- Location
- Williamsburg, VA
- Name
- Chris
Hello all,
I'm a fairly long term photographer, starting in college many years ago with an Olympus OM-1n. In those days I primarily shot Tri-x and have a plethora of negatives that I now need to digitize, but that's a story for another day.
Dabbling with P & S digital cameras, about 15 years ago when I went for a Nikon D-70. Until some 5 years ago I was a dedicated Nikonista when I bought my first Fuji, a X100s. The Nikon lessons were a bit difficult to forget, as I'm sure most here realize the x100s is a far different imaging/use philosophy.
Coming to grips with the new philosophy was a bit of a struggle for me. Lot's of mis-focus, wrong mode, and other mostly operator error types of issues were evident in my work.
While in San Diego one day about 4 years ago I found myself at Point Loma State Park south of town. A major storm was brewing and the light was amazing.
The contrast was spectacular, and I was trepidatious about getting the right exposure. So the camera was set to bracketing and I went blazing away. Getting home, I picked out a good sequence, did a quick combination in NIK hdr efex and this is what emerged:
At that juncture, I realized that I could dispense of all the Nikon gear, as I had found my nirvana.
That X100s has followed me around the world a bit since then. The small size and the amazing imagery just made it second nature to have constantly at hand.
The thing that I missed with the X100s was different lens focal lengths. My wife and I did a UK/Ireland tour in 2016 and there were numerous times that wider view angle and/or more reach would have been a real benefit. Yea, I know about the add-on lenses for the X100's, but honestly they never appealed to me.
We have a family trip scheduled for March to Scotland, so I went looking around to see what my options were. I've alway liked the X-Pro1 so that was the natural direction of inquiry.
I found a dealer not too far from me who was selling new in box X-Pro1's for $500. Grabbing one, the next choice was lens. The initial reaction was the xf 18-55 and I found one, again, on the cheap.
Amusingly enough, the first thing I managed to do was lose the screw in diopter on my first photo walk. It's alright though, because I needed a different power anyway. They aren't the easiest thing in the world to find nowadays, but these folks have them:
Voigtlander Bessa Accessory - Diopter Eyepiece
Since then, I've been walking around a bit grabbing shots and spelunking through the menus, which thankfully are fairly similar to the x100s.
A couple of things have become evident in the last couple of months:
I've already tested a 35mm f1.4 which I liked a lot, but that's a lot longer than the 18mm I've been predominantly shooting at. A 23mm might make sense, except for I already have the x100s which is 23mm, so I'm thinking 18mm. Dunno, time will tell.
In any event, this Fuji forum seems to be fairly active, unlike a number of others, which is a big plus.
cheers,
I'm a fairly long term photographer, starting in college many years ago with an Olympus OM-1n. In those days I primarily shot Tri-x and have a plethora of negatives that I now need to digitize, but that's a story for another day.
Dabbling with P & S digital cameras, about 15 years ago when I went for a Nikon D-70. Until some 5 years ago I was a dedicated Nikonista when I bought my first Fuji, a X100s. The Nikon lessons were a bit difficult to forget, as I'm sure most here realize the x100s is a far different imaging/use philosophy.
Coming to grips with the new philosophy was a bit of a struggle for me. Lot's of mis-focus, wrong mode, and other mostly operator error types of issues were evident in my work.
While in San Diego one day about 4 years ago I found myself at Point Loma State Park south of town. A major storm was brewing and the light was amazing.
The contrast was spectacular, and I was trepidatious about getting the right exposure. So the camera was set to bracketing and I went blazing away. Getting home, I picked out a good sequence, did a quick combination in NIK hdr efex and this is what emerged:
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
At that juncture, I realized that I could dispense of all the Nikon gear, as I had found my nirvana.
That X100s has followed me around the world a bit since then. The small size and the amazing imagery just made it second nature to have constantly at hand.
The thing that I missed with the X100s was different lens focal lengths. My wife and I did a UK/Ireland tour in 2016 and there were numerous times that wider view angle and/or more reach would have been a real benefit. Yea, I know about the add-on lenses for the X100's, but honestly they never appealed to me.
We have a family trip scheduled for March to Scotland, so I went looking around to see what my options were. I've alway liked the X-Pro1 so that was the natural direction of inquiry.
I found a dealer not too far from me who was selling new in box X-Pro1's for $500. Grabbing one, the next choice was lens. The initial reaction was the xf 18-55 and I found one, again, on the cheap.
Amusingly enough, the first thing I managed to do was lose the screw in diopter on my first photo walk. It's alright though, because I needed a different power anyway. They aren't the easiest thing in the world to find nowadays, but these folks have them:
Voigtlander Bessa Accessory - Diopter Eyepiece
Since then, I've been walking around a bit grabbing shots and spelunking through the menus, which thankfully are fairly similar to the x100s.
A couple of things have become evident in the last couple of months:
- The close focusing capability of the 18-55 is nothing near what I'm used to with the x100s. No surprise there, I guess.
- The 18-55 hasn't come off of 18mm much :| That has been something of a surprise.
I've already tested a 35mm f1.4 which I liked a lot, but that's a lot longer than the 18mm I've been predominantly shooting at. A 23mm might make sense, except for I already have the x100s which is 23mm, so I'm thinking 18mm. Dunno, time will tell.
In any event, this Fuji forum seems to be fairly active, unlike a number of others, which is a big plus.
cheers,
Last edited: