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
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
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