Pete Souza, Obama’s White House Photographer, Uses Fujifilm X-Pro2 and XF23mmF1.4… and also Carlos Saura Shoots Fujifilm! – UPDATE

Pete Souza and Fujifilm

Pete Souza, one of the most famous and talented photographers of our times, not least because for 8 years he was the official White House photographer of former president Obama, has now been spotted with a Fujifilm X-Pro2 and XF23mmF1.4 at camerabits Instagram page.

“The Camera Bits Team had a lovely time today talking workflow with the talented photojournalist @petesouza! Here you can see Camera Bits founder and President Dennis Walker with Pete going through his Photo Mechanic workflow.”

For long term FujiRumors readers, this won’t really come surprising, as we already reported in this 2016 roundup about what’s inside Pete’s bag, and at that time he was carrying around a lovely Fujifilm X100S, along with a Canon 5D Mark III with Canon 135mm f/2.0 L, Canon 35mm f/1.4 L and Canon 24-70 F/2.8 L II.

And check out @petesouza Instagram to see more of his images (including X-Pro2 pics).

Now he seems to have added the X-Pro2 and 23mmF1.4 to his camera bag…. and there is also a Sony A9 I believe on the same table.

UPDATE: Also White House assistant director Chuck Kennedy used Fujifilm X-Pro2 to photograph Obama. Story here at samuel-zeller.

A Sign of Things to Come?

A superfamous photographer, a Sony and a Fujifilm, all on the same table. Maybe a symbol of what’s to come in the next 3/4 years: a massive exodus of professional photographers from DSLRs to mirrorless, with Fujifilm and Sony leading the market… or maybe not, time will tell :) .

Carlos Saura

But there is more :)

Carlos Saura (wikipedia), a highly awarded film director, writer and photographer, now uses also Fujifilm (X-T1 and X100). In this 4:41 minute video, he will show you his impressive collection of camera and give you a glance behind the scenes of the creation of his latest photography book.

Magnum

We already told you about this project back in October 2017 in this GFX roundup here, but since it fits with this article, I thought to give you guys a reminder.

15 Magnum Photographers will explore the theme of “HOME” for the project. All shot with Fujifilm GFX. Photo exhibitions to take in 7 cities worldwide starting from March. More at home-magnum.

The content is continously updated, so check back the link now and then. They also have a dedicated youtube channel for the project, so feel free to check that one out too.

Welcome to the Fuji X Club… to All of You :)

I doubt Peter Souza and Carlos Saura know of the existence of this little space on the web called FujiRumors, but either way, I would like to welcome these two impressive photographers to the Fuji X Club.

It’s an honour to have you guys on board of the Fujifilm journey :).

But I must also add… when a few months ago I was able to convince a good friend to switch to Fujifilm, I had the same joy that I feel when I see Beyoncé, Annie Leibovitz, Ara Güler or any other well-known person owning Fujifilm cameras. And when last summer I casually met a Fujifilm wedding photographer (and FR-reader) at work, it was one of my best “blogger moments” of 2017.

Famous or not, for me it’s an honour to serve every single one of you guys, who one day decided to try out the Fujifilm system and now chooses to stop here at FujiRumors and to be part of this amazing community. My heart and soul (and tons of time) goes into this blog, and I will always give my best to honour your partecipation as good as I can.

And if you are curious to know which other celebrities own Fujifilm gear, then check out this forum thread… you might be surprised :) .

OUR COMMUNITIY

FujiRumors Communities: FujiRumors Facebook, FujiRumors Twitter, FujiRumors Instagram

Our Facebook groups: Fujifilm X-T User Group, Fujifilm X-Pro User Group, Fujifilm X-E User Group, Fujifilm GFX Group, Fujifilm X100 line Group, Fujifilm X-H (IBIS camera) Group

Nissin Air10s Wireless TTL Commander for Fujifilm Cameras Available February 21

Nissin Air10S

Before we start, here is a super-quick Nissin Air10S recap

  • February 2017: Nissin announces their Air10S wireless commander also for Fujiflm
  • May 2017: Announcement of postponement. Sony version expected for July, and Fujifilm version to be released in the following months
  • June 2017: Nissin Air10S Fujifilm version available for pre-order at BHphoto

Waiting…

And finally, it seems we got it. BHphoto marks the Nissin Air10S for Fujifilm available for February 21.

But I wonder… how many of you have switched to Godox in the meantime?

And remember, as we reported here, if you own an older Nissin i40, i60A, Di700A and Air 1 Commander, there is a firmware update to make them HSS compatible with Fujifilm cameras, but you have to send it in to Nissin to perform the update.

To see if your device is already Fujifilm compatible, check out the Nissin boxes. Full instructions in this article.

And back on December 14, 2017, Nissin re-released the Nissin Air 10S press release at their website here.

Fringer Smart Adapter: Canon EF 70-300L on Fujifilm X-T2 AF-C Demo Video – UPDATE: Coming in 1/2 months for Under $300

Fringer Smart Adapter for Canon EF

UPDATE: As Yeiter said in the comments: “contacted company and they will have it out within next month or two and it will cost under $300”

Fringer just uploaded a video, that demonstrates the continous autofocus of the Canon EF 70-300L on Fujifilm X-T2 using the Fringer Smart Adapter.

The Canon EF 70-300L represents a challange for smart adapters, since it has a very special design, i.e. nonlinear AF motor. But Fringer solved this problem, and the video above shows you how it works.

Regarding the EF70-300 L, Fringer says:

“EF70-300L has special design that prevents smart adapters properly handle its AF. Now Fringer EF-FX Pro smart adapter has overcome the problem. Meanwhile, all PDAF focus points’ support is a must for high performance AF on X mount. That’s also shown in the demo video.

I though EF lenses are all the same and planned for optimizing EF70-300L’s AF on X mount in just one day. Finally I spend almost a week to solve the problem. This lens is equipped with a nonlinear AF motor which is definitely a nightmare for smart adapter developers. Its feature curve is like this:

Unlike smart adapters for GFX mount, e.g. my Contax645-GFX adapter and EF-GFX adapter from other manufacturers, smart adapters for X mount must support PDAF which is essential for high performance AF. That needs to calculate precisely on how to move AF motors which is very difficult when adapting EF70-300L. Now we made it!

Fringer EF-FX smart adapter products would be available soon. Visit my website for more information on all Fringer’s products.”

Last month, Fringer also uploaded a video showing the electronic aperture control on Canon EF lenses here, as well as a video showing the AF using the Sigma 30/1.4 which you can see here.

via fringerdev

Regarding smart adapters, here is a little overview of available or soon to come adapters.

Finally: Fujifilm NP-W126S Third Party Battery Available!

NP-W126S Vs. NP-W126

With the introduction of the Fujifilm X-T2 back in July 2016, Fujifilm also launched new batteries, the Fujifilm NP-W126S. Same capacity of the old NP-W126, but optimized for better heat dissipation, making them mandatory, if you really want to squeeze the most out of your X-T2 & Co without occuring in any overheating issue.

For the old NP-W126, there are several offerings from third party manufacturers. I personally use PATONA batteries (I think they are WATSON rebranded in USA, but I’m not sure), and I’m very happy with them.

However, not all third party batteries work as well as PATONA/WATSON. As tested, and we reported here, some third party batteries are so bad, that some called them to be a “fraud“.

NP-W126S Third Party

Back to our new NP-W126S batteries.

A FR-reader now spotted the PATONA Platinum NP-W126S batteries at Amazon Germany here.

UPDATE 1: FR-readers told us in the comments about the ecoEfficiency NP-W126S batteries available at AmazonUS (reviews at AmazonUS)

For a fraction of the price of the original NP-W126S batteries, the Patona Platinum battery should allow you to take the most out of your Fujifilm X-T2 & Co without occurring in any overheating issue. Here is the first feedback of the FR-reader:

“Today I received 2 batteries and they are working perfect in my booster grip (without the camera internal battery)“

UPDATE 2: Thanks to our fantastic community, we have more feedback about more NP-W126S third party options.

Unless you really want to sped 3x the money on OEM Fujifilm NP-W126S batteries, third party options are a great alternative… you just have to know which one to buy. And luckily here on FujiRumors, we investigated this questions here, so you can have a bit more feedback about which one to grab ;) .

TESTED: Third Party Fuji Batteries? “Inflated capacity values. Some batteries almost Fraud!”… and the Winner is…?