Just to be clear about this, if you hadn't guessed from most of my previous posts for the past month, I really really like shooting with my Fujifilm X Pro-1 camera and lens. There's a lot of 'press' about the camera on the internet - good and bad reviews - which breaks down very clearly into two groups: people who hate the camera and see no point to it in today's market, and people like me who love it. It's a difficult camera to learn to work with. But once you learn it, it's not difficult to work with as long as you bear in mind that if you get sloppy or lazy the camera will punish you mercilessly.
That's one of the things I love most about this camera. When I shoot with my super fast D700 and killer f 2.8 zoom lenses I can pound out the pics by the dozens. It was not unusual for me to come home after three hours on the streets of New York City with one hundred fifty shots, which I would then edit down to maybe five or six keepers to work on. It was just so damned easy to shoot with that setup! BUT, it was incredibly heavy, very in-your-face, and attention drawing. When I shot like that I would start off my walk like gangbusters and my energy level would drop dramatically until the last hour, usually when I started to make my way back to the train station, when I would shoot practically nothing.
The XP1 is not a super fast camera. Because of the size of the body the focusing motor is not as powerful as that in a dslr, the lenses are much smaller and less obtrusive than dslr lenses and so must use different focusing machinery, and the the focusing software is built differently. With practice it is possible to capture action and motion, but this is not a sports camera.
I've had to break a lot of very bad habits formed while using the D700. I'm forced to be more observant of what's going on around me because I have to prepare myself for each shot - I can't rely on the camera to nail a shot that I see at the last possible split second. I have to be much more conscious of the controls on the camera so that I can make last moment changes manually - I could program all that stuff into the D700 and forget about it. I must be much more aware of my framing of an image because I use a prime 18mm f 2 lens - there's no zoom (until next year when Fuji plans to release two zooms with image stabilization).
I love the camera for all those reasons. I enjoy my photography viscerally much more when shooting with the XP1 because I must be more in tune with everything going on around me. I have to integrate the feel of the camera in my hand into my body so that I become one with it - which takes lots and lots of practice. Framing an image properly is where the rubber meets the road - what's kept in the frame or excluded, what's about to enter the frame or about to leave the frame..... The optical viewfinder makes this a much more organic process. And yet, there are times, especially when I'm very close to a subject, when the electronic viewfinder is indispensable.
At the end of the day, or should I say at the end of a photo walk, I'm still tuned into my environment, still looking for shots, and often find myself spending much more time on the street than when I'm lugging the D700. After a three hour walk in Manhattan with the XP1 I most likely will have shot around fifty images, out of which I might find five or six keepers to work on.
Buskers of all types abound in New York. On the steps to Julliard School of Music I found these three young ladies playing cello trios.
That's one of the things I love most about this camera. When I shoot with my super fast D700 and killer f 2.8 zoom lenses I can pound out the pics by the dozens. It was not unusual for me to come home after three hours on the streets of New York City with one hundred fifty shots, which I would then edit down to maybe five or six keepers to work on. It was just so damned easy to shoot with that setup! BUT, it was incredibly heavy, very in-your-face, and attention drawing. When I shot like that I would start off my walk like gangbusters and my energy level would drop dramatically until the last hour, usually when I started to make my way back to the train station, when I would shoot practically nothing.
The XP1 is not a super fast camera. Because of the size of the body the focusing motor is not as powerful as that in a dslr, the lenses are much smaller and less obtrusive than dslr lenses and so must use different focusing machinery, and the the focusing software is built differently. With practice it is possible to capture action and motion, but this is not a sports camera.
I've had to break a lot of very bad habits formed while using the D700. I'm forced to be more observant of what's going on around me because I have to prepare myself for each shot - I can't rely on the camera to nail a shot that I see at the last possible split second. I have to be much more conscious of the controls on the camera so that I can make last moment changes manually - I could program all that stuff into the D700 and forget about it. I must be much more aware of my framing of an image because I use a prime 18mm f 2 lens - there's no zoom (until next year when Fuji plans to release two zooms with image stabilization).
I love the camera for all those reasons. I enjoy my photography viscerally much more when shooting with the XP1 because I must be more in tune with everything going on around me. I have to integrate the feel of the camera in my hand into my body so that I become one with it - which takes lots and lots of practice. Framing an image properly is where the rubber meets the road - what's kept in the frame or excluded, what's about to enter the frame or about to leave the frame..... The optical viewfinder makes this a much more organic process. And yet, there are times, especially when I'm very close to a subject, when the electronic viewfinder is indispensable.
At the end of the day, or should I say at the end of a photo walk, I'm still tuned into my environment, still looking for shots, and often find myself spending much more time on the street than when I'm lugging the D700. After a three hour walk in Manhattan with the XP1 I most likely will have shot around fifty images, out of which I might find five or six keepers to work on.
Buskers of all types abound in New York. On the steps to Julliard School of Music I found these three young ladies playing cello trios.
Gene great shot
ReplyDeleteexcellent
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting article Gene!We all know that the best camera is the one you want to take in hand.For me ergonomic is the most important thing.I tried to shoot streets with my wife's Canon G10 camera,and I have to say that I hate it.To much boxy feeling,but in the other side it is completely silent.I will keep my old prehistoric Pentax IST-DL,but now I am planing to buy a new prime lens Pentax smc DA 21 mm f/3,2 Limited .BTW,what is your opinion about that focal length for street photography.The crop size for my sensor is 1,5.
ReplyDeleteLove your new photo and POV you used it.Great job on post production as usual my dear Gene.Stay in touch.
You can click on my name to see my pics on posted 500px.com
Darko, I'm back at 500px. I will look at your work this evening. As for the 21mm lens, which is effectively a 32 mm focal length, I think it's pretty good. I like wide angle lenses for street work because with them I can get in really close and still get a whole scene. Also I have room to crop out disturbing elements at the edges of the frame. My mantra is the wider the better. I shoot with an 18mm lens which is really 27mm focal length on my Fuji camera. I'm looking forward to the 14mm lens they plan to release later this year.
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