miXed zone: Dave Kai-Piper’s workshops, X-reviews and more

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AmazonDE (via third party reseller) sells the X-PRO1 for € 935 + € 20 shipping (click here)

Dave Kai-Piper’s travel equipment + Lighting For Location (workshops)

Travel Kit:

Last year Dave Kai-Piper traveled a lot with his X-PRO1. He shared his “travel-kit” on his website here. He tried to travel as light as possible, with, among the others, a [shoplink 11486 ebay]3 Legged things tripod[/shoplink], [shoplink 11488 ebay]orbis Ring Flash[/shoplink], [shoplink 11490]Billingham 307[/shoplink] and much more.

Workshops:

“Being a Portrait Photographer these workshops will be tailored to the ideas and concepts of creating wonderful images of people on location.  We will look at all the worries that can arise from shooting on location and create some amazing location based Fashion Portraits.  From Wedding photographers to Fashion to family portrait photographers, if you shoot on location or have to think quick in tricky lighting, this workshop is for you. […] We are very proud to announce two new workshops. While both look at the idea of creating light for location, we are having an introduction lighting day where we will look at the basics of mixing natural light that locations give us with key modelling lights or extra created light. The intensive session will go into more detail looking at multi-lighting set ups and dealing with a technical set ups.”

You can participate to the workshops on 27th and 28th of July. For more information and to book your place check out Dave’s website here.

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X100S

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1)While you may have plenty of gear at home, the strength of the X100s is its simplicity, mobility and silence. This camera will be always with you! You will grab it without concern about weight, security or complications. With your constant companion, you will take photos you wouldn’t otherwise take.” Check out Olaf’s X100S review and see his beautiful shots here.

image courtesy: Olaf

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2) Click here to see the “top shelf episode 007: photography” at the Verge. Jump to minute 7 where Michael Shane talks about the X100S. He likes it and says that “artistically speaking, the fixed lens, introduces certain restrictions that are really good. Having only a 35mm field of view to work with, changes the way you see scenes, it changes the way you make photos, and I think restrictions like that make you a better photographer.” There is also the Verge review here: “Making today’s pictures with yesterday’s design.”

3) FR-reader Baris: “Hello there, This is Baris from D.C, a Turkish fellow in trouble with writing his thesis :) I am a huge fan of your website. I preordered my X100s and I am expecting to receive it tomorrow. (I am checking the UPS site every 10 minutes). I found a fresh review on CultofMac site (click here).”

Outstanding image quality, great straight-out-of-camera (SOOC) JPGs, the best digital camera CultofMac ever used, some useful tips… but one big problem: “no Leica-logo on the front (kidding!)” Here an extract of his verdict:

“Should you buy it? You probably know the answer already. If you want a rangefinder-style camera, or if you just want a camera that handles as well as any film camera you ever owned, then yes. Go buy it. You’ll love it, and you’ll actually want to take more pictures because of it. If you’re worried that you might need a zoom, or wonder why on Earth you’d ever need an optical ‘finder when you have an electronic one, or you think that 1,200 bucks is way to much for a camera with only one focal length, then no. This might not be for you. And that’s cool, because if Fujifilm had tweaked the camera to appeal to a wider audience, then it would never have made the perfect camera for me.”

4) “Enclosed: one Fuji x100s review” of motobloat at dpreview. “So what are we left with? Well, the Fuji X100s produces as-good-as, or better, images than the majority of those alternatives, and to my eye it’s the best looking of the bunch. Add on top of that the most important things: good ergonomics and handling, a good sensor, and a good lens, and you’ve got a winner. For now. This is a good camera. It takes good pictures. My friends like it. It looks cool. All the cool photographers (some of whom seem to spend more time writing about gear than taking photos) are raving about it. I guess I’d better like it. But is it a DSLR-killer? Hell no. (What are you, high?)  The Fuji Xpro2 or Xpro3 might get there, someday, and until then, I’m waiting in the wings.

5) FR-reader Román linked me the X100S comprehensive TechRadar review. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

They liked: “Fuji’s combination of retro design, robust build and excellent image quality makes the X100S a very desirable camera. The hybrid viewfinder provides a superb view of the scene, and it makes a pleasant change to compose images with the camera held to the eye.” They disliked: “There’s no getting away from the fact that the Fuji X100S is large for a compact camera. In the past we might have been able to excuse it because it has an APS-C format sensor rather than a piddling 1/1.7-inch device or the like, but the APS-C format Nikon Coolpix A is much smaller, and Sony has proved that a full-frame sensor can be squeezed into a tiny camera body. That said, the Sony [shoplink 11020]RX1[/shoplink] costs in the region of £2,600 / US$2,800 / AU$3,000 and it doesn’t have a viewfinder built-in. Given its retro design and the presence of an excellent viewfinder, we are prepared to let the Fuji X100S off for not having a vari-angle screen, but it would be nice to have a touch-sensitive screen.”

TechRadar says also that the “X100S’s JPEG results for dynamic range are less impressive than those for signal to noise ratio, with the camera sitting below the [shoplink 11027]Sony RX100[/shoplink] and Fuji X100 at every sensitivity setting, and below the [shoplink 11024]Canon G1 X[/shoplink] until ISO 6400-12800. The Fuji X100S shows less dynamic range in its JPEG images than the [shoplink 11029 ebay]Sigma DP1[/shoplink] at ISO 100, but picks up to produce stronger results than the Sigma at every other ISO.

Read the techradar review here.

image courtesy: Techradar (page 5)

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X20

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image courtesy: Donato Chirulli (facebook page)

– A wonderful city (Venice), a little great camera (X20) and a talented photographer (Donato Chirulli)… see the images here at Donato’s facebook page. Donato Chirulli is one of the 25 photographers chosen (out of 55,000 photographers worldwide!) by PhotoVogue for the second editon of the “A Glimpse at Photo Vogue” exhibition. See one of the shots that convinced PhotoVogue here at riflessifotografici. Congratulations from Fujirumors! And for a 55-200 sample shot, check this riflessifotografici post here.

– FR-reader Chris sent me via twitter some black and white images he shot with the X20 of the Alaska mountains. Check them out here at facebook.

X-PRO1

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A lot of recent cameras have updated classic designs rooted in photography’s golden past for the digital age; none have done it better than the X-Pro1. A compact, interchangeable lens system and 16-megapixel APS-C X-Trans CMOS sensor mean there’s plenty of brawn behind the rugged beauty.” This is the reason why the X-PRO1 has reached the 8th position of the “Twenty of the most beautiful examples of industrial design born in recent years” at the T3 Design Award 2012 (click here). This years’ winner: [shoplink 11543]Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime[/shoplink]. Triple win for Fujifilm also at the 2013 red dot design awards: [shoplink 10261]X-PRO1[/shoplink], [shoplink 10259]X-E1[/shoplink] and [shoplink 11545 ebay]Instax mini 8[/shoplink]. Read the press release “Triple win for Fujifilm at the 2013 red dot design awards” at Fuji Canada here

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Switching to the Fuji X: FR-readers stories

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I receive a lot of messages from photographers who made the big jump from the DSLR to the X-series and rediscovered the passion and joy for photography! For example Mel, who told me about his experience when he switched from Nikon to the X-PRO1:

“The X-PRO1 has brought pure creativity back into my photography, not only that but it inspires me to keep being creative. In short, the X-PRO1 has brought photography back to me just when I hadn’t even realised I’d lost it. I take photos in situations where I never believed I could take a photo due to the low light limitations of every other camera I’ve ever owned. I experiment more, I enjoy more, I do more.”

Thanks a lot for sharing all this with Fujirumors, dear readers. News, rumors, stories… keep it up!

P.S.: And if you plan to switch the to the Fuji X, you should check this rumor here.

all the best
Patrick

1) Sabino:

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[…] I switched to Fuji just because I needed a comfortable camera and small enough to use in travel reportages without renounce to a professional quality. I am an italian creative designer and photographer based in Luxembourg, I started doing photography 6 years ago, but that was just the beginning of an incredible love for this art. Since the beginning I used the Canon system, first the 450D and then, once I started travelling, the professional full frame [shoplink 11332 ebay]5D MkII[/shoplink], with a couple of lenses. Great camera, but too heavy to carry around and especially bulky and showy. I don’t want to be slave of the equipment and feel it on every movement, I need something that could become like an extension of my hand and I can store in a small and light pocket..

After evaluating other brands and models I chose the [shoplink 10259]Fuji X-E1[/shoplink] because I had already tried the [shoplink 11336 ebay]Fuji X100[/shoplink] and I immediately felt in love with the fuji “touch”, but still i was not that sure to success using that camera for street or travel reportages. Is not an easy camera, is like a beautiful woman, you need to spend some time with her and be patient, to conquer more and more intimacy, but then, when you know all about, all the little secrets, you would never leave her!
So I went to Thailand, a road trip from Bankgok up to Chiang Mai and Laos, and for the first time I left the Canon 5D, the 17-40 and the 85mm lenses at home and travel within only the brand new X-E1 and the [shoplink 10279]18-55[/shoplink] kit lens. That was a big jump into the darkness!

But my insecurity has disappeared as quick as I started to use that small beautiful camera. Finally I had the possibility to completely concentrate in doing photography without almost feeling the camera in my hand, i could finally do a better relaxed photography and maximum discretion, I could do portraits and street photography without scaring or inhibit people. Even the performance at high ISO, during night time, and the battery life was positively surprising! I did a lot of photos at night street market and you won’t see bad noises even at 1600 ISO!
At the end of the trip, once I have downloaded all the pictures and viewed on a big screen i could admire the quality, the sharpness and clearly say that have the same quality of the full frame, maybe even better.
To proof the hi quality level of this camera I have also published three books out of that travel, Thailand, People and Lifestyle , Thailand, Art&Culture and Thailand, Street Market, this last one choosen by Blurb as example for their marketing campaign and to show to customers and fairs. So now i have now doubts about how good is the Fuji X system and the Canon 5D mk II could stay at home and work just for studio pictures, on tripod, as an old good lady.

Finally, if you want to see the quality of the X-E1 pictures, printed on 50x70cm frames, I will have my first public exhibition, PORTRAITS, a collection of 11 portraits out of my travels. The exhib will take place in Amsterdam, at De Peper from Friday 3 May to Friday 31st of May. More infos at www.sabinoparente.com/portraits). Now I am expanding my X equipment and I bought the [shoplink 11322]Fujinon 35mm[/shoplink], and some old M42 lenses that I can use with an adaptor. I just tested the Super Takumar 55 f1.8 and it works really good, and I am looking forward to try the Zeiss lenses that are coming.

So, not only an hi-quality and professional camera but also a high versatile system.

Sabino

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2) Jonas:

” […] I have not that long experience with photography – I only started a couple of years ago. However, I am fast learner and absolutely love the creativity photography brings. I am 100 % self-taught and that is something I’m quite proud of actually. I started of with DSLR:s from Canon as well as Nikon, and was pleased with the results. However I started to leave the camera more often at home due to inconvenience of the weight and size of the system, leaving me to wonder if there was a way I could have the same (or better) photographic results with a smaller and lighter system. I tried the M43 system with great lenses from Olympus, but soon Fuji caught my interest with their new X-series of cameras. When the [shoplink 10259 ebay]X-E1[/shoplink] hit the market I knew I had to get my hands on it.

Long story (very) short, I’ve now been using the X-E1 with the [shoplink 10279]18-55 zoom[/shoplink] I would like to share a couple of my shots with the Fuji community and everyone interested in trying it out. I shoot pretty much everything, but I prefer urban/street/landscape/architecture angles. I live in Gothenburg (Sweden) and most of the shots are therefore winter-influenced this time of the year. Overall I am extremely pleased with the performance of both the camera and the lens – top quality compared to anything else I’ve tried. As I Design Engineer-to-be obviously I am also quite fond of the design and look of this camera. But I am sure you already know that.

Please enjoy the photos and feel free to follow me at my website (www.tamaramaphoto.com) or via 500px (http://500px.com/tamaramaphoto). I will be happy to answer any questions or comments.

Thanks for a great site, Patrick.

Best Regards, Jonas Jacobsson”

Jonas

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3) Phil:

“Hello Patrick, I’m an architectural, installation documentation and art reproduction photographer in the San Francisco bay area. I really enjoy visiting your site so thought that I would like to contribute something. I just returned from a brief trip to Japan for cherry blossom season. I spent a little time between Osaka, Kyoto and Nara and I’m pretty sure I hit the season at it’s peak. This was my first travel outing with the X-E1 (my last trip was with an [shoplink 11210]OM-D E-M5[/shoplink], which the Fuji replaced.) I’ve included a link to a handful of the images here at philbondphotography. Best regards, Phil”

Phil

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4) Robin:

“Hi there , just wanted to let you know my story of switching to the fuji X system for about a year now : I’ve been active as a concert and documentary photographer for the past 7 years and got tired of walking around with my heavy gear bag ( [shoplink 11318]nikon d3[/shoplink] + [shoplink 11330]D300[/shoplink] with 24-70 70-200 12-24, sigma, fisheye and some flashes). Since I stopped my activity of live concert shooting the idea of having this great but heavy gear made me think about switching to something more compact.

First I made the switch to a “lighter” [shoplink 11332 ebay]canon 5d m2[/shoplink] body with some prime lenses, but at the end it was still nog what I was looking for …

And there was fuji suddenly with the X100 , which I bought and this camera blow me away instantly. In the beginning I really had to get used to it cause coming from a speedmonster like a [shoplink 11318]D3[/shoplink] the [shoplink 11336 ebay]X100[/shoplink] me made nervous more then often, but after more then a half year of use I have no problems anymore with the speed of the camera, or the “slow autofocus” .

I often have people asking me to help them choose a camera or compact camera, and most of the times they want the one which auto focus is the fasted, while in my honest opinion a lot of people would take better picture if there camera was a little bit slower, and they have to think a little bit more before they take the picture.

In the meantime I completed the kit with a fuji Xe1 with the 35 and 18 lenses , and past weekend I had my first full wedding covered only with the X system. The fuji sensor’s IQ is great for black and white stuff , which is most of my work these days …

Here you can see the samples of the wedding day …

Now the [shoplink 10075]X100S[/shoplink] is there I was tempted to change it , but the X100 is still more then I would ever need in a compact camera ,
I even dropped it and it bounced from the stairs at past weekend’s shoot , and that small thing is still doing fine !

Keep it up with the site

Robin

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Fuji’s double kit offer to come? (X-E1 + 18-55 + 55-200)

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Do you remember the crazy X-superkit deals here? You missed them? Don’t worry. I’ve the feeling that we could enjoy them again in future ;). This time the 2 lenses in offer should be the [shoplink 10279]XF 18-55mm[/shoplink] and XF 55-200mm. So, if you plan to switch to the Fuji X-series, this could be an interesting deal: buy both XF-zoom lenses and you’ll grab the X-E1 for a significantly reduced price.

I don’t know the price and when the zoom lenses kit deal will exactly be launched, but I’m looking forward to it. Lemme see if I can tell you more about it soon.

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Apple Camera RAW, X-Trans and EXR

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by Rico Pfirstinger

Talk to Rico (questions & feedback)Rico’s Flickr photosteam

Considering the lively discussion that is going on about Apple Camera Raw and Aperture finally supporting Fujifilm cameras with X-Trans sensors, earlier reports about Aperture’s death appear to be a bit premature. As was to be expected, most of the discussion focuses on heavy pixel peeping, so this is what I am not going to talk about in this edition of my X-Pert Corner column. That’s because with all the pixel peeping, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. There’s more to processing a RAW file than looking at perceived artifacts in 100%-400% magnification modes. Let’s instead focus on the following:

  • How usable is Apple Camera Raw for highlight recovery?
  • How is Apple Camera Raw dealing with digital lens correction and RAW metadata?
  • How is it handling RAW files that were taken in extended dynamic range modes, like DR200% and DR400%?

If you open a “standard” (that is DR100%) X-Trans RAW file in Apple Aperture using the latest Apple Camera Raw, chances are it won’t look that much different from a standard Provia SOOC JPEG file. Why bother, then? We could just use the JPEGs from the camera (maybe with additional tweaking in its internal RAW converter) and carry on with our lives, right? Yes, we could, at least in many instances. However, there are situations that the camera’s built-in JPEG engine cannot handle. This is where external RAW processing options shine—at least some of them, because not all external RAW processors are equally well-suited for specific tasks, such as highlight recovery.

Let’s have a look at a practical example. This is a (cropped to taste) SOOC JPEG image I recently recorded with a XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 R LM OIS prototype lens:

You can immediately see that the dynamic range of this subject grossly exceeds the range of the JPEG: shadows are blocked, highlights (clouds and sky) are blown-out. No matter how you deal with this RAW file in the camera’s internal converter, you won’t get a balanced result showing the full tonal range of the scene. For example, redeveloping the JPEG in-camera with soft (-2) shadow and highlight tone settings won’t rescue the clouds:

Neither will “pulling” the image -1/3 or -2/3 EV using the built-in converter’s push/pull function:


-1/3 EV


-2/3 EV

It is important to note that both -1/3 EV and -2/3 EV versions shown here don’t induce any any clipped highlight warnings, neither in the camera’s “info display” view nor in Apple Aperture. This means that no matter how much further I might pull the RAW in-camera, the texture in the clouds won’t magically re-appear. The internal RAW converter simply cannot rescue this shot. However, a state-of-the-art external converter can.

I shot this sample using the basic “ETTR exposure technique for RAW shooters” that I am recommending in my book. This means setting the camera to DR100% and using the live histogram to set the “right” exposure, clipping the relevant highlights in the histogram just so much that they can still be recovered in Lightroom/ACR or, in this case, Apple Camera Raw and Aperture.

Here’s what the standard import of the RAW file looks like in Apple Aperture:

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