Fuji X-Pro1

Todays blogpost is a review of the Helios 44m-4 58mm f/2 lens. The lens was produced in the old Soviet Union by Jupiter among others from 1958 till 1992 and is one of most mass produced lenses in the world! I bought the M42 screwmount version (hence the 44m name), since I have that adapter, but they made it available in many other mounts. The reason for buying this lens was one thing, and one thing only: The swirley bokeh effect! The lens has, what is referred to as optical vignetting, meaning that out of focus “bokeh-balls” becomes more elipsoid as you move away from the center of the image. Also referred to, as “Cat-eye” effect, this phenomenon gives a pronounced feeling that the background “swirls” around the center focus subject. What really surprised me though, was all the other scenarios this lens was good for! The 58mm focuslength on a APS-C sensor turns into a 87mm FOV equivalent which makes it a really nice medium tele lens. For the streets I was VERY surprised at how well it is doing. And it does amazing with black and white photography. The lens is built like a tank! Seriously. METAL and GLASS….the USSR-way!! My copy is very smooth in the focus ring, and the aperture ring has nice clicks. A good condition lens. Because the lens was built in such superfluous numbers they’re CHEAP…. and I mean REALLY cheap! $10 on ebay and you get a good condition lens…. it’s ridiculous, really.....

The firmware update Ver.2.04 from Ver. 2.03 incorporates the following issue

1.AF speed is improved when used with XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 R LM OIS.

Readers of my facebook page will be well aware that last month, Laura and I were travelling around Vietnam. The purpose of the trip wasn’t travel photography in Vietnam, but to explore and meet people from this fabulous country, eat some nice food, and drink some good cocktails. That is exactly what we did and along the way I tried to capture the spirit and essence of the country as best as I could through the viewfinder. I took along my Fuji XPro 1, and despite meeting the concrete from a decent height on two occasions, it performed admirably, and I thoroughly enjoyed not lugging around a large SLR and a selection of heavy lenses! Laura carried the Fuji x20 and I hope to blog some of her images soon, as I’ve had many requests for further images with this little camera since my review a few weeks ago.

Vietnam is a country featuring a multitude of very different landscapes and ways of living, making it a photographer’s dream in terms of capturing varied images within one trip. However each area had its own set of challenges when it came to shooting. We started our trip in the capital, Hanoi. It is the definition of ‘hustle and bustle’, with street sellers galore, and more scooters than you can imagine. Interesting photo opportunities are in abundance but the difficulty then lies in finding a ‘clean’ shot, some early morning starts were definitely required here! Conversely, the idyllic hill town of Bac Ha, which we reached via an interesting overnight train has a more simple way of life – buffalo’s are used to plough the fields, and double up as commuter vehicles for the kids! Here, we were challenged by the weather as thick mist often covered the beautiful landscape. However the times when it lifted slightly added an extra layer of ‘rustic charm’ to the images captured. From here we hopped on a junk around the karst islands of Halong Bay, seeing some spectacular landscapes, before flying to the more commercialised Hoi An, which still manages to retains its charm and was one of our favourite places. A quick stop over in the westernised and modern Ho Chi Minh (formally Saigon), before a rain filled visit to the waterways and floating markets of the Mekong Delta. Finally we chilled out on the beaches around the stunning island of Phu Quoc – enjoying warm waters, sun and a few beers!

From the bustling cities, to the colourful hill tribes, we enjoyed; green tea with builders, crazy scooter rides, lost wedding rings (mine!), flying fish, pigs on bus roofs, frogs legs, beautiful sunrises and lots more. We visited as much of Vietnam as possible and had an amazing time. We met lots of lovely locals and equally lovely fellow travellers,  I can highly recommend a visit to this happy, colourful, friendly, interesting and lively place!

The common thread throughout the trip was the interaction between the locals, strong family bonds and close knit communities, working and socialising together. As I take a similar approach to my travel photography as that for my wedding photography, focussing on the people and telling a story with my images was my photographic aim. I took a fair few shots during the trip, and have narrowed it down to my favourite 50 that represent the country and its people…

It's been a little over a year since Fuji released the X-Pro 1 - a Leica for the rest of us. It paid homage to the great rangefinder type cameras of yesteryears. Although digital, it was the first camera that handled like it was a film camera with files that were incredibly film-like. The familiar manual, mechanical-like controls were a delight for those who began with pre-autofocus film cameras. The X-Pro 1's output was also unexpected. The colour reproduction is so true to life that it amazes me even today. The camera comes with simulations of Fuji's great films like Velvia, Provia, Astia, colour negative & b/w. With the X-E1 as a second body and just waiting for the 55-300mm zoom to come, my X bag will be all set for more great photography.

Photograph by Rinzi Ruiz (All photographs in this article provided by Rinzi Ruiz)

My good friend Nicholas Susatyo recently recommended a book to me: “Zen in the Art of Archery.” In-fact, it was the book that Henri Cartier-Bresson said had the deepest influence in his photography. I have been meaning to read it for a while, so on my flight to Philly I decided to give it a go.The book is written by Eugen Herrigel, a German philosophy teacher who went to Japan for several years and learned the art of archery (while teaching philosophy at a Japanese university). He heard about the art of archery, and was fascinated with the zen philosophy which was embedded in the art.

As we all know, archery is no longer practiced in the “real world” in battles and such. When Herrigel wrote “Zen in the Art of Archery” in the 1940′s, it was a very closed art– only reserved to local Japanese who were serious enough about it. To teach a foreigner the art of zen and archery was considered heretical. However with some good luck (a good introduction by a Japanese friend) and some persistence, Herrigel was able to go under the wing of one of the greatest archers in Japan. And with his experiences learning under him for 6 years, he wrote his brief book in “Zen in the Art of Archery.” The book was an enjoyable read to me, because he explained the zen philosophies (which are often cryptic) in a way in which westerners could understand. Being Korean-American myself, it was the perfect balance of Eastern Philosophy with Western analysis. After finishing the book, not only did I learn many insights which I plan on applying to my practical everyday life, but also to my street photography. Some of these philosophies may seem a bit cryptic, but I will share what I personally got out of reading the book. And of course, I am not an expert of zen–and one of the biggest difficulties is that there are so many branches of zen that all the practitioners have subtly different philosophies. Please feel free to share your thoughts and also corrections in the comments below......

Ultra wides are fun to use however the all encompassing field of view can make good compositions difficult to achieve, while being even slightly off true level in any plane can introduce unnatural distortions. Ok the latter can be used to good effect creating dramatic perspectives, but it can also look gimmicky if not done well. The obvious impulse is to go large and look for grand vistas. I find this is invariably a mistake. With a field of view of 21mm on the X-Pro1, the Fujinon 14mm is still a 14mm lens and its perspective reduces even the mightiest of mountains to hillocks in your images if you are not close enough. My wife took me up a mountain recently to show me the perilous route she took across the mountain on horseback. The image below was shot for fun with the X-Pro1 panorama feature and the 14mm lens. The mountains in the background are not that far away and they are over 1200m high. Where I am standing is at around 600m. The image is….well…rubbish really and gives no sense of the dramatic route that she took. A better way to take this shot would be to stitch multiple shots using a lens that is closer to the perspective of the human eye, say 50mm or so. The second impulse, at least for landscapes, is to use F11 or higher and use the hyper-focal technique. This works well in most cases, particularly if the intended display medium is the web, but my personal preference is to use an aperture of around F8 and to manually focus on the subject. Ultra wides like the 14mm at F8 have buckets of DOF without having to worry about diffraction. Manually focusing on the X-Pro1 is very straight forward. With longer lenses the 10x magnification on the view finder is a challenge, but I find it ok on this lens. If you find it tough, drop to 3x. The real bonus of this method is that if you do decide to print large you will have a better quality image in the sense that the key subject is on the plane of sharpest focus. The Fujinon XF 14mm is remarkably devoid of distortion which makes it an interesting lens to use for architecture. I tend to travel a lot on business and I always carry a camera with me. Recently I was near Tower Bridge in London heading to the Regus offices there for a meeting. It was all foggy an atmospheric first thing in the morning. The City Hall  building caught my eye but I was late for the meeting so  I took a  a quick snap to remind me to go back after work, or later in the week to take some photos......

I’m a photojournalist by profession, a documentary photographer by choice, and a street photographer in my heart, but before all of that, I just love photography, and l love to take pictures. Enter in the Fuji X-Pro 1. Very recently, less than one month ago, I sold all of my DSLRs, fast glass and long lenses and purchased two Fuji X-Pro 1 bodies, the XF 18mm f/2 (approx. 28mm equivalent), the XF 35mm f/1.4 (approx. 50mm equivalent), and the XF 18-55 zoom and I couldn’t be happier. For nearly two decades I’ve wanted a Leica film body (M6), but in my career as a newspaper photojournalist and with all of the professional sports I had to cover, I just couldn’t justify it. In the late 90s I bought the amazing Contax G2 and loved it dearly. But as film started to fade and digital started to pick up speed, the M6 dream also faded. I finally sold the Contax in 2005 while it was still had value. As Leica released the M8, and I saw that the price was significantly higher than the already pricy M6 (I was never really interested in the M7), and that it was not a full frame sensor (because I really wanted a 35mm Summicron–Leica’s 35mm f/2 lens), I lost interest. Then the Leica M9 was released which caught my attention, but I knew that as a working photographer, I could never afford nor justify the cost of one camera and one lens, let alone a complete system. I love Leica, but it simply cannot be justified in its cost (for me personally), thus out of my reach. Leica used to be the camera of the working photojournalist, and many legends of photography have made iconic photographs with them, but the world has changed, and making a living with photography is harder than ever. With new amazing technology, and steep competition, working photographers are now using new tools that get the job done. There was a time in my career that if a photographer showed up for an assignment with anything but a Nikon or a Canon, they were looked at as an amateur, but not anymore. One of the big attractions of the Leica, to me, is its simplicity; in this it’s unbeaten still today. I applaud Leica for (mostly) remaining true to its heritage with the digital M cameras, and I hope they always will. No other camera system even comes close to the workmanship and quality build and materials of a Leica. If you’ve ever held a Leica lens, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Fuji, analogously, has invented a camera system that gets back to the basics. Things like a real shutter speed dial, check, a real aperture dial, check, a real optical viewfinder, check. But Fuji also added a real exposure compensation dial that’s even better than the ones the old Nikon’s used to have on their film bodies. Also, the wondrous beauty of Fuji’s hybrid viewfinder, where the user can switch, on the fly, from optical (OVF) to electronic (EVF), is the icing on the cake to me. This camera is a breath of fresh air to photograph with. The buttons are perfectly placed and they are few (only what’s needed). Today I chose to slow down and shoot just for the sheer joy of it. While photographing with the X-Pro 1 I was able to switched from optical finder, to rear LCD, to electronic viewfinder, to changing the ISO, the aperture, etc., etc. all effortlessly and without a thought. It was so much fun. In fact, it was pure joy. I really haven’t had this much fun shooting with any camera since my Contax G2. Imagine that, a professional photographer actually enjoying shooting when not getting paid to do so. (By the slightest chance if anyone from Fuji happens to read this article, I ask you to PLEASE not change a single thing on the X-Pro 1 camera body with the future X-Pro camera body, but instead just install dual, quad-core processors (for a little more speed) and we’re good to go. This camera is that good! .....

b/w . paris . france

Fuji X-Pro1 with 35mm f1.4 and Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm 1.4 ...

Da wir auf Hochzeiten selten im Studio zu finden sind haben wir mit der Fuji x100s und der Fuji X-E1 Lutz Graichen von Windflüchter Surfboards besucht um etwas realere Bedingungen für einen Test zu haben als Schärfetafeln oder Stilleben. Der studierte Sportwissenschaftler baut seit 2008 in Rostock an der Ostseeküste Windsurfboards unter dem Namen Windflüchter. Und so wie sich die Form eines Windflüchters, eines Baumes dessen Wuchsform stark durch die Winde an der Küste beeinflusst wird, passt Lutz seine Boards nach den Wünschen seiner Kunden an. Ausgeglichenheit, Liebe zum Detail, Präzision und die Leidenschaft für das Handwerk sind allgegenwärtig wenn man bei ihm in der Werkstatt ist. Allerdings erwarten die Kameras in seiner Werkstatt auch flackernde Neonröhren und viel Staub. Nicht gerade das wir normalerweise auf Hochzeiten vorfinden, aber ein recht extremer Test für die kleinen Fujis da sie keine wirkliche Versiegelung haben. Zwar hat meine X-E1 auch schon den einen oder anderen Regen überstanden, aber wer weiß. Am meisten war ich auf den neuen Autofokus und natürlich das “digitale Schnittbild” im manuellen Fokus gespannt. Soviel sei gesagt: Ja, der Autofokus der x100s ist schneller als der, der X-E1, aber unter erschwerten Bedingungen noch nicht mit einer DSLR Vergleichbar. Vielleicht in der nächsten Generation von Fuji Kameras. Intelligent Hybrid AF nennt Fuji die neue Methode zur “Scharfstellung” und meint damit eine Mischung aus “TTL Phase detection” und “TTL contrast”. Die Bewegungen von Lutz beim Shapen des Boards einzufangen ging der kleinen Fuji dann aber doch nicht so einfach von der Hand wie erhofft. Sicher kann das den schlechten Lichtverhältnissen geschuldet sein. Ein weiterer Test mit spielenden Kindern in der Sonne wäre wohl notwendig bevor wir die kleine mit dem neuen 16.3 MP X-Trans CMOS II Sensor zu einer Hochzeit ausführen. Wenn man die Ruhe des Moments nutzt sitzt der Fokus natürlich perfekt, keine Frage. Zeit also das Fokus Peaking und das “digitale Schnittbild” im manuellen Fokus zu testen. Einer der vielen Punkte auf der Wunschliste der Fuji Nutzer ist das Fokus Peaking und siehe da, Fuji hat die Gebete erhört. Zumindest teilweise. Denn wenn wir mal ehrlich sind ist ein Fokus Peaking mit weißen Kontrastkanten dann doch im realen Leben weniger hilfreich als erhofft. Grün oder Rot wären wohl die bessere Wahl gewesen. Wer weiß, vielleicht liefert Fuji hier per Firmware noch nach. Eine neue Welt eröffnet das momentan “weltweit erste Fokussystem, das eine sensorbasierte Phasenerkennung nutzt” – Zitat Fuji. Soll heißen, wenn die Kanten der dargestellten Bildhälften aufeinander liegen, ist der entsprechende Bereich scharf. Anfangs ist es etwas ungewohnt, aber es funktioniert perfekt wenn man sich erst Mal daran gewöhnt hat. Im Direkten Vergleich der Schärfe zwischen dem 23mm f2 der x100s und dem XF-35mm f1.4 an der X-E1 verliert das fest an der x100s angebrachte Objektiv. Nichts desto trotz ist die Kombination der 35mm äquivalenten Kleinbild Brennweite am X-Trans Sensor eine Wucht bedenkt man das Kamera und Objektiv locker in die Hosentasche passen. Und darin besteht momentan auch der Vorteil gegenüber der X-E1, die vom Body her eine ähnliche Größe aufweist, aber durch die wechselbaren Objektive eben wesentlich “sperriger” daherkommt. Hier will Fuji noch dieses Jahr mit dem 27mm f2.8 Pancake eine Hosentaschen Variante anbieten. Das Rauschverhalten haben wir ja schon in anderen Blog Einträgen bis ISO 6400 gezeigt. Und wer sich über Randunschärfen unterhalten möchte kann sich auch unseren Vergleichstest ansehen. Die folgenden Bilder sind alle mit ISOs zwischen 1600 und 2500 bei Aperture Priority aufgenommen. Die Fuji x100s musste dabei bei komplett geöffneter Blende, also f2 belichten. Die X-E1 konnte mit dem XF-35mm f1.4 auf f2 abblenden. Ein Bild mit ISO6400 hat sich eingeschlichen. Wer’s findet darf es behalten. Eines muss noch zu den Farben gesagt werden. Beide Fuji Kameras haben es geschafft bei den schlechten Lichtverhältnissen, ständig wechselnden Farbtemperaturen im und automatischem Weißabgleich perfekte Farben zu generieren. Timos betagte 5DMKII hatte da sichtlich ihre Probleme und man konnte von 3 Bildern hatten alle 3 einen anderen Weißabgleich im Auto WB Modus......

There’s no doubt that Fuji has been shaking up the photography world lately. They’ve come up with some cameras that some describe as retro. I’d call them oddly wonderful. They all have a learning curve and they all have one other thing in common. They are hot commodities. Not everyone is taken with Fuji. Their first efforts in this space came up short in my opinion. And the X line is a bit polarizing. It’s like owning a Fiat 500. Some people run up and tell you it’s the coolest car they’ve ever seen. Others think it’s stupid. No matter where you fall on that spectrum, you should take another look at Fuji because their second iteration X100s is worth your consideration. I decided to buy the Fujifilm X100S camera for review. I had no idea how hard it would be to try to find one. It was no easy task. The cameras is quickly gaining a reputation as a fun little unit that can be used for serious work. All the usual big name camera stores are sold out of the X100s. But the great folks at PRO PHOTO SUPPLY in Portland were able to get their hands on the last one anywhere and shipped it to me right away. I got the camera Friday, installed the latest firmware (version 1.02), charged the battery and went to work. The basics of the X100s are simple. The camera uses a rangefinder metaphor and looks a little like the famous Leica cameras of old. (Specifically – it reminds me of the M3.) The internals are however quite different. The camera uses an APS-C 16M X-Trans CMOS sensor. (This is a very innovative sensor that delivers extraordinary low-light performance and super clean, sharp images.) There is no other company producing such a sensor and this is just the first place where the X100s is different. The sensor on the X100s (like the one on the Nikon D800e) doesn’t have an anti-alias filter. Instead Fuji uses what they call a color filter matrix (whatever that is) to accomplish the same thing. Unfortunately, Adobe Camera Raw doesn’t quite know what to do with it – more on that in a  minute. Fuji has also developed a new hybrid viewfinder. Most cameras in this class use an electronic view finder, but Fuji figured out a way to make a cross-over viewfinder that gives you both an optical viewfinder and an electronic viewfinder. It’s not only different, it’s amazing. It’s quirky and takes a few days to get used to, but once I got the hang of it I found myself thinking (“Why isn’t everyone doing this?”) I prefer an optical viewfinder every time. The camera has a fixed focal length lens (23mm f/2) EFL of 35mm f/2. So in some ways it might be tempting to consider this no more than a point and shoot or pocket camera, but it is much more. And it will only fit in your pocket if you’re big like me! Regardless of how you classify it, the technology and the results it generates are both very sophisticated and professional......

Sample shots with Carl Zeiss Touit 2.8/12 and FUJIFILM X-E1

Linz got a brand new opera house called – at last and after several failing attempts due to intervention of a popoulistic party. but now that’s history and the opera looks forward hopefully into a bright future. One part of the opening has been the nightly spectacle named “a parzival” with the catalonian performance group La Fura dels Baus. A party for all senses in front ot the facade of the opera with music from Richard Wagner, giant puppets, flying humans – all voluntary people from the surrounding – and firewoorks. A perfect opportunity to show up the low noise capability of Fuji’s X-Trans-senor.

All picture were shot handheld with ISO6400 and processed with Adobe Lightroom 5 Beta

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Conclusions

While both lenses are quite good, Fujifilm has a major advantage with a more affordable offering while also retaining a better build quality. However, Zeiss has faster focusing and better image quality. This is kind of a tough test to consider but we should all take comfort in knowing that both lenses are excellent. But on a personal scale, I’ve always had a love for Zeiss products the same way that Steve Huff loves his Leicas. And in the end, I’ll have to give the win to the Zeiss despite owning Fujifilm’s lens.