Photography Gear News

I’ve read a few reviews of the X-Pro1 dismissing its use in the studio, confining it purely to the realm of event and documentary photography. Obviously this a genre at which it excels and the core of the system’s philosophy. But as most of you know these cameras have now become my main system, not merely a fun add-on. Which means they ARE used for studio jobs. All kinds of studio jobs.

I recently did a shoot for Serdy Media, a production company which owns several specialized TV stations in Quebec — namely Zeste and Évasion, the french food and travel channels. This was a studio product shoot for their new online boutiques. After thoroughly testing the setup, I decided to again forego my Nikon kit and do the entire session using only the X-Pro1 and the 35mm Fujinon XF f/1.4 lens. It worked beautifully.

The X-Pro1 actually has several things going for it for this type of work:

- The ability to use the rear LCD for live view without changing how you usually work with the camera.

- The two zoom levels with built-in sharpening to pinpoint the focus.

- Large focus point coverage.

- Horizon line and framing guides.

- The ability to switch the same lens to macro mode for detail shots.

- No mirror to deal with. Combined with the timer function this is as stable as it gets.

All of this makes for a very easy going experience and allows for extremely precise work. The two points of contention when it comes to shooting this camera for studio and/or flash photography are 1) sync speed and 2) tethering. The sync speed obviously wasn’t an issue in this case. As for tethering, I’ve discussed my solution in another post already: an Eye-Fi Pro X2 card. To be honest this was definitely the weakest link in the chain, and I was very fortunate to work with a client who didn’t mind the glacial speed at which photos were getting transferred to the computer. But I didn’t like it. I made jokes about it but it bugged the hell out of me the entire time. I’m glad further testing has revealed an ad-hoc network to be exponentially faster. I won’t get caught with this problem again.

So, to answer the question posed at the top of this article: The Fujifilm X-Pro 1 certainly gives the Leica M9 a run for its money. I compared images I shot a couple of years ago with the Leica M9 with those shot at similar ISOs with the X-Pro 1 and the X-Pro 1 was, to my eye, the clear winner depsite its smaller sensor. On the other hand, while the Leica M9 lacks the X-Pro 1's AF capabilities, it has no discernable lag time while the X-Pro 1 has some lag time under bright sunlight (otherwise it's fine). The M9's brightview viewfinder's focusing system, once mastered, is outstanding, but doesn't provide as much information as the X-Pro 1. The M9's optical viewfinder is brighter than the X-Pro 1 and its coverage is better, but the X-Pro 1 has one of the highest-resolution EVFs available so if you're in the pro-EVF camp, that's a big advantage. Exposure controls are comparable on both cameras and size and weight are similar. Want video? The Fujifilm offers 1080p HD video. The Leica M9 has none. Overall, finally, Leica has serious, if imperfect, competition.

"My impression is that Fuji brought out the X-Pro1 for high-end enthusiastic photographer (hence the "Pro" name and high price tag). If you know how aperture, speed, and ISO work together, and are willing to take time to compose a shot, then this camera will certainly suit you. If you are shooting fast moving objects (sports or even kids), then you are probably not going to like the X-Pro1 because of its slow autofocus and shutter lag (see AF discussion below). I've seen some reports from people who thought they were "ripped off" by Fuji after buying the X-Pro1. I can understand that, because this is not your typical point and shoot camera. Neither is it a DSLR replacement. It takes time to really understand the camera and get accommodated with this new style of shooting. It takes some effort to get the picture you want; it's not a point and click machine!"

"The Fujinon XF 60mm f/2.4 R macro is the first tele lens for the Fuji X-mount system. Fuji follows a "dual mode" approach here. Being aware of their limited production resources they mixed the concepts of a relatively fast tele and a macro lens. Regarding its max. aperture of f/2.4 it is certainly no speed demon but fast enough for e.g. very decent portraits. The macro capabilities are limited to a max. magnification of 1:2 which may be disappointing to some. However, this should be well sufficient for mainstream macro photography."

 Just a very quick posting to advise that there is an upgrade to Aperture 3.3 available today, but it still does not have support for raw files from the Fuji X-Pro1 sadly. It available on the Apple Support web site or by doing a software upgrade from your computer.

Here is the change log: 

• New unified photo library for both iPhoto (v 9.3 or later) and Aperture; no import/export required; Faces, Places, slideshows, albums and web sharing work across both applications
• Support for AVCHD video has been added
• Aperture now lets you use camera-generated previews for faster browsing of RAW files immediately after import
• Highlights & Shadows tool has been updated to deliver higher-quality results and work with extended range data
• A new Auto Enhance button has been added to the Adjustments panel
• White Balance tool now includes Skin Tone and Natural Gray modes to simplify color balance
• Auto button has been added to the White Balance tool for one-click color balancing
• Set Desktop command has been added to Share menu so you can set a desktop background from within Aperture
• A new Manual option allows you to drag and drop projects to customize sort order in the Projects view
• New preference allows you to set the background brightness of the full screen browser
• Facebook, Flickr, and MobileMe albums are now displayed as thumbnails in the main window when accounts are selected in the source list
• Minor terminology changes, including "Original" instead of "Master" and "Info" instead of "Metadata"
• Source list includes a new "Recent" section, showing Last Import and recently-viewed projects
• Raw Fine Tuning is no longer displayed in the Adjustments panel by default
• Faces can now be named by dragging them from the Unnamed Faces browser to existing snapshots on the corkboard
• The Faces corkboard now includes a menu that allows you to set the order of face snapshots
• Newly designed monochrome source list and toolbar icons
• Addresses numerous issues related to overall performance and stability

This lens and the Nikon D700 were my first choice to take along on a trip, when wanting to travel light. The 50mm angle of view being the most versatile of fixed focal length lenses. So it was my feeling that on the Fuji with it’s APS-C sized sensor, that this would become one of my favorite lenses to use with the Fuji XP1, as I also use an 85mm on the Nikon FX cameras.

As we all know “great expectations” can be just that. In this case it did not happen. Don’t get me wrong I still like this lens very much. Unlike it’s more modern counter parts (i.e. the new Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 G) I actually like some of it’s “un-corrected” aspects. However my first impression on the Fuji were not great.

http://www.jimgamblin.com/blog/

I’ve known Kevin Sparrow for some time now. I wouldn’t say we go way back, but in internet time, we’ve been around, doing relatively the same kind of work for a few years. Kevin’s someone I look up to, not only as a photographer, but as a person and a passionate artist. When he and I spoke a few months back about photography, he mentioned he was thinking of ditching his Canon 7D for the Fuji X-Pro1. I didn’t know what to think but after reading his words and seeing these photos, I can’t blame him! Read on below for one of the most in-depth reviews I’ve ever had on this blog....