later extracting a square crop during post processing allows you to place your square off centre to create a different perspective. This can help if you are photographing a reflecting house façade or window directly from the front and want to prevent seeing your reflection in the image: You place the square all the way to one side of the rectangle, resulting in your reflection not being visible anymore!

Steps in a square frame, seen with my X-Pro2 with XF35mm F/2 @F/8, 1/180 sec, ISO 200

Now before y’all gettin’ too excited here, there’s just one caveat: When shooting square you gotta be aware (WOW, that rhymes ;-) that shooting in the square format reduces your lens’s effective angle of view. The angle of view of a lens determines how much of the image you can cover and is calculated according following formula: 𝜶 = 2arctan(d/2𝑓), where 𝜶 (alpha) is the lens’s diagonal angle of view in degrees, d represents the length of the image’s diagonal in mm (28.23mm for the uncropped Fuji APS-C sensor) and 𝑓 is the focal length of your lens in mm. For those of youse not so much into math here’s the thing: Cropping your native 3:2 aspect ratio image to a square 1:1 aspect ratio generates a field of view (FOV) which makes your lens look like the next longer lens in your system. For example Fuji’s XF 18mm / 28mm Full Frame equivalent FOV behaves like the XF 23mm / 35mm Full Frame equivalent FOV lens, the XF 23mm / 35mm Full Frame equivalent FOV like the XF 35mm / 53mm Full Frame equivalent FOV, and so on - basically you can multiply your focal length by a factor of appox. 1.2 when going square! See the below image, taken with the XF 16mm, it looks more like an image taken with the 18mm:

Dinner out with best friends, image taken on X-H1 with XF 16mm F/1.4 @F/2, 1/40 sec, ISO 2500, +0.7 EV

So I hope I’ve managed to inspire youse to experiment a bit with the beautiful, serene and classic square format, and hope you’ll “dare to be square” (again a rhyme 😉). Please share your experiences in the comments section below or leave me a note on my “about” page. Look forward to the discussion!

PS: The best thing about going square is: It don’t cost you nothin’, jeez - this accessory is completely FREE 😊!

Peace with y’all and wish a very nice weekend

Cheers,

Hendrik

If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!

LOL ... Lines of Light, the X-Pro2 Rediscovered!

LOL … “Laughing out Loud” in internet speak, but now it seems to have worn off & they ain’t sure no more what it stands for … So I thought I’d advocate a new meaning for it: How ‘bout LOL = “Lines of Light”. Amazing! For sure this is gonna “go viral” now ;-) … Let’s see, please read on to find out why!

Lines of Light, seen with X-Pro2 and XF35 mm F/1.4R @F/8, 1/550 sec, ISO 200

Lines of Light, seen with X-Pro2 and XF35 mm F/1.4R @F/8, 1/550 sec, ISO 200

Hang on … X-Pro2? Didn't he flame that one in this post some time ago? Claustrophobic narrow viewfinder, camera too large, etc.? Yeah, but somehow I seem to keep coming back to the rangefinder-esque style of the X-Pro. Maybe the combination of an optical and electronic viewfinder, like on my X100F - with the possibility to see “outside the frame”? Or the left-sided position of the viewfinder allowing you to view the world thru both eyes and not hiding your face behind the camera, thereby creating a more intimate atmosphere with your subject in people photography? … Possibly. For me however, the main reason must be the X-Pro2’s sensor and its wonderful rendering, just like on my X-H1! Look at the image below - you just gotta love the transparency of the sun’s rays streaming thru the last remnants of morning fog, drawing parallel lines to the trees’ shadows on the ground!

Sun’s rays thru the fog follow the shadows, X-Pro2 with XF18 mm F/2 @F/8, 1/14 sec, ISO 200, +1 EV

This was a RAW image developed in Capture One, unbeatable if it’s about recovering details from outta those inky shadows. As most of youse know I only do RAW development on a few difficult hi-contrast images. Otherwize I mostly stick to JPEG´s which I slightly tweak in Lightroom (Curves & Levels), where the X-Pro2´s X-Trans III sensor and Fuji’s ACROS simulation with its beautiful tonality dependent grain engine create wonderful film-like JPEG’s! I guess another reason I’m sticking with the X-Pro2 now is my worry that its successor slated to come out end of this year may have a more aggressive JPEG processing pipeline, like I recently discovered on Fuji’s X-E3 (halos around small details even with JPEG sharpening turned all the way down). Any such future development would make it difficult for me to continue my beloved ACROS-R & JPEG based workflow!

3 steps to heaven, X-Pro2 with XF35 mm F/1.4 @F/8, 1/180 sec, ISO 200

Also above image is dominated by a pattern of diagonal lines. On this one I had to use the X-Pro2’s EVF (electronic viewfinder) to find the exact position from where all the elements didn’t interfere which each other!

I hope y’all liked the post & enjoyed spending some time here, thanks for visiting & please leave me your thoughts in the comment section below (or on my about page). Many thanks & wish you great photographic opportunities for the next week! Best regards,

Hendrik

If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!

Fuji X100F in a Little Black Dress - Rediscovering Love!

OK, some of youse was worried I was gonna leave Fuji for good when I went full frame last May (pls see here). And in June I finally traded in my last bit of Fuji kit (“Irene”, my silver X100F) to help pay for one of those dang expensive full frame prime lenses. Yep that undoubtedly was a fan-tas-tic lens (y’all can read about that one here), but parting with my X100F really did give me a heavy heart … So, many thanks for your kind comments (especially @TheFujiGuy!), expressing hope that I’d return to the Fuji family. Some day (after all the “X” in my logo is the Fuji X!). Please read on for the story!

Now the day has come: I’m back together with Irene again, and this time she’s wearing an elegant little black dress 😉! Sometimes you need to experience losing something to appreciate its value! Below I’ll share my motives behind it all, what accessories I use & how I see APS-C stacking up vs. full frame and medium format!

The chair, as seen with Fuji X100F, 23mm @f/5.6, 1/100sec, ISO400

Nope, the above image can't exclusively be taken with a Fuji X100F. Any halfway proficient photographer using a camera with reasonable resolution and a decent lens can do it. Ain't the point. More important is whether you have an appropriate camera with you at all. Of course, when you're on a planned photo shoot, you got your big full frame pro DSLR kit weighing tons with you - then such images would for sure be no problem. But you can't (and don't) lug those around everywhere & all the time, right? Get a rut cut into your neck and/or shoulders for your trouble … So, I tried to get the same image with my iPhone 8 & didn't get nearly such wonderful tonal gradations nor image clarity …

This is what the magic of the X100F (or similar large sensor, small package solutions) is all about! This type of camera can. be. with. you. ALWAYS! Anytime. And it is just so much better than my iPhone! Always having a hi-quality compact camera with you alone allows for unexpected charming photographic opportunities, you'd otherwize miss. Serendipitous encounters: People don't even notice there’s a camera together with the adults in the room (couldn't resist that one 😉 - please stay tuned for a dedicated future blog post on that topic!)

The black version of Fuji’s X100F is particularly stealthy. OK, the silver version on the other hand is a more retro/beautiful eye catcher hipster kinda thing (always good for starting a chat with strangers, as I'd experienced many times). But I need my camera to enable me to discretely observe, so it was the little black dress for me, ain't she sharp now 😎? Hey, it’s like when your girl dresses up nice for a night out - you fall in love with her all over again! Please meet her below:

Back together with “Irene”, my Fuji X100F!

For those of youse interested, I like to pimp my X100F with following accessories / equipment, please click the links for more info (of course these are just my personal preferences, your taste might differ):

  • SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s UHS-I class 10 64GB SD Card (the X100F don't support UHS-II)

  • Fuji NP-W126S Li-Ion Rechargeable Battery (1 in camera, 2 spares - good for a long day ;-)

  • Fuji AR-X100 Adaptor Ring (don't use the lens hood much coz it blocks the on-board flash)

  • B+W 49mm XS-Pro UV Haze MRC-Nano 010M Filter (for fingerprint & dust protection)

  • Lensmate concave red Soft Release Button (better control of “the decisive moment” ;-)

  • Lensmate 100T black Thumb Grip (don't like the folding one for the X100F & the X100T one fits)

  • Artisan & Artist ACAM-102 black Camera Strap (very soft & takes up little room in the bag)

  • Fuji LX-100F Brown Leather Case (only use the bottom half, the front part is too much hassle)

  • Black Rapid SnapR 35 small padded bag (I think this one’s not available anymore)

  • LaCie 2TB DJI Copilot BOSS ext. HDD (control via iPhone, don't need a Mac while traveling)

Yes I know some of the above (batteries, adaptor ring, thumb grip, case, …) are available from no-name brands at lower prices, but I’ve always been a stickler for branded accessories. After all you wouldn't buy the girl of your life crappy shoes from a cheapie discount store to go with that exclusive Chanel evening dress you got her for X-mas, would you? (at least you’d learn veeeery fast that wunt’ve been a good idea after the first try …). Anyways everyone can decide for themselves onto how thin ice they wanna venture 🙃!

OK ‘nuff said about the gear, after all at the end only the images you make with it count! I loved how the late afternoon sunlight sculpts objects outta the black inked shadows in the below picture of my mom’s lounge:

The lounge, captured with Fuji X100F, 23mm @f/5.6, 1/450sec, ISO400

So what about the format comparison? Also on full frame I often use a 35mm f/1.4 (which “compares” to the X100F’s 23mm field of view). I love this focal length for its storytelling character, w/o any “wide angle” effects or distortions but a wonderful intimacy with the subject. I have to be honest with y’all here: Even my D850 @46MP has 1.4x the linear resolution of my X100F @24mp (and nearly 4x the price mind you, with the AF-S 35mm f/1.4G), but I gotta work really hard to make the difference visible in the final images (I done some direct comparisons which are a real compliment to Fuji’s little 23mm f/2 aspherical lens, but this is something for a future post, pls let me know if you're interested)

The X100F ‘s APS-C sensor has one major advantage vs. full frame in that I can shoot at much lower shutter speeds w/o hitting motion blur territory: 1/15sec is about the lowest I can reliably go on my X100F (leaf shutter), while on my Nikon (focal plane shutter & mirror) it becomes a hit & miss game with less than 1/60sec (2 stops more!). OK I was cutting it fine here, the below image @1/17th is just a shade before being borderline blurred ;-)

Locked & loaded, Fuji X100F, 23mm @f/2.8, 1/17sec, ISO3200

So y’all might say: If he’s so crazy about image quality & the the 35mm full frame equivalent field of view, why dunt he get himself a medium format, like the Fuji GFX 50S or R just come out? Yeah, right I was debating that one for a while … Now if you just ignore the even higher price gap of best case (GFX 50R with 45mm f/2.8) a factor of 4.5x vs. the price of the X100F for a while, the bigger issue from my p.o.v. is that going medium format would force me to sacrifice another 2 stops of light eating shutter speed. How so? Let's assume we keep the ISO at the same level, photographing a scene at f/2 and 1/15sec with my X100F would require at least 1/125 on the GFX - one stop more than full frame to prevent motion blur & another stop coz the the medium format 45mm GFX lens has a one stop slower max. aperture of f/2.8 compared to the X100F's f/2. So in total were talking 4 (four!) stops less handholding shooting capability than my X100F here! Summarizing, see below the comparable handholding scenarios for an equivalent field of view:

  • Fuji X100F with fixed 23mm f/2 aspherical lens @f/2 and 1/15sec = Baseline

  • Nikon D850 with AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.4G @f/1.4 and 1/60sec = 1 stop less handhold capability!

  • Fuji GFX 50S/R with GF 45mm f/2.8 R WR @f/2.8 and 1/125sec = 4 stops less handhold capability!

OK, so to be fair you do get more resolution & dynamic range outta the larger sensors. But what's the point if your image is blurred, making you lose the shot? For me the combination APS-C for candids and full frame for landscape, architecture, beauty is the better deal! Don't need medium format. Curious what you think!

Enjoying the winter sun, Fuji X100F, 23mm @f/4, 1/950sec, ISO400, on board fill flash w/o correction

Last but not least, I love taking pics of my pretty wife (she must be the most photographed person on the planet …). A small camera like the X100F is much less present (also coz with an electronic shutter it’s totally quiet), much less intrusive & much more intimate, resulting in so much more natural pictures. Mostly she don't even notice, but with a full frame DSLR banging away I often got a “Jeezus, again a photo” look 🙄 … Another reason I rediscovered my lost love for Irene, my Fuji X100F (and my wife’s not even jealous 😅)

So, I hope y’all enjoyed my ramblings - just leaves me to wish you’ve all had a very nice X-mas celebration together with your families / loved ones & will all enjoy a great new & successful year 2019! Have a wonderful holiday season! Many thanks for visiting my blog and for your constructive comments / suggestions,

Best regards,

Hendrik

I hope this post was helpful / interesting for you - If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!