Fuji X-Pro1

I haven't gone out and photographed much personal work since returning from Europe a month ago with one less appendix. Couple the appendectomy recovery with a bit of "nesting syndrome" (my wife is about to give birth to our first child any day now), I've spent most of my time organizing my home and streamlining my Lightroom catalogue (guided by Gavin Gough via his great eBook w/video tutorials - A Photographers Workflow). The south end of Bogmalo Beach, Goa, India.  Fuji X-Pro 1, 18mm (wishing there was a wider lens available from Fuji). Whilst keywording my library, I came across some images I took last October in Goa.  To break the metadata monotony, I decided to run the images through some Lightroom presets I just acquired from Visual Supply Company called VSCO Film Emulation 01 & 02.  I've never been a big preset user, but have always liked the way these presets have worked with photos I've seen from other photographers. These images were photographed in RAW with the Fuji X-Pro1.  They were then imported into Lightroom to develop.   When I started applying some of the VSCO Film presets to these RAW files, I didn't like what I was seeing at all.  I didn't understand why the presets looked so terrible compared to when I used them on some of my Pushkar Camel Fair photos.  I realized a few minutes later that the only difference was that I was applying the presets to the JPEG files I photographed in Pushkar (I photographed RAW+Jpeg that week), not the RAW files. The rocks on the south end of Bogmalo Beach, Goa, India. 18mm lens

To see what would happen, I decided to put the 3 month old RAW images (whose names I've changed by now) back on my SD card in hopes to process them into JPEG images in camera.  Thankfully the images popped up on the back of the X-Pro 1 and I processed the RAW files into JPEGs with the Velvia film simulation applied in camera.  I then imported the JPEG files back into Lightroom and BOOM, it made a world of a difference.  I applied various VSCO Film presets and eventually settled on the look of the Kodak Protra 160 VC++.  Lightroom doesn't have camera profiles yet for the X-Pro 1 like it does for my Canon 5D Mark II.  Since buying the X-Pro 1, I've tried to tweak the Lightroom settings to try and create a profile to match the X-Pro 1 in camera Velvia film simulation, but haven't figured it out yet. So, long story short, these images were photographed with the X-Pro 1 in Raw and converted to Jpeg in camera with Velvia film simulation applied.  They were then imported to Lightroom where I applied the VSCO Film preset Kodak Protra 160 VC++.

Please share feedback or any of your own experiences....

On Christmas Day 2012 I had the pleasure of being in Kovalam, in the Indian state Kerala. Christmas Day is indeed celebrated in India. In Kovalam fishermen and their families met at the beach to hang out, have fun and enjoy the Season. The beach was literally invaded by colourful fishing boats with loads of happy families. I believe a lot of them came from the Vizhinjam Fishing Harbour just south of this beach. I was caught by all the colours and smiles.

For a short period of time, one week perhaps, I have felt the pleasure and sorrow of being the winner of the 2012 National Geographic Photo contest and being later disqualified.If you are interested here is the story: "National Geographic, how I won and lost the contest in less than one second"

 
In any case this proves that the FUJI X-pro 1 is more than capable of reaching all kind of high summits in the photographic world.

This photograph was taken at Asi Gaht, Varanasi, more or less 5:45 am. I usually stay next to this precise Gaht when in Varanasi. I just had finished my leading my last expedition to India with Nomad Photo Expedition. This said, I obviously know the place :-) . The extraordinary thing about the ghats is their tremendous transformation which lies on the level of the Ganges. On this opportunity - one month ago- the level was low and, unfortunately, the image, from the steps of the Gaht, was not very pleasant: mud, garbage, etc... I decided to go down, next to the Ganges.

Even with the  XPRO-1 outstanding low light performance, I did not want to risk the picture and decided not to go beyond 2.500 ISO. This shot was done with the 18mm (27 mm equivalent) 1/8th of a second , 2.0 f.  As you will surely understand, the low speed made the things even more difficult. As well as the mixture of lights: I had to put together threee sources of light, a moving scenario and all this with only twenty minutes of "good" lighting. My main concern was to decide on the exposure. In theory I should have set everything to a right hand side histogram to prevent the grain should I need to work later on the picture with LR or PS. My decision was -and I think that it was, for once, the right one- to underexpose (you do not have time for a serious measuring) two stops less than what my "multi-I don't knowwhat " exposure setting was telling me, in order to prevent as much overexposure on the candle lights as possible. I knew that the candles would be out of range if I did not underexpose.  The different sources of light were a bit tricky: candels, lamps from a nearby street, the night. And the fog, wich is also an issue as it reflects the light, normally fools the meter readings which will, again underexpose. I keep visiting the Gaht each morning, early in the morning and at dawn, with my camera, a Fuji X-pro1, and two prime lenses: a 18 mm  and the 35 mm. I feel more at ease with the wide. 

  At this early time, before dawn, you have barely time for, perhaps, four to five different framings as the light that I want lasts for no more than 20 minutes. It is quite stressing to decide the setting depending on the things that are happening around you: lights, candles, people, specially knowing  that there is not much time left and everything will disappear as people move and change position continuously.

On this opportunity, suddenly, a big group of pilgrims, obviously coming from villages (they are more prone to be photographed) came into the Gaht. I literally run to fight for my position in the middle of the mass. I have lately discovered that the " I am a professional photographer" approach works far better than the "shy" approach: cameras, tripods, lens bags, an Indiana Jones hat :-) . With the poor light and the mass, people have little time to care about me: they came to Varanasi for their ritual morning bath, they are not in the mood of loosing their time arguing or discussing with an -obvious- foreigner in disguise (disguised as a photographer). All this to advance that I was well before the "final" shot at the place. Probably at 5:00 am for the "final" shot taken at 5:45 am.

This was possibly the 6th shot in the same position. I set the tripod, decided on the frame and light and, using my mechanical shooter, (Fuji Xpro1 does not have an electronic shooter !), and not looking through the camera, (as in old good time) I shoot..