guest post by Kamenev Dmitry

I’m a lucky owner of [shoplink 21553]X-T1[/shoplink] from Russia and several days ago I’d been traveling in Iceland with friends. It is a country where every photographer (even the worst one with an old mobile phone camera) can feel like a superprofi.

Only two years ago I owned [shoplink 16850]5Dmk2[/shoplink] with EF 24-70/2.8 and a full kit of accessories for wedding photography – it was my little hobby (I’m far from profi). But suddenly I’d got a lack of free time for my hobby and decided to sell everything, because my DSLR was gathering dust on the shelf due to its size and weight.. But I couldn’t stop taking photos and bought [shoplink 15293 ebay]Fuji X100[/shoplink], which I think is really a great camera. I’ve owned X100 for 2 years and everything was good but I felt a great lack of lens change ability… So when I heard rumors about X-T1 I already knew what I would buy next.

And here it is Iceland! Real challenge for new Fuji… with only [shoplink 12889]XF35/1.4[/shoplink]. I was ready to chew my hands off because several weeks ago I’ve sold my [shoplink 12887]XF18-55 lens[/shoplink]. No, XF35 is an excellent lens but it’s about crime to go to Iceland without wide and zoom lenses. It was my first and the most serious mistake. Next time I hope I’ll have XF 16-55 f/2.8.

But 35mm is better than no lenses and such fix is very strict lens and makes you think very carefully before you make a shot.

The second mistake – I took only one battery. I charged it every night but its 250-300 frames capacity was extremely insufficient for me during the all day. So it made me think twice before making a shot. Next time I’ll take at least 2 batteries.

And the final mistake – memory card. I thought that 32GB card would be enough for me. No, it would not! I had to delete several photos to shoot some more. So it made me think thrice before shooting.

And now I can say that it was challenge not only for my camera but for me. As for X-T1 – now I like it much more: its weather sealed body helped me to shoot near waterfalls and during heavy rain; its lightweight allowed me to climb over hills and mountains and so on.

As a result of my trip here are some of my most favorite shots. By the way, some of them were taken out of the car while moving!

PUSH THE “READ MORE” BUTTON TO SEE MORE IMAGES

IMAGE: Fuji X-M1, Fuji 14mm f/2.8, and the Aquapac 451 in the local river of my neighborhood here in Nuuk, Greenland after a couple of days of heavy rain. 1/1250sec, f/7.1, ISO 800.

shared at the FR-facebook photostream (feel free to keep up sharing and voting the images)

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FR-reader Mads Pihl asked for an advice (via FR-facebook), and I hope the X-shooter community here on Fujirumors can help. Here is his question:

I got the Aquapac after hearing about Czech photographer Paul Schlemmer’s experience with this cheap underwater soft “house” [admin: read the article here)], and I picked up a cheap X-M1 as it seems a lot easier to get into the aquapac than the X-E2 and X-T1.

The goal is to put it to more serious use on a field assignment in North Greenland this summer, but for now I am just playing around in the water around my house.

Does anyone else have experience with this or other underwater solutions with a Fuji X camera?

Cheers,

Mads
Northbound Photo (website – 500px)

Aquapack 451

Just a Flash: the Zeiss 50mm f/2.8 (with 1:1 Macro Capability) is now available at BHphto here and top rated ebayUS seller [shoplink 25776 ebay]kenmorecamera here[/shoplink].

In the comments of the last “bags for your X” episode (here), some X-shooters made their own suggestion about which is, according to them, the best bag for those ready to set sails for an adventure.

Today I’d like to include them into this 5th part of the “bags for your X” miniseries… and I’ll also add another bag. It’s not a backpack, but to me, it is a very good option in those moments of your travel, when you’d like to leave your big backpack in the hotel room (or tent) and need just a small bag where to safely store your mirrorless camera and lenses: the Cosyspeed Camslinger Bags.

Not included: bags already covered in previous episodes of the “bags for you X” series (read here part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4).

BAG 1: THE CAMSLINGER (price at BHphoto)

The concept behind the camslinger is the following: “Wear your mirrorless camera like a western hero wears his beloved revolver.” And the aim is the same: to “shoot” as quickly as possible. From the product description:

“Your cam (and depending on what model lenses as well) is secured against bumps, dust ans splash water. You’ll get fast, one handed access to your cam, can wear your cam and lensen comfortably the whole day long and you’ll have a new, cool feeling when “shooting” photos.”

This bag is designed just for mirrorless cameras, so the size is optimized to put a camera with an attached lens into it (CAMSLINGER 105) or a camera + 2 lenses (CAMSLINGER 160).

You can find the bags (and accessories) here at BHphoto.

You can see plenty of videos and photos at Cosyspeed’s website here.

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Bag 2: Thule

Product description: “Thule has backpacks, daypacks, slings, and toploaders to get you and your photo gear up the mountain or down the slope in style. With smart features for safe camera storage and fast access, plus customizable spaces for your essentials and accessories.”

Thule home page / Price at BHphoto

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Bag 3: Lowepro

In this image you can see the Photo Sport 200 AW. Product description: “Trail running and photography. Mountain biking and photography. Snowboarding and photography. Adventure sport athletes who like to go fast and light — but equally like to capture the moment — will enjoy the freedom and comfort of this pack.”

Lowepro home page / Price at AmazonUS

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Bag 4: The Loka UL

The Loka UL is the first ulta-lightweight pack of F-Stop Gear. Read more about it at fstopgear.com.

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BAG 5: Millican series

FR-reader Neil linked to the vintage Millican series (home page) in the comments: From the product description: “Fujifilm was looking for a specialist partner to create a select range of versatile, camera-ready shoulder bags to accompany their award-winning X-Series digital cameras.”

the ISO-unlocker site is offline [UPDATE 2: the site is online again, with the following note: “Unfortunately, a full two months past the initial funding goal, support for the project has slowed to a rate that indicates that it would not be sustainable for production and as of the project close, the funding has stalled short of its seed goal of 250 orders with the order cancellation rate matching the ordering rate.” Ian also said in the comments: “The pre-order system was handled through the Celery crowdfunding service so all user data was protected.”]

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UDPATE 1: I just received an email from Steven. He has received the following email from Ian Norman:

“To all the supporters of the ISO Unlocker project,

Thanks so much for your pledge to support the development of the ISO Unlocker for the Fujifilm X-T1. I am sorry to inform you that we will not be pursuing funding any longer and you will not be charged for your order. As of this moment, all orders are cancelled. You will receive a separate email confirming the cancellation of your order.

Please note that your initial order was just a pledge and pre-authorization and no orders were charged at the time of placing the order.

I developed the idea for ISO Unlocker when I and so many other X-T1 owners felt that their photo shooting experience could be improved by a simple fix. The initial response to the project idea was very positive and I was very excited to seek funding to produce something that would help other photographers enjoy their camera even more.

Unfortunately, a full two months past the initial funding goal, support for the project has slowed to a rate that indicates that it would not be sustainable for production and as of the project close, the funding has stalled short of its seed goal of 250 orders with the order cancellation rate matching the ordering rate.

Thanks again for your support, I’m sorry we didn’t see it happen.”

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Original Post

As you may remember, on March 2 I told you here about the ISO-unlocker for the X-T1, a “fully machined aircraft grade aluminum cover for your X-T1′s ISO dial. It keeps the dial lock button held down so that you can more quickly change your ISO setting on the fly“.

The news quickly spread around the web, as many considered it a useful accessory in order to improve the ergonomics of the X-T1.

At the ISO-unlocker site we could read that “designs for the ISO Unlocker are finished and prototypes are on the way but we need your help to make ISO Unlocker a reality.” So they needed 250 pre-orders in order to make this accessory become reality.

Just a couple of days ago I stopped again at the ISO-unlocker site and saw that it got 92% of the requested pre-orders. So the goal was almost reached but…

…but was it all just scam? In fact, if you now click on the isounlocker site here, you’ll see that the website no longer works. According to the anonymous FR-reader who passed me this news, the “owner is not responding to emails. Pending PayPal refund request.” [UPATE: Other FR-readers received an email with the text published in the first part of this article]

I’ll keep you posted in case I get some news about it. And if you got some more information, please contact FR at fujirumor [at] gmail.com.