Tag Archives: fujifilm

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Brewery Window

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Brewery Window
A window at Hapa’s Brewery in San Jose, California

Brewery Window. San Jose, California. June 21, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A window at Hapa’s Brewery in San Jose, California

Today’s photograph is the result of something other than endeavoring to go out and make photographs, but it might also be evidence that some kind of photograph can be made almost anywhere at almost any time. We heard there was an event hosted by Fujifilm at a relatively new brewery not too far from where we live. We have been meaning to visit this place for months without ever quite managing to go, but the prospect of getting to play with a range of Fujifilm camera equipment and try out a new brewery was enough to get us to go.

The premise of the event was loaning various Fujifilm cameras and lenses to interested folks for fifteen minutes at a time. I already really on a Fujifilm system for my street and travel photography, but I thought it would be fun to play with their tiny rangefinder X100F, a small fixed-lens camera in the street photography tradition. I didn’t have a lot of exotic subjects to work with — basically a brewery full (mostly) of people trying out cameras! This photograph had two goals. The mundane one was testing the bokeh of the fixed lens on this small camera. The aesthetic angle was placing the window frame in such a way that it divided the background into four independent images rectangles that are quite different from one another.

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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Commentary, Equipment, Reader Questions

A Few Thoughts On EVF Versus OVF Cameras

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This is one of my occasional posts adapted from something I wrote elsewhere but felt might we worth sharing here on the blog.

A person had asked about “switching” from a Canon DSLR to a Fujifilm mirrorless camera, and some others had replied with points about the ergonomics of the smaller cameras along with some comments about using electronic viewfinders (EVF) in place of optical viewfinders (OVF). Since I use both (OVF and EFV, Canon and Fujifilm) I thought my thoughts might be relevant. 

Note: A few details of the article were updated on March 8, 2018 to reflect more recent developments – for example, referring to contemporary products from companies mentioned here.

EDITING CURRENTLY UNDERWAY

If the goal is a smaller camera and you already are invested in a Canon DSLR system, one option is to consider one of the much smaller Canon bodies. I know a couple of serious photographers who use the little SL1 for travel and certain other kinds of photography, often with smaller and lighter lenses. This gives you a traditional SLR OVF if you are concerned about using an EVF.

Here are some thoughts about perceived/real potential “downsides” (from some perspectives”) of the Fujifilm x-trans cameras specifically and regarding mirrorless cameras in general:

The EVF — The EVF versus OVF issue is complicated and, in a number of ways, subjective. Early on there was a lot of resistance to the EVF products — I think it was a combination of resistance to something new along with the relatively poorer performance of the initial versions. (They were slow, had lower resolution, and generally did not provide as positive of an experience.) I had such cameras a long time ago. (Does anyone else recall the Canon Pro1 of a dozen years ago?) More recent EVFs are far better in every measurable way — though they still won’t be for ideal everyone.

EVFs have pluses and minuses. In the minus category…

  • they show you a video image of the world, rather than an optical view of the “actual” subject
  • as video devices they are never be truly realtime displays — there is always at least some display latency
  • it takes more battery power to drive a video display.

In the plus category…

  • they are usable in extremely low light due to exposure simulation
  • additional useful data can be overlaid on the scene image
  • useful focusing aids can be incorporated into the display, etc.
  • they can reduce the size/weight of the camera and permit use of smaller lenses

In the end, you simply have to try an EVF camera for a while. Lots of people are fine with them, and even some of us who prefer the quality of an OVF are happy to use EVF if it is part of a package that has other advantages for the kinds of photography we are doing. Continue reading A Few Thoughts On EVF Versus OVF Cameras →

Deals and Sales, Equipment

Fujifilm Camera/Lens Promotion

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FUJIFILM PROMOTION

I’m a big fan of the Fujifilm x-trans cameras and the Fujifilm lenses. (I use the XPro2 and several of the lenses for my street and travel photography. Fujifilm has one of their periodic promotions going on up until close to Christmas, and it reduces prices on cameras and lenses by as much as $400. Here is a list the items from site-affiliate Adorama. (You can also fine many of them at site-affiliate B&H via their link in the sidebar, and their Black Friday link at the end of this post.)

(Link to all.)

Cameras

Some of the best bargains here are on older 16MP cameras such as the XT10, XT1, and X100T, but there is good pricing right now on the newer 24MP XPro2, the camera I currently use.

Lenses

The Fujifilm lenses are excellent, and they cover most photographers’ needs. The primes are excellent — I rely on the 14mm f/2.8, 23mm f/1.4, 35mm f/1.4, and 60mm f/2.4 macro. I’ve used the 18-55mm kit lens and the 55-200mm tele-zoom, which is a very nice lens in a compact, light and affordable package.  Recently I have also been using the 50-140mm f/2.8, which is the equivalent of the high end 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses from major DSLR manufacturers. I’m likely to acquire the 16-55mm f/2.8 before long.

(Note: the numbers in parentheses are “angle of view equivalent focal lengths” on full frame cameras.)

Equipment, Reviews, Tests

A Small Test: Fujifilm X-Pro2 Mirrorless and Active Subjects

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I want to share the results of a little informal test I did today using my Fujifilm X-Pro2 (B&H | Adorama) mirrorless interchangeable lens camera and a Fujifilm zoom lens to photograph an active subject. First, here is an unremarkable photograph, aside from the fact that I would probably not have used my previous mirrorless camera to photograph this subject.

Fujifilm X-Pro2, ISO 400, f/8, 50-140mm lens at 140mm, handheld
Fujifilm X-Pro2, ISO 400, f/8, 50-140mm lens at 140mm, handheld

Read on to find out why I photographed this and what I learned from it.

Background

I first used a mirrorless digital camera way back before the 21st century began — before there were DSLRs there were a number of early digital cameras, and my first was an Apple QuickTake! I used several others from a range of manufacturers before I acquired my first DSLR in about 2003.

As a group, mirrorless cameras have had some problems. One of the most glaring has long been slow autofocus (AF) speeds. Those very early cameras were often just plain awful in this regard, but they got better over the years.

Until recently I used a Fujifilm X-E1 mirrorless interchangeable lens camera, and it was my primary camera for travel and street photography for about 3 1/2 years. Its AF was fine for most things, but I also had to learn to adapt to slow AF in low light and with low contrast subjects — and the issue was more acute with some lenses than with others. For this reason — and a few others, including electronic viewfinder (EVF) display latency — I would never have thought to use that camera for photograph active subjects. Continue reading A Small Test: Fujifilm X-Pro2 Mirrorless and Active Subjects →