Photo of the week - November 19, 2013

At the C.F. Martin factory in Nazareth, PA. Fuj1 X-Pro1 with 18mm lens @f/2.8. Processed with Snapseed on a Mac. See more (in black and white) here.

Photo of the week - November 12, 2013

At the C.F. Martin factory in Nazareth, PA. Fuj1 X-Pro1 with 18mm lens @f/2.8. Processed with Snapseed on a Mac. See more (in black and white) here.

Photo of the week - October 29, 2013

Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA. October 25th, 2013. Fuji X-Pro1 with 60mm lens @ f/2.4. Processed with Silver Efex in Aperture. See a few more pictures from this show here.

Photo of the week - October 22, 2013

Fuji X-Pro1 with 35mm lens @ f/5.6. Processed on Snapseed on a Mac.

Photo of the week - October 15, 2013

Detail of a sculpture at Haverford College. Fuji X-Pro1 with 35mm lens @ f/4, processed in Snapseed on a Mac.

Photo of the week - September 24, 2013

Eric Bazilian of the Hooters, when they played at the Ardmore Music Hall on September 21, 2013. Fuji X-Pro1 with a 60mm @ f/2.4 at 1/140 sec. Processed with Silver Efex in Aperture. See full album here.

Photo of the week - August 20, 2013

At the Old Fiddlers' Picnic, Hibernia Park, Chester County, PA. Fuji X-Pro1 with 14mm lens @ f/7.1, 1/300 seconds.

Photo of the week - August 13, 2013

The view from the beach at Seal Rock, Oregon. Fuji X-Pro1 with 14mm lens @ f/22 and 30 seconds, processed with Snapseed and Silver Efex for Aperture on a Mac.

Photo of the week - August 6, 2013

Nye Beach in Newport, Oregon. Fuji X-Pro1 with 55-200mm lens @ 55mm, f/6.4, and 1/450 seconds, processed with Snapseed on an iPad. Click on the image above to see it fullsize.

Portland Blues Festival, 2013

Photo of the week - July 30, 2013

At Silver Falls State Park, Oregon. Fuji X-Pro1 with 14mm lens @ f/8 and 1/56 seconds, processed with Snapseed on a Mac. See more from this album here.

Photo of the week - July 23, 2013

The view of the Willamette River from Tom McCall Waterfront Park during the Blues Festival, Portland, Oregon. Fuji X-Pro1 with 14mm lens @ f/11 and 1/420 seconds, using the sweep panorama feature, processed with Snapseed on a Mac. Click on the image above to see it fullsize.

Photo of the week - July 16, 2013

The beach at Seal Rock, Oregon. Fuji X-Pro1 with 14mm lens @ f/11 and 1/320 seconds, using the sweep panorama feature, processed with Snapseed on a Mac. Click on the image above to see it fullsize.

Photo of the week - July 2, 2013

Yaquina Bay Bridge, Newport, Oregon. Fuji X-Pro1 with a 14mm lens @ f/22, 13 seconds, processed with Silver Efex on a Mac.

Photo of the week - June 25, 2013

This is a rather unusual shot for me in that it's in color and out of focus, but I like the colors in this one. Fuji X-Pro1 with a 35mm lens @ f/1.4, processed with Snapseed on a Mac.

Travel photography gear, 2013 edition

With the end of the school year, it's time to think about summer vacation. We'll be spending some time in the pacific northwest and also going through some of the parks in the northern Rockies (possibly Glacier, but haven't fully decided yet). There should be great opportunities for shooting, although packing relatively light would be prudent, so I can't take the photographic kitchen sink. Here's the plan:

• No brainer: Fuji X-Pro1 with a kit of prime lenses. Small, unobtrusive, awesome image quailty. I have the the 55-200mm zoom coming too, so in terms of focal length, this hits about everything.
• D3100 w/ 18-105mm lensDebate: Nikon D90. I recently fell back in love with my D90, shooting at a bluegrass festival and bike race. But the X-Pro1 should cover most of my needs, especially with the telephoto zoom on the long end and 14mm prime on the wide side. It would be nice to have the ability to go even longer and there might be some excellent opportunities to shoot flowers/macro, so my 70-300mm zoom and 105mm micro would be the lenses I'd want in a Nikon kit for this trip. But rather than taking both my D90 and Jen's D3100 (with 18-105mm kit lens that originally came with my D90), to save space I think we'll just take her Nikon and I'll liberally borrow it to use with the 70-300mm and 105mm lenses. Although the controls and general performance (i.e., speed) of the D3100 doesn't quite match the D90, in terms of the image quality, it's probably as good, if not better. So we'll share her D3100.
• A luxury: My tripod isn't small, but I could see it being really useful for landscapes.
• Didn't make the cut: Although it's one of my favorite lenses, I'm going to leave the Tokina 11-16mm behind and have my wide shooting be covered by the Fuji 14mm prime. We'll see if I miss it! But since the Tokina won't focus with the D3100 (I have the older version of the lens), a commitment to bringing this lens sends me down to the path of also lugging the D90.

Update: Upon returning, here's a report on what my minimal kit will be in the future, based on my experiences on this trip. I continue to love the X-Pro1, and over the last month I shot almost exclusively with my two newest lenses for it (14mm and 55-200mm....see some pictures here and here); those two, along with the 35mm prime, would make an excellent lightweight kit for a trip to Europe :-)

Fuji 55-200mm arrived, but not here!

I pre-ordered the Fuji 55-200mm telephoto zoom lens for my X-Pro1 when it was first announced, knowing that it might not arrive before we left for vacation. Yesterday I got an update, saying that it would be delivered on June 10th (after our departure date), so I changed the shipping on it be delivered to my friends' in Saint Paul so that I could pick it up when we're visiting with them next week. And then before I knew it, the lens shipped with today (June 6th) as the delivery date. Damn; I could have had it sent here. Looking forward to having it next week!

But I'm glad it arrived and that I'll have it for vacation. Thanks to my awesome friends (in case you're reading, Abs) for helping me out!

Update: The first four pictures in this gallery are with the 55-200, as are all of the shots posted here.

Photo of the week - May 21, 2013

At the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival, May 2013. Fuji X-Pro1 with a Nikon 135mm DC lens @ f/2 (Novoflex Nikon to Fuji adapter). Processed with Snapseed on an iPad. See more pictures from the festival here.

Photo of the week - May 14, 2013

Steve Earle (and bassist Kelly Looney) at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA. May 3, 2013. Fuji X-Pro1 @ 3200 ISO with a 60mm lens @ f/2.4. Processed with Aperture and Snapseed (Mac version). See more pictures from this show here.

Love for the Fuji X system

Ever since getting my Fuji X-Pro1 last July (along with the x100 the previous fall), I've hardly touched my Nikon D90. Although I did use it extensively in Amsterdam, Germany and Austria, and Italy last June, since the arrival of the X-Pro1 my Nikon gear has been largely dormant. Why I've bonded with the X-Pro1: 

• Size and weight. This is the obvious benefit. The X-Pro1 body is smaller and lighter, as are the lenses. It's awesome for travel.
• Discreteness. Similar to the size and weight advantage, but having more to do with others' responses (or lack thereof) to me shooting with the X-Pro1. This is even a bigger deal for me than the actual size of the camera. In particular, I've taken it to a few concerts recently and have shot from my seat with excellent results (see here, here, and here). My guess is that an usher would have stopped me if it was my D90 because it looks "too professional." 
• Manual controls. Selecting shutter speed with a dial? Check. Setting the aperture by turning a ring on the lens? Check. A dial for exposure compensation? Check. I love the old-school controls.
• Adapted lenses. I dig that I can use my Nikon lenses with it. In particular, I figured that my 10.5mm fisheye would be really useful; the 135mm f/2 is surprisingly good too. I like manual focusing; if Fuji implements focus peaking or some other way of confirming focus, the X-system will be awesome.
• The optical viewfinder. I love the OVF, especially with the 35mm lens, because you can see outside of the framelines to get a better sense of the scene. As much as I love the OVF, the electronic viewfinder is growing on me, having used it a lot recently with the 60mm lens and adapted Nikon 135mm.

Things the Nikon still does better:

1. Long telephoto lenses. I have the Nikon 70-300mm lens; I don't use it much, but it's nice to have that flexibility when the situation calls for it. The forthcoming Fuji 55-200mm should cover this, so disadvantage #1 will been moot soon. And a ~135mm fast prime would have me opening my wallet in a heartbeat.
2. A super-wide zoom. My favorite lens on my Nikon system (especially for travel) is the Tokina 11-16mm. With the Fuji platform, the only lens in that range is the lauded 14mm 2.8. It's apparently a spectacular lens, but is it wide enough? I do shoot the Tokina at 11mm quite a bit; but also at 16mm (about 75% of my shots with that lens are at one end or the other). There's also a 12mm lens coming from Zeiss soon; maybe that will suit me? Both the 12mm and 14mm lenses are pricy too. If it's optically excellent, the 10-24mm that's coming at the end of the year probably is the best fit for me (even though it's likely to be expensive too. But that means waiting! Basically, overcoming disadvantage #2 just requires a bit of patience or committing to either the Zeiss 12mm or Fuji 14mm. Update: Decided to go with the Fuji 14mm, and will think about the 10-24mm zoom when it comes out...
3. Macro. Yes, the Fuji 60mm does allow close focusing, but it's not as long as other macro lenses (like my Nikon 105mm). And it's EVF only. Then again, see the argument about size and weight above. The Nikon 105mm micro is not a small lens. And if I want to manually focus, I can use the Nikon 105mm lens with the Fuji with an adapter.
4. Speed. Quibbles #1 and #2 above are all well on their way towards being addressed with the growth in the number of lenses available. The one place (at least for me) where Fuji lags behind SLR systems if in shooting fast-action sports. I don't do a lot of this, but as a cycling fan, I like to shoot bike races when I can (see here and here).

What's next: 

• Zooms: I have the 55-200mm lens on preorder (update: now arrived); my fingers are crossed that it will arrive before we leave for vacation, although right now I have it shipping to my parents' house so I can get it while I'm there. And I really want the upcoming 10-24mm offering, but that's not due until the end of 2013 and sits behind a couple of other lenses in Fuji's "roadmap." As much as the 18-55 "kit" lens is appealing, I'll probably hold off on that one. Update: This last sentence turned out to be untrue.
• I'm trying hard to resist the 14mm lens, even though it get rave reviews. Ditto with the promising Zeiss 12mm, although if the distortion is limited with this one, it would be tempting. Update: Resistance is futile. The 14mm is on its way...
• The 56mm 1.2 is interesting. I've been using the 60mm macro for shooting a concerts, but the two extra stops of the yet-to-be-released 56mm lens is attractive. Update: It is great!
• There are 23mm and 27mm lenses on the Fuji roadmap but at this point I'm less interested in those (at least while I have the x100). Update (12/7/13): Found a great deal on the 27mm pancake lens, so that's on the way...
• I'm thankful that Apple is now supporting RAW files from the X-Pro1!