Dynamic Range of the X-Pro2

Shooting yesterday in NYC was a challenge because of the brilliant sunlight. I wanted to test the dynamic range of the camera. This is what I got when doing my usual conversion to b/w in Silver Efex Pro. Very manageable highlights and detail in the deep shadow. The guy on the right kind of looks like Arnold Palmer.

I plan to play a bit with the ACROS film simulation in the camera. But just as a test, I applied the Lightroom preset for ACROS to the color image:

First Day on the Street With My X-Pro2

A stunningly sunny early spring day in NYC and a new camera: the perfect combination for happiness. Even being quite familiar with the layout of buttons and dials on the X-Pro1 and X-T1, the new camera took some getting used to. I have more with which to experiment, but for now just a couple of shots to push the camera to its limits.

I wanted to test the dynamic range and see how much latitude I had to play with in my processing, so the bright sunlight coming from the left and falling on this woman's very gray hair were just at the edge of being blown out, but the dark shadows still kept some detail:

With the X-T1 the noise level at ISO 6400 was manageable and produced acceptable images after using some noise reduction. But the X-Pro2 at 6400 proved to be outstanding.

A few test shots with the X-Pro2

Tomorrow is my first real day out shooting with the X-Pro2. Up to now I've just been trying different settings and getting the feel of all the buttons. Plenty of reviews and blogposts on all that stuff by photographers who are much more concerned with tech details and such than I am.

I played with the ACROS film simulation because I was curious to compare the camera output with the ACROS film simulation preset in NIK Silver Efex Pro 2. And I was also curious about it because in my film days (eons ago) I loved shooting with Fuji Neopan 100, 400, and 1600. So here's a few shots of comparison. In General I found that the ACROS jpgs generated by the camera were tonally more pleasing that those made with the Silver Efex Pro preset.

In this first set, the top images was SOOC, the second with the Silver Efex preset,

Again with this set, the top image is SOOC, the second made with the Silver Efex preset, and the third made with my customized processing in Silver Efex.