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Deals and Sales, Equipment

New Fujifilm X-Pro2 — and X-Pro1 Discounts

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Fujifilm announced the new X-Pro2 digital mirrorless camera today., The announcement provides very interesting opportunities for photographers — one being the new camera itself and the other being an extraordinary low price on its predecessor, the X-Pro1. (The X-Pro2 is now available for pre-order at B&H.)

The New X-Pro2

Fujifilm X-Pro2
Fujifilm X-Pro2

The X-Pro2 is the updated successor to  XPro1. The newer camera will feature:

  • A compact rangefinder style mirrorless design
  • 24 MP 1.5x cropped format sensor
  • Improved autofocus capabilities
  • A hybrid optical-electronic viewfinder
  • Manual controls for shutter speed, aperture, ISO, more
  • Wifi equipped
  • …and more
  • Body-only price is $1699 — preordering now available..

The X-Pro2 is now available for pre-order at B&H. I’m almost certain to upgrade to the X-Pro2 from the  X-E1 that has been my primary street and travel photography camera for the past three years.  (The current updated equivalent of my camera is the X-E2.) Since I’m sold on the Fujifilm system — bodies and lenses — the X-Pro2 will bring features that I’ve wanted for some time.

(See a Fujifilm press release for the X-Pro2.)

The Old X-Pro1

Fujifilm X-Pro-1
Fujifilm X-Pro-1

The announcement of the X-Pro2 brings a very special opportunity for folks who could use the X-Pro1.  The X-Pro1 provides

  • The same compact rangefinder design
  • An excellent 16MP 1.5x cropped format sensor
  • A hybrid optical-electronic viewfinder
  • … and more
  • a very low price of $499 for the body-only!

While the X-Pro2 most certainly brings useful  advances, the X-Pro1 is also a fine camera, and at this very low $499 price (it was originally $1299) it is a tremendous bargain right now. If you poke around a bit at the B&H website, you can find it with a lens for $699.

Other New Fujifilm Gear

Fujifilm also announced several other new products including…

This website has an affiliate relationship with B&H Photo. Your purchases through website links return a percentage of the sale price to this website — but your cost remains the same.

One More Thing

Regarding Fujifilm cameras, a quotation from Fuji X-series senior product manager Takashi Ueno in the British Journal of Photography says a lot:

“We are in a very good position to make a medium format camera, as we make camera bodies, sensors and lenses. We already make the lenses for Hasselblad, so we have that expertise.”

  1. Fujifilm, a company with a history of producing some excellent medium format film cameras, is becoming more open about their interest in medium format digital. (Note that they have not actually announced a product. Yet.)

  2. If you have wondered why those of us using the Fujifilm system are so enthusiastic about the beautiful Fujifilm lenses, re-read the quote if you missed it the first time and note whose lenses they currently make.

BJP article here, with the medium format discussion on page 2.

Continue reading New Fujifilm X-Pro2 — and X-Pro1 Discounts →

Deals and Sales

For Sale: EF 24mm f/1.4L II and EOS 5D Mark II Body

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I am selling some equipment that I no longer use:

Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L IICanon EF 24mm f/1.4 L II lens – This is the newest version of Canon’s wide-angle, large-aperture 24mm prime lens, known for its excellent image quality and performance at large apertures. This lens is in “like new” condition — no scratches or blemishes, as it was purchased for a particular project and only used minimally for that purpose. Includes lens, both caps, hood, pouch, and original box. Reduced to $1050.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR body-only — This is the 21.2 MP full-frame DSLR body that I have used to make the great majority of the photographs you see on this website and elsewhere. I am selling it now that I have acquired a 5Ds R DSLR body. This is a “well used” camera body — it is not in new condition, but everything works well and nothing is broken. It includes a body cap, several batteries (not new), the charger, the original box, and a few other small odds and ends. This is a fine body for someone on a budget who wants a solid full frame camera. $900. Does not include a lens. Camera SOLD 7/1716

I prefer a person-to-person cash sale in the San Francisco Bay Area — that way be both know what we’re getting. Leave a comment on this post or email me if you are interested in either item.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Equipment, Technique, Tests

The Canon 5Ds R — Autofocus ‘Torture’ Test

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OK, “torture test” might be overstating things just a bit, but I’ve been meaning to check out a few things related to the capabilities of the autofocus system of my new Canon EOS 5DS R. A few years ago birds, especially winter migratory birds, became one of my photographic passions. While this camera is not really optimized for this sort of photography, I plan to use it for this purpose, as I did my 5DII.

The Landing
A brown pelican joins the flock on a rock along the Pacific coast of California

Most often when I photograph birds I use the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens. It usually provides enough reach for my purposes, it focuses accurately and quite quickly, it is sharp, and its flexibility fits my style of photography. (I often pause while photographing the birds and use the lens to photograph landscapes.)  It was my understanding that the 5Ds R added the capability to autofocus (AF) at smaller apertures down to f/8. This means that I should be able to add my Canon Extender EF 1.4x III tele-extender to get 560mm at f/8 from this lens.

A few days ago I was doing landscape/seascape photography along the Central California coast between lower Big Sur and San Francisco. On the final afternoon as we drove north we passed a small island where scores of brown pelicans had landed. Continue reading The Canon 5Ds R — Autofocus ‘Torture’ Test →

Commentary, Equipment, Post-processing Workflow, Technique

Post-Processing: A Shadow Recovery Example

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(In another forum someone asked a question – actually, more like posed a challenge – related to how much usable detail and quality could be extracted from a raw file that contained areas of very low luminosity, as could happen with a badly underexposed image or with an image of a scene with a very large dynamic range. Since I went to the work of responding and illustrating my response, I figured that I might as well share it here, too. With minor revisions, here it is.)

First, I actually have a “real” version of this photograph in which highlights were slightly blown, but which I preferred to use since I could bring them back in post and get a bit more shadow detail to start with. (It looks a bit bright to me as an on-screen jpg, but it makes a fine print.) That photograph ended up looking like this:

Kolob Canyon, Morning - Morning light slants over the top of sandstone cliffs above early autumn foliage in Kolob Canyon, Zion National Park
Morning light slants over the top of sandstone cliffs above early autumn foliage in Kolob Canyon, Zion National Park

This photograph and the other I’ll move to below were both shot from a tripod with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II at ISO 100 using the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS at f/16. While the “keeper” used for the photograph above had a 1/4 second exposure, the example I’ll use below was shot at 1/30 second.

The exposure challenge in this scene was the very large dynamic range between the bright spot of sky at the head of the canyon and the much darker colorful foliage in relatively deep shadow in the foreground. Exposing for optimal quality in the foreground would completely blow out the sky, while exposing for the sky would necessarily grossly underexpose the foreground.

I originally thought that I might like to have four bracketed exposures in case that would let me produce a better final image via layer blending, but it turned out to be unnecessary and the final image (as shown above) has a single source file with no blending. However, this means that I still happen to have one very badly underexposed (by three stops) version at 1/30 second which I’ll use here as the starting point for what I plan to illustrate in this post. Follow along with me and see what I can do with the very underexposed version of the file… Continue reading Post-Processing: A Shadow Recovery Example →