Saturday, A Beautiful Spring Day

The weather was so fine on Saturday it just screamed out to me to go for a walk. I walked across Canal Street, up Broadway and around SoHo, and then up to Union Square. I tried several different focus settings and techniques on the XP1 (for future reference that would be the Fuji X-Pro 1). When I did these walks with the Nikon D700/24-70 f2.8 combo I got drained of energy after about two hours. With the XP1 I was out for four hours and could have gone longer.

I began to notice a difference in my shooting pattern during the walk. With the D700 and it's fast firing rate/fast autofocus I shot many frames in a two hour span - usually upwards of one hundred. With the XP1 I shot slower and more thoughtfully, almost like I did with film in my Leica M6. This is not better or worse, just different. I actually like working this way a bit more. Honestly, I got quite a few bad shots - some out of focus, some badly framed - but I'm getting much more comfortable with the camera. It's a bit difficult to hold in my hand for the entire walk because the body is slim and the grip requires some hand effort. I got the auxiliary hand grip after that walk and plan to give it a run tomorrow when the temperature promises to be around 90º F. Should be lots of fun in Bryant Park.

I got a chuckle out of this shot. Caught the guy in flagrant.