Tag Archives: digital

Deals and Sales, Equipment, Reader Questions

Reader Question: Sony Versus Fujifilm

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6/28/16: Slightly updated on 6/28/16 to reflect my acquisition of the Fujifilm X-Pro2  (B&H | Adorama) and a few other things.

Today I am sharing  another reader question and my response. This one came from “Greg” in a response to a post on my Facebook page:

Hi Dan, have heard good things about the Fuji cameras. Have also heard good things about the SONY cameras. Both are mirrorless, but the SONY is a full-frame while the Fuji is APC/1.5X. Is there a reason you would choose the Fuji over the SONY – you indicated in the article you have been using the  X-Pro1 and will be moving up to the  X-Pro2… Illuminate me on the subject

That is a great subject to consider, Greg. Both Sony and Fujifilm are making some very fine mirrorless cameras these days, but for my purposes the Fujifilm is a better fit than, say, the Sony a7R II full frame mirrorless camera that Greg is thinking of. (Small correction: I have not been using the X-Pro1. I have used the X-E1 for the past three years and I now use the X-Pro2.)

Before I explain, I must acknowledge that the Sony is an excellent body, and another photographer may well find it to be the best choice for his/her needs. The Sony a7R II is, as you point out, a full frame body and the current version has a 42MP sensor rather than a 24MP sensor. The sensor is known for its low noise and excellent dynamic range. Sony has some native lenses, but lots of folks are using their Sony cameras with a range of third party lenses, including those from their Canon and (now) Nikon DSLRs.

So, with all of those positives, why Fujifilm? Continue reading Reader Question: Sony Versus Fujifilm →

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 →

Technique

Sharpening Basics: A Primer

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(Minor updates to this article were made in February 2019.)

Sharpening is a very important step for optimizing digital photograph files. If you let your camera save images in the common .jpg format (a compressed image format that is often used on the web) the camera is applying sharpening to the image produced by the camera sensor. If you use the raw format (a high quality format that retains the original sensor data of the exposure) you will find that the photograph looks soft until you apply sharpening during the post production phase.

Sharpening optimizes the visibility of details that are already in your photograph. It is a matter of more clearly revealing what is in the photograph than  a matter of creating detail where there was none. Most sharpening works by increasing the contrast between light and dark areas in the image — what we call sharpening as actually more about adjusting the relative brightness of adjacent portions of the photograph.

Typical sharpening

The image above is an example of a small section of a photograph.[1] It is a “100% magnification crop” of a tiny area from a much larger photograph made with a high megapixel DSLR camera. A “100% magnification crop” is an image displayed so that each pixel — or individual picture element — of the original photograph is displayed using a single pixel on the screen. (Things are a bit more complicated than that when using modern high-resolution monitors, though I’ll let that description stand for now.) 100% magnification crops let us look very closely at what is going on in photographas “at the pixel level.” In this case, the full original image from which these small examples were extracted would be equivalent to prints at a width of roughly 10-12 feet.

The right side of the example shows this tiny section of the photograph before sharpening. The left side shows the results of fairly typical sharpening. Continue reading Sharpening Basics: A Primer →

Deals and Sales

Fujifilm Deal: X-Pro-1 And Lens Bundles

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There is a special deal right now on the Fujifilm X-Pro-1 mirrorless camera if you purchase it with a couple of available lens options:

Yes, you read that correctly — the 27mm lens is essentially free with the X-Pro-1, and for $150 you can also get the outstanding 35mm f/1.4 XF R lens which is sold separately for $599! (This is the lens that is almost always on my X-E1 body.)

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

If you are interested in trying out the Fujifilm sensor system, like rangefinder-style bodies, and like to shoot with small, high quality primes, this seems like a great deal to me.

These days I use two different camera systems, depending on what kind of photography I’m doing. While my main system is based the Canon EOS 5DS R DSLR, I also use a separate system based around one of the Fujifilm X-trans mirrorless sensor cameras. I still use the original Fujifilm X-E1, even though it has now been superseded by newer models including the Fujifilm X-E2, the Fujifilm X-T1, and the less expensive Fujifilm X-T10.

The first of the interchangeable lens X-trans sensor bodies was the Fujifilm X-PRO-1. This was — and in many ways, remains — a groundbreaking camera. Continue reading Fujifilm Deal: X-Pro-1 And Lens Bundles →