And finally, after several months the X-T1, body and kit, is in stock everywhere! But there is still some X-gear hard to find on the market. So here is an overview of what’s available at the moment in the USA.
This is a story of pure and genuine passion for photography. Exactly the same passion we X-shooters have, when we take our time to compose the image, to look for the right light, to wait for the proper moment. Or, to say it like the little prince: “It’s the time that you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important.” We could say that it’s the time we spent to create our images, that makes photography so important for us.
It doesn’t matter which tool we choose to express our creativity and passion. For X-shooters like me, the “X-factor” might have helped us to (re)discover photography! But the X-system can not meet the needs of everyone.
And it definitely didn’t meet the needs of 3 friends, who call themselves the “cube photographers“. They went a more unconventional way to re-discover their passion for photography.
In a world, where cameras have to be smaller, faster, feel comfortable in the hands and images have to be uploaded instantly to the iPad and the social networks, the Cube Photographers choose to go the opposite path.
They built a big cube that works as a camera obscura and traveled through Europe with it, photographing ghost cities and mountain lakes, people and forests. And it’s likely the only camera on the planet where photographers don’t stand behind the camera, but INSIDE it!
For the best quality, they decided to buy the last 16 rolls of the famous Ilfochrome (Cibachrome) paper in order to be able to shoot 1×1 meter pictures in direct positive.
And whereever they want to take a picture, they have to dismantle the Cube first, and then assemble it again… a lot of work, as you can see in the images here.
But it’s worth the effort… before even taking a shot, it’s the Cube itself that becomes a quite spectacular piece of art and, as Mike Kobal said, “a true reflection on photography“.
But this story has no happy end.
In fact, there is just a limited number of this special film worldwide (16 rolls, all in the hands of the cube photographers), so the Cube won’t take pictures for long. The film rolls will also expire soon, and therefore, in order to mantain the best quality, the 3 friends have to diligently use all the 16 rolls within a year.
The sad truth is: the Cube will take 300 more images, and then its travel around Europe will be over.
So what can we do? Well, we can support these 3 guys, their passion for photography and the last year of life of the Cube with a donation. Or we can buy a unique photo taken by the Cube or, if you prefer, an image of the Cube itself.
And no, I have no affiliation, I won’t get a single penny on the donations or the prints (in fact I just made a donation). For what it’s worth, I decided to give a little help also with my small space in the world wide web.
So, dear X-shooters, check out more about the Cube at cubestories and feel free to support this little project:
How to support the project:
1) With a one time donation of $10 you can (if you want) get your name on the official Cubestories Supporter page:
– 2) You can buy one of these five limited edition prints for $150. These are the pictures of the cube (not taken by the cube). Only 25 prints per picture are available and are numbered and signed by the Photographers (Martinelli,Pizzini,Salvà) who built the camera. These are 30×30 centimeter (unframed) high quality ink prints that will be shipped in rolls within 3-4 weeks of the purchase. Click on the image to enlarge. Every picture has a history you can read here: http://www.cubestories.com/cube/.
Note: You can buy more pictures but only one at a time because PayPal doesn’t offer the possibility to select more than one picture for every purchase.
3) On special request you can visit the Photographers in Merano (Italy) to get photographed (or take a photo of your wish) with the camera. Contact them here: cubephotographers@gmail.com.
And, despite the title of this post, you decided to check this video out anyway? Well, then I should at least tell you what you can expect, to convince you not to look at it.
But first off a question: what do strephers like about the compact X-series and its great IQ? I guess you know the answer: especially with the silent ninja shutter of the [shoplink 12883]X100S[/shoplink], nobody will notice that you are taking a picture of them.
Well, this video is just about an unconventional way to approach the subtle art of street photography.
Discrete street photography is not really what Mikel Patrick Avery did. In fact, he put a sign next to his X-series cameras and wrote DO NOT LOOK HERE on it. The result can be seen in the video above.
As Mikel Patrick Avery said to me: “There is a new vid posted today of X System in NYC –Though you might enjoy. -If so, feel free to post on your site if you like. -If you do not like it, please lie and tell me you do..haha. here is the link. I used e1 e2 and pro 1 for the images, the e1 and e2 are the ones used in the video. Lenses are: [shoplink 24483 ebay]Voigtlander 21mm f4[/shoplink] & [shoplink 24482 ebay]Olympus pen f 20mm f3.5[/shoplink].”
P.S.: DO NOT READ THESE REVIEWS: – Ken Rockwell published the X-T1 review: “the T-X1 combines great handling with exceptional construction quality, all at a reasonable price, and can produce outstanding images if you’re talented, and sometimes even if you’re not.” He also posted the 56mm 1.2 review here: “The Fuji XF 56mm f/1.2 ASPH is optically just about perfect, excelling at sharpness, falloff and distortion, as well as mechanical quality.”
Hi folks, hope you’re having a good time this Sunday.
Now, FR-reader Robbert Dijkstra asked me on facebook today: “What is your advice regarding the X-series system? I just jumped boat from M43 to X with a X-E2. Looking for a general travel photography kit, reasonbly priced. Which lenses do you recommend?”
Well, in fact it’s the same question I’m struggling with right now. My holidays from my day job begin in 7 weeks and, right now, I have to find not only the destination I want to travel to, but also which lenses to bring with me (coupled with my lovely [shoplink 17992]X-E2[/shoplink]).
I promised myself to travel light, so I will surely not bring more than 3 lenses with me. But which ones?
I asked Facebook and Twitter followers what’s their favorite travel photography kit and there is an interesting discussion going on here on facebook and here on twitter. Check it out to read their suggestions.
So, what is your choice? What are your favorite lenses when you go on holiday? I’m looking forward to your vote and your answers in the comments.
The Verge publshed a very nice piece about Fuji’s industrial design team and the development of the X-T1. They talk about it with X-series’ product manager Toshi Iida and designer Masazumi Imai. Read the whole article “The inside story of how the excellent X-T1 came to be” here at theverge. Here some excerpts:
Making Of
The X-T1’s new direction ran the risk of disappointing Fujifilm fans. Every X-series mirrorless camera to date had featured a slick, compact rangefinder-style design that took cues from the likes of Leica and Contax, but Fujifilm started afresh with a silhouette that looks much closer to an SLR. It’s an interesting move — while mirrorless cameras haven’t yet made much impact on DSLR sales, they fill a similar role to light, travel-friendly rangefinders did in the film era. With the X-T1, however, Fujifilm is making a statement that its mirrorless cameras can compete on the same level as SLRs.
“Our X design is classic and authentic,” says Imai. “I could have chosen an ergonomic style but our X design is completely different. It’s flat and straight and based on ‘good-old-days’ camera style.” In particular, Fujifilm’s own [shoplink 20357 ebay]Fujica[/shoplink] ST901 from 1974 served as inspiration for Imai. “Late ’70s to ’80s SLRs were very cool to me,” he recalls. “The ST901 was very small with a very characteristic finder, so this was very close to the X-T1 concept. Very simple, not so ergonomic — this was the basic inspiration.”
“Nowadays we don’t need special technique, the camera does everything,” says Iida. “We think we should go back to basics. The photographer can control the camera, the camera doesn’t control the photographer.”
FF vs APS-C
“There are pros and cons which we need to carefully check and investigate, but some of the points we think we should do as quickly as possible,” says Imai. “For example, the movie button — many customers say that this is too easy to press. So that is the kind of thing that we should improve as soon as possible.” Fujifilm plans to make this button customizable in a future update.
“When we talk with professional photographers, they don’t care about the sensor size” That’s not to say that a larger sensor is off Fujifilm’s radar entirely, though — “Our R&D team is doing investigation,” allows Iida.
Improvements
Although the X-T1 feels like more of a complete package at launch than its predecessors, Imai says the team has already collated a list of 140 potential improvements based on customer feedback. […] “For example, the movie button — many customers say that this is too easy to press. So that is the kind of thing that we should improve as soon as possible.” Fujifilm plans to make this button customizable in a future update.
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