X-Pro1 shoots Pro NHRA drag racing!

Stephen S

Veteran
Location
East Bay, Northern California
Name
Stephen Scharf
Some of you (that read my intro) may know that I do pro motorsports photojournalism during the racing season. One of the tracks I shoot for, Sonoma Raceway, requested that I cover the NHRA Pro event last July. While I shot most of the critical racing action with my Canon 1D Mk II, I also decided to try out my X-Pro1, and was very pleasantly surprised how well it worked. The shots you see here were taken shooting at continuous focus at 6 FPS, and IIRC, all the shots are with the fab Fuji Fourteen, which gave me a very different look than the usual supertight, big-*ssed glass look. The wide-angle perspective was refreshing change, and the PR staff loved the images and different look. The X-Pro1 was also quite the hit in the media centre, many of the pros being very intrigued with it, and, to put it mildly, extremely impressed with the image quality.

So, here for your enjoyment, is some stuff you don't see taken everyday with a "rangefinder" X-Pro1and a spectacular wide-angle lens: Drag Racing!

Hope you guys like it as much as I had fun shooting it....

The track awaits....
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Some racing action:
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Nothing like a snortful of nitro before lunch...Team Patron.
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A burnout coming out of the water box...that's nitro blowing out of the headers.
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"Fast" Jack Beckman backing up after his burnout...
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Larry Morgan in Pro Stock
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Top Fuel burn-out
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Coming off the line in Top Fuel
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Johnny Gray's Pitch Energy Funny
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Not your father's Mustang
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Larry Morgan once again
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Cheers,
Stephen
 
Love my Fuji's as an amateur photographer and thrilled see more Pro's like yourself getting into it as well. Great shots!

Thanks, John. I really had fun shooting with the X-Pro1 during this event. As far as loving my Fujis....all I can say is these cameras have completely reignited my passion for photography. I have all this pro Canon kit, but when I head out the door for anything else but trackside racing action, it's the Fuji that's going out the door with me.

Here's a couple in black and white. The PR Director in particular loved these....

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The 2nd BW shot is my favorite on a visual level but those color shots to me are so real that I feel that noise reverberating and smell the nitro. Thanks!
 
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