Photo of the week - February 10, 2015

Rincón, Puerto Rico. Fuji X-E1 with 10-24mm lens at 10mm, f/10.

Photo of the week - February 3, 2015

La Mina Falls, El Yunque, Puerto Rico. Fuji X-E1 with 10-24mm lens at 10mm, f/10.

Photo of the week - January 27, 2015

Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Fuji X-E1 with 35mm lens at f/1.4.

Photo of the week - January 20, 2014

Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Fuji X-E1 with 35mm lens at f/1.4.

Photo of the week - January 6, 2015

Basketball court at dusk in the La Perla neighborhood of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Fuji X-E1 with a 10-24mm lens at f/4.

Photo of the week - October 7, 2014

Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles, at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. Fuji X-E1 with 56mm lens at f/1.2.

Photo of the week - September 30, 2014

Sam Bush at World Cafe Live at the Queen in Wilmington. Fuji X-E1 with 56mm lens at f/1.2. See more photos from this show here.

Photo of the week - August 19, 2014

Photo of the week - August 12, 2014

Photo of the week - July 22, 2014

Jagged, our guide when hiking the Franz Josef glacier in New Zealand. Fuji X-E1 with 10-24mm lens @ f/10 and 24mm.

Photo of the week - July 15, 2014

In Sydney, Australia. Fuji X-E1 with 10-24mm lens @ f/10, 24mm. Processed with Snapseed.

Photo of the week - July 1, 2014

The Kenneth Brian Band, June 10, 2014. Fuji X-E1 with 56mm lens @f/1.2, 1/480.

Ingrid Michaelson @ WXPN Free at Noon at World Cafe Live

My Photo of the Week series is backlogged a bit, so I'm posting these here now rather than adding them to that queue. See them in color here.

Photo of the week - May 13, 2014

Jon Sanchez playing with Alejandro Escovedo at World Cafe, April 24, 2014. Fuji X-E1 with 56mm lens @f/1.2, 1/58. See more from this show here.

Photo of the week - May 6, 2014

Alejandro Escovedo and Jon Sanchez at World Cafe, April 24, 2014. Fuji X-E1 with 56mm lens @f/1.2, 1/320. See more from this show here.

What is a "professional camera"

A lot of concert (and other) venues note that no "professional cameras" are allowed, and by extension, that "non-professional" cameras are okay. This post isn't intended to cover whether one has the right, or not, to take pictures at a concert (or how to do so respectfully/discretely). Instead, I just wish that someone would define what a professional camera is...

• Does "professional" mean that one is making money from their pictures; e.g., like a professional vs. amateur athlete? If so, then it's the use of the images, and not the type of camera that defines "professional."
• Or does "professional" mean interchangeable lenses? This doesn't make much sense either, since by this logic the $2800 Sony RX1R and $1300 Fuji X100s are non-professional, while the $500 Nikon D3200 or 1-system are professional?
• Does "professional" mean a zoom lens? Telephoto? A certain length?

Here's a list of camera regulations at each of the NBA arenas. Some of policies actually have a useful level of specificity! In addition to detachable lenses, the length of the lens seems to be a determining factor (6" seems to be the cutoff between non-professional and professional cameras).

The Fuji X-system (specifically thd X-E1 and similar) should be okay by most, but not all, definitions. It's not a DSLR, it has a relatively low-profile (i.e., no big viewfinder hump), and most of the lenses are under 6". The only sticking point is that it does have a detachable lens.

I've never been hassled with my X-Pro1 (or now X-E1, since it's even smaller) with the 60mm f/2.4 lens. I just received the 56mm f/1.2 which is bigger than the 60mm, but hopeful still won't garner much notice.

Update: I did recently get hassled by someone checking bags at a concert over my X-E1 wearing the 56mm lens. I mildly protested, and another person working the doors came over and after asking if it was a "zoom lens" (which it isn't), let me in. In the future, I should make sure the X-E1 is wearing a pancake lens when getting checked at the door so that it resembles a point and shoot, which they seem to be fine with.

Photo of the week - April 29, 2014

Alejandro Escovedo at World Cafe, April 24, 2014. Fuji X-E1 with 56mm lens @f/1.2, 1/250. See more from this show here.

Photo of the week - April 15, 2014

Natalie Merchant at WXPN. Fuji X-E1 with 35mm lens @ f/1.4, 1/750. See a few more shots from this show here.

(Almost) All in with Fuji

With the school year coming to a close and summer travels just around the corner, I've been doing some reevaluation of my camera gear. I haven't shot with my Nikon D90 in about 10 months, while my X-Pro1 has become my favorite travel and concert companion (everything in my 2013 albums and 2014 albums, to date, other than the Philly Cycling Classic and most of the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival photos, was with the X-Pro1).

With the new 10-24mm lens, and last year's 55-200mm zoom, Fuji now covers a great range for travel. My favorite travel lens for Europe on my D90 was the excellent Tokina 11-16mm super-wide lens. The Fuji 10-24mm is a stop slower, but has a more useful range. I'd been waffling on whether I should get the 10-24mm, mostly because I was worried it would be too large/heavy and defeat the purpose of traveling with a smaller system. But after getting my hands on one, it's manageble. Ditto on the 55-200mm; Fuji now has a credible telephoto zoom. Those two lenses and a couple of normal/fast primes makes for a nice travel kit.

On the flip side, in the last year my Nikon hasn't seen much action with the Tokina 11-16mm and 35mm f/1.8 DX; that's the range where the Fuji system excels (especially now the that 10-24mm has been released). So those, and Jen's D3100 and 18-105mm DX (since she's moving to a Fuji X-E1), found new homes to raise funds for the 10-24mm. Plus I just got a nice paycheck from some extra work I recently completed (the academic version of "consulting"), so the new 56mm f/1.2 arrived. This will be a great lens for concerts; I've been using the 60mm f/2.4 and it's okay for this, but being two stops faster and (hopefully) quicker to focus will make it a perfect concert photography lens.

It appears that I've officially moved over to the mirrorless camp, except for specific situations where the Nikon system still has Fuji beat (e.g., shooting cycling and macro). I did keep a handful of Nikon lenses; at some point I may step up to FX/full-frame and so I kept a few of my favorite lenses for that: the 105mm macro, 85mm f/1.4D, and 135 f/2 DC. The 135mm and 85mm may make for good lenses to use with a converter with the Fuji system (I shot the Aimee Mann concert with the 135mm on the X-Pro1 last spring). I also kept the 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6; I wouldn't say that this is one of my favorite lenses, but I've found it to be okay for shooting cycling (at least since I don't have the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8). The only DX Nikon lens I kept was the 10.5mm fisheye. With a converter, this is a fun lens on the Fuji (and the only fisheyes available for the Fuji system are manual focus, so there's not a better option than my Nikon 10.5mm).

Photo of the week - April 8, 2014

Natalie Merchant calls out an annoying fellow who didn't silence his cell phone during a taping of World Cafe Live at WXPN's Big Day Out. Fuji X-E1 with 35mm lens @ f/1.4, 1/950. See a few more shots from this show here.