Category: Photography
It was nice to be able to get away from it all for a while, to a country I had heard and seen lots about but had never set afoot on before, to a place of such vast landscapes and intriguing fauna that had me falling in love with its people, its culture, and natural history, more and more each day.
Friends have been asking me why I switched to Fuji. The X-series makes me enjoy photography like never before. It’s that simple.
As we approach the end of the migratory season, it is nice to see some of the waders still about: the jittery Pacific golden plovers, a few common redshanks, whimbrels and anti-social common sandpipers. Had a chance to test the AF-C and Continuous High settings. I’m impressed at how quickly and sharply it nailed birds in flight! Near the screen where I was shooting the waders, there was a soft bark. Turned out to be a croc lying nearby, and from the looks of its tail (or the lack of), I suspect it might be Tailess! We spotted three crocs…
On Wednesday, I had another 7am start at another farm for my current major project. Usually I’d have to tap the alarm snooze a couple of times for such an early rise, but not that day. That morning, full of excitement, I was out of the door with the X-T1 and X100S before the koels could start singing their songs. It was liberating to have the load off my shoulders. I carried three Fuji lenses, the 14mm f/2.8, 35mm f1.4, and 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 for the shoots, with any one of these on the camera and the other two in lens…
A question at the foremost of my mind has been: is the X-T1 capable of nature photography? Firstly the 55-200mm, despite its amateurish looks and feel, delivers really good quality images. It’s currently the only viable wildlife photography lens in Fuji’s line-up. The focusing is extremely smooth and quiet, but slow under difficult light. For some reason, it takes more time for the camera to transition from the LCD to the EVF with this lens. There are times when I put my eye to the EVF to see complete black darkness before the image appears 1-2 seconds later in the…
Is this something that would finally convince me to ditch Nikon and kiss DSLRs goodbye? I’ve got a shoot tomorrow and I’m leaving my Nikon at home (or in the car… if only for that sense of security), venturing forth with just the X-T1 and X100S and a couple of select primes. Perhaps I’ll have more to say about the new baby then. For now, here’s some teasers. All are almost SOOC save for some very minor exposure adjustments. Additional settings: PRO Neg Hi, Shadows -1, Noise Reduction -1 Images #1, 3 and 4 were taken with the small bundled…