Fujifilm X100 :: One Year On

WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T SHOOT FAST MOVING SPORTS WITH AN X100 On the 21st of March 2011, I drove a 100 mile round trip to buy the Fujifilm X100, after my original pre-order fell through. But on the 21st JRS Fujifilm in Perth (Scotland) tweeted that they had received 1 unit only, I looked-up their phone number, called them straight away and bought it. It's now one year on and I thought I'd give a little update on how I feel about the X100 after the first 12 months. The photographs in this post are a broad selection of many many shots that I have taken with the X100. I've selected these to try to show this camera will suit lots of styles of photography.

THIS PHOTO HAS BEEN MY MOST COMMENTED ON STREET SHOT ON MY 35mmSTREET PAGE OVER AT 500px.

There has been a lot of stuff on the web about the X100's shortcomings, like slow focus, useless manual focus, slow wake-up from sleep...blah blah blah! The way I see it, nothing we buy is ever perfect, nor will it ever be. Nothing in this world is perfect...get over it! My kids don't tidy their room, but I don't bitch about it on the internet (maybe I just did). I think a lot of the people that go on about the X100's quirks are mostly photogs that don't even own the camera (don't get me started on Kelby). I paid the full price for the X100 (it's a lot lower now) and it's been the best money I've ever spent on photography! It does have faults, but the pros far outweigh the cons.

THIS SHOT OF MY SON WAS TAKEN IN THE CAR AS THE SUN WAS GOING DOWN

I've carried the X100 with me every single day for a full year and it's got me shots that I never would have gotten. Some because I maybe wouldn't have had a camera with me and some because it's much smaller and less intimidating than a DSLR. Street photography has possibly been the biggest area that the little Fuji gem has had the most influence on. I started the 35mmStreet blog and also have a collection of black and white street shots at 500px and overall, I'm really happy with what I've been getting and looking forward to what this year brings.

MY DAUGHTER WAS OUT THE NIGHT BEFORE MIXING HER DRINK...FRUIT SHOOTS AND MILK DON'T GO TOGETHER

The new Fujifilm X-Pro1 arrived yesterday, but far from replacing the X100, I'm looking forward to using the two cameras side be side, especially with the 50mm (35mm equivalent) on the X-Pro1 complimenting the X100's 35mm. I'm used to shooting two Nikon DSLR's with a prime on each body, so I'll feel right at home with the two Fuji's. I also recently launched a new documentary photography site at DerekClarkPhoto.com and I'll probably end-up shooting exclusively with the X100 and X-Pro1 for that site. In fact, I've been putting of a documentary project until the X-Pro1 arrived, as the high ISO performance is important.

TAKEN FROM A MOVING TRAIN ON THE WAY TO DO SOME STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

The X100 is not a point and shoot by any means. It's a camera that you have to master, but you love all the more for it. It's painting without numbers. It's improvising a piece of music, rather than playing from a sheet. It's jazz, rather than pop. The camera fits well in my hands, especially with the lens hood attached (a must have accessory). I keep it set-up to shoot as soon as it switches on, with the focus point at either the left or the right hand side (never centre), aperture priority at f4 & 640 ISO, so that when I fire it up in quick start mode, I will get the shot without playing with the settings. Once it's on, I shoot the X100 in manual more than any other camera, but I always make sure it's at my default settings before I turn it off. The X100 is also a fantastically stealth camera for walking around with it curled in your hand with the LCD against the back of your wrist and the lens toward your leg. I swear it's almost invisible like this. Just make sure the strap is wrapped around your wrist a few times so that you don't drop it and nobody can grab it and run off. The X100 is also silent and that's one of it's best features!

VIEW FROM EDINBURGH CASTLE IN SCOTLAND

I think Zack Arias summed the X100 up best of all when he simply said "it's got soul!". If you shoot with this camera, you'll know what he means. The X100 has carved a place in history and it's only 1 year old. I think we'll look back in 20 years time with great fondness for the X100, and from that distance we'll all see what a game changer it was. I'm looking forward to shooting with it for many years to come, and that's not something you say often in this time of constant camera updates. Happy birthday X100!

I Am Screwed :: Hopes & Fears Of A Nikon Shooter

Nikon finally released the D800 and restarted the Pixel war (if it ever ended). With a whopping 36 megapixels on the same size of sensor as the D700 & D3s, we can say goodbye to that fantastic high ISO performance that made a lot of Canon shooters jump ship. I personally, have waited a year for the D800 to appear and the disappointment has been huge. This camera should have had a built-in battery grip and been called the D4x in my opinion. Do Nikon really think that moving from the D700 to the D800 is a natural step? Most people that bought the D700 were looking for a full frame camera with great high ISO performance and possibly a fast frame rate. The D800 has none of that. It has huge files that will fill up our hard drives three times faster.

Now I'm not saying there isn't a place for a 36 megapixel camera, as there are photographers that would like to shoot medium format cameras but can't afford too, so the D800 might bridge the gap between DSLR and something like a Phase One. But for those of us that want evolution instead of revolution, where do we go now? Nikon have announced that they will continue to make the D700 for the foreseeable future (depending on demand), but although it's still a great camera, it is an older model that needs updated. I myself would be moving from a D300 and D300s to full frame. The D700 would be a step backward from the later as it doesn't have dual card slots, which is a must for any wedding photographer. Likewise for Quiet Mode, which is essential during a ceremony.

But there is a bit of a puzzle in Nikon's current line-up. The Rumor mill, including Nikon Rumors, has a D400 on the horizon, but the D7000 has both moved into the space of the D300s and overtaken it in features and performance. So if there is no place for a D400 in the crop sensor line-up and there is now a gaping hole in the full frame sensor line-up, could it be that Nikon will move the D400 to full frame or is the D300/D400 range dead?

I'll probably buy a D700 to replace my D300 and then I'll wait to see what happens with a possible D400. If it turns out to be a 16 megapixel full frame camera, I'll replace the D300s with that. If there is no full frame sensor with reasonable amount of pixels, I'll probably stick with the D300s. At this point though, I feel as though Nikon have deserted photographers like myself, which I feel are more of a majority than a minority.

But as Steve Jobs used to say...there is one more thing! In the next two or three weeks, I will take delivery of the new Fujifilm X-Pro1, an 18mm f2 and a 35mm f1.4. I have been far more impressed with sample images from this new 16 megapixel APS-C sensor than the ones from the full frame 36 megapixel D800. Have a look at what Zack Arias has been shooting with an early model X-Pro1 and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Real Men Use CF Cards!

I had a white seamless shoot on Saturday for ten 16 year olds girls. That's a scary thought, but they were all fantastic and took posing instructions really well. Unfortunately, my SD card didn't have such an easy night.

I've been shooting in 14 bit lately, so memory cards fill up much faster. I'll need to get round to doing a 12 & 14 bit test, as I'm not sure I see that much of a difference in quality, but the file sizes with the later are so much larger. I was shooting with a D300s, the 35mm 1.4G for full body and the 85mm 1.4G for portraits (50mm & 128mm in full frame terms). Due to the 14 bit, I maxed out 8 gigabytes about three quarters of the way through the shoot. I removed the CF and SD cards from their slots and swapped the CF with the empty one in my D300, knowing that the card wouldn't get lost if it was inside a camera. I slipped the SD card into a thin compartment in my bag where I keep my light meter and ColorChecker Passport. I don't know if the damage was done when the card went in or when I took it back out at home, but as you can see from the photo above, the dividers between the contacts have been ripped up. I could put it in the camera or a card reader to see if it still works, but even if it did, I would never trust it, because you just know it would fail at the worst possible time, or even worse, damage a camera.

I was lucky in a way though, as the SD card was set to record a back-up, with the CF card getting the original RAW files. So £50 down the drain, but it could have been worse. I've now ordered two 8gb Class 10 SCHC cards, one for the Nikon and one for the soon to be delivered Fujifilm X-Pro1. I'd like to move to a D700 for the full frame sensor, but only having one card slot scares me! So I'll take CF cards over SD cards any day of the week. CF's are built like tanks. They're for real men...manly men!

Shooting Street Fashion with a 50mm

I thought I'd post a few photos of a fashion shoot I did last year. All of these shots were taken with a Nikon D300s & a 50mm f1.4G and they were all shot with the lens wide open, except for the last photo, which was shot at f4.

With the 1.5 crop factor of the APS-C sensor, the 50mm is equivilent to a 75mm in full frame terms, which is a pretty good focal length for portraits. At f1.4 and shooting close to the subject, it is important to move the camera focus point on to the eye closest to the camera. Focus and recompose won't work at this distance!

Although I was shooting at f1.4, the 50mm G lens is sharp where it should be, but with beautiful buttery bokeh that does wonders for skin, even before photoshop (these are obviously not straight out of the camera though). Click HERE for a 100% crop.

We were lucky that the day of the shoot was planned to coincide with a public holiday, so the streets were unusually empty.

View From My Keys :: 18th Feb 2012

When I started playing sax I thought it would be great to just show-up, open my case and play. Fast forward a lot of years and I'm surrounded by a full music shop. Tenor sax, Guitar, 3 synths and 2 FX units. The laptop controls projections on a 7' circular screen.

One hour before showtime and the souncheck begins.

It's easy to see why he was such a successful male model. You might remember him from the Calvin Klein adds?

The gig begins. This is what we see from the stage a lot of the time, the audience is out there, but we see darkness.

New Documentary Website & The Fujifilm X-Pro1

I've launched a new website for my documentary projects here. I was originally going to add it as a section on my main site (this one), but I felt it needed a darker look and it's own URL. I'll be shooting a new story soon, but I'm trying to hold off until the new Fujifilm X-Pro1 arrives, as I really need good performance at high ISO. On the X-Pro1 front, I have added it on the gear page, plus the 18mm f2 and the 35mm f1.4 prematurely, but I wanted to complete the site.
I have another story that I already shot that would be amazing for the site, but I would like to get permission out of respect (it's not the photo below).

Workflow Wizard 2:: The ExpoDisc

Back on the workflow challenge again, trying to speed things up. After watching the excellent course by Zack & Jody Gray on Creative Live last week, I was amazed at how little time they spend on post production. Start to finish, from importing the images to album design takes them just five and a half hours. Now that's fast, really fast!

So what's the secret? Zach & Jody say it's all down to getting white balance and exposure consistent and accurate in the camera using an ExpoDisc. So I thought I'd give it a go and happily handed over my cash to the nice man at Warehouse Express. So two days later and £79+p&p lighter, I received a 77mm ExpoDisc in the mail. The first thing I noticed was that it didn't have any threads to let you screw it on to a lens. It just stuck on the front of my 85mm 1.4 as if by magic (it might actually be magnets). Buy the size for your largest lens and then just hold it over the front of your Smaller ones. It even works on the tiny X100 lens. The ExpoDisc works by using your camera Custom White Balance function. Canon users get the short end of the stick here, as there are more steps involved in setting a custom white balance and you need to either put the camera on manual focus, or get used to using back button focus. But as I don't own a Canon DSLR, I can't go into detail about how to go about it here (please check your manual). I'll be using a Nikon D300s for this test, but you can apply it to the method your camera uses.

You need to have your camera set to Manual Mode and Custom White Balance. For most Nikon cameras, you would press and hold the WB button on the top left of the camera, then turn the thumb dial until the display reads 'Pre' (right hand side).

Now before I go any further; getting the correct exposure is not an exact science with the Expodisc, and even more so with a Nikon. To get an exposure reading and set custom WB, stand where your subject is and either point the lens back to your shooting position, or toward the light source (as you would with a light meter). Which one you choose will depend on the lighting conditions, but mostly it will be back toward your shooting position. Please note that the exposure reading you get from a Nikon differs by 1 stop when the camera is set to grab a custom WB (flashing 'Pre'). 1a. Camera pointing back toward shooting position, and exposure set before entering into custom WB capture mode (flashing 'Pre'). 1b. Camera pointing back toward shooting position, and exposure set after entering into custom WB capture mode (flashing 'Pre'). 1c. Camera pointing toward light source, and exposure set before entering into custom WB capture mode (flashing 'Pre'). 1d. Camera pointing toward light source, and exposure set after entering into custom WB capture mode (flashing 'Pre').

NIKON D300s: Setting custom WB.

  • 1. Place the ExpoDisc on the front of your lens with the white side facing the lens.
  • 2. Hold the camera in front of your subject and point it back toward your shooting position (see above).
  • 3. Adjust your ISO to suit the lighting conditions.
  • 4. Set the aperture to what you want to use.
  • 5. Set your shutter speed making sure it's at least one over focal length (50mm = 1/60).
  • 6. Make sure your meter readout is centre (correct exposure).
  • 7. Press and hold the WB button until 'Pre' flashes.
  • 8. Press the shutter button to fire a shot (it won't show up on your memory card).
  • 9. The camera display should be flashing 'good' to confirm success.
  • 10. Remove the Expodisc and shoot. Adjust shutter speed if you need to adjust exposure.

*

The steps above look a lot, but it actually only takes a few seconds to do.

The following examples of different light types are shot as follows. Left image. Aperture Priority and Auto WB. Centre image. Manual mode with exp/WB taken toward shooting position. Right image. Manual mode with exp/WB taken toward light source.

DAYLIGHT (from window on a cloudy day)
'
INCANDESCENT
'
FLUORESCENT
'
The shot on the left is auto WB and the shot on the right  is using the ExpoDisc (cloudy windo light).
***

I'm pleased with the ExpoDisc and I'm looking forward to trying it out on a proper job with different lighting conditions. If it can save a lot of time in post it will be worth the money. If your exposure and white balance are consistent and correct, a preset in Lightroom or Aperture could be applied at import to add a bit of contrast. That should de-flatten RAW images and give you files that are spot on.

ADDENDUM-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My  friend Patrick LaRoque asked in the comments, if there was much difference between the ExpoDisc and a regular grey card? So I tested a few options and to be honest there isn't a lot of difference. I think the ExpoDisc is a little more user friendly when it comes to shooting on the go. Even the Colour Checker Passport has a small grey card which is handy, but doesn't fill the frame. Being able to use the ExpoDisc to set exposure is a bonus to. Have a look at the results below or click here for a larger version.