The Stray Cats of Porto

Beautiful Stray

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guest post by Adam – adambonn.com website

A very great many ‘togs seem to protest at the idea of cat photos…

When the Fujifilm X-Pro2 finally landed, the internet wags quipped that the Fujifilm X-Pro1 was now only good for “cat shots and infrared conversion”

:) I did have to laugh

The thing is…

I love cats!

I realise that some find them aloof, greedy and self centred. But animals didn’t ask to be domesticated, they didn’t sign up to some mutually exclusive deal, you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Animals exist in our domesticated world because we have use for them, or because we tolerate them.

But many large urban areas have stray animals, perhaps once a pet, perhaps the offspring of a pet. Strays are NOT a Porto problem, they’re not a London problem or a Rome problem or a anywhere problem, they’re a humanistic problem.

Strays say something about our own species; and it’s not nice. Animals stuck in a neither world of not being part of human existence nor being free of it. They exist in this space because of the human world and despite the human world.

When we take a pet, we create a dependant. When we break that bond, we create a shadow.

These are not cutesy kitties, they could be… they have the capacity, but these are street creatures, discarded and dirty. Left to eek out an existence on whatever they can get.

I love cats.

And when I look into the eyes of these strays I see the struggle they’ve endured and their defiance in never giving up. This isn’t some sort of aloof detachment. This is the primordial square root of survival. Even the little indoors only kitty curled up on your bed has this ability.

These cats are not pets… To me, they’re as valid street subjects as anything else in the genre, after all, if we say that ‘street’ is the documentary of the humanistic world, then what tells our story more than the problems we create and the things we discard?

All these shot are taken with the X-Pro1 and X-T1.

Both bodies soon only to be suitable for infrared conversion, and cat shots. Perhaps even infrared cat shots :)

I realise that you may not enjoy cat shots… But hopefully you’ve seen a different side of the kitty, one which is perhaps a bit more engaging than a pampered fat cat chasing a toy or lapping up some milk…

If it’s of interest, you can see more of my work on the links below.

Warm regards
Adam

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A Calm Moment on a Stray Day

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New Firmware Features (1): Using AF+MF

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New Firmware Features (1): Using AF+MF

by Rico Pfirstinger

Talk to Rico (open forum for questions & feedback)

Fuji X Secrets Workshops – Rico’s Flickr Sets

The Fujifilm X-E2: Beyond the Manual (use coupon XPERT40 for a 40% discount)

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This Thursday (18 DEC 2014), Fuji is releasing new firmware for the X-Pro1, X-E1, X-E2 and X-T1. This is the first of three articles explaining the changes and enhancements brought to you by these updates. Let’s begin with the single new feature that affects all four X camera models: AF+MF.

What is AF+MF?

AF+MF allows you to autofocus in AF mode, then adjust the focus manually by turning the focus ring while holding the shutter button half-depressed.

In order to access this feature, the camera needs to be updated with the latest firmware (at least version 3.40 for the X-Pro1, 2.40 for the X-E1, 3.00 for the X-E2 and 3.00 for the X-T1). Then select SHOOTING MENU > AF+MF > ON to enable the new feature.

How to apply AF+MF

In order to use AF+MF, your X-T1 or X-E2 have to be in AF-S autofocus mode. Users of X-E1 and X-Pro1 cameras may also select AF-C using the focus mode selector switch that is located at the front of the camera.

Here’s how AF+MF works, step by step:

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Film Days Heritage Leads To Digital Sensor Innovation


 

This is probably not new to our readers here, but it is nice to see how the technological innovation Fuji is pushing gets featured on The New York Times gadget blog. The talk is about the X-Trans sensor. As most of you probably know, with its X-Trans technology Fuji is trying to overcome a limit of modern digital sensor: moirè artifacts.

How does moirè become an issue? For this reason:

A camera’s light sensors are made of an array of tinier photo sensors usually set to detect red, green or blue light. Those smaller sensors are most often laid out in an orderly grid pattern called a Bayer array.

That causes a problem. When the orderly array of sensors takes a picture of some equally orderly patterns, say, a houndstooth jacket, or close parallel lines, an irregular wavy shadow or rainbow seems to appear over the image. That is called a moiré pattern.

That's a problem in a lot of settings, and no one likes visible moirè on his or hers killer shot. There are obviously various methods to avoid or to correct such artifacts, for instance via software processing. But wouldn't it be much smarter if you can avoid moirè by implementing a different sensor design, i.e. a sensor that does not rely on the Bayer array?

Fuji did that. And they did it taking inspiration from their knowledge about film. Moirè has never been an issue in the good old film days. The (simple) reason: the crystals on a film and photo paper are never placed in a regular, grid-like way. Hence, build a sensor where the photo diodes are positioned in a random way, effectively replicating how crystals are laid out on film, and you can avoid that pesky moirè.

Designing a sensor that way means you can avoid to put a low-pass filter on the sensor. That, on the other hand, means an increase in resolution. Unfortunately there is a little drawback: With the exception of [shoplink 6525]Capture One Pro 7[/shoplink] and Silkypix all current RAW converters and photo editing software are coded to work with images taken with sensor that implement the Bayer technology. That means you either shot JPEG or have to use Fuji owns software to prepare RAW files for further processing.

The X-Trans sensor is featured on all new Fuji cameras, starting from the $600 Fuji X20, on the X100S (price & specs) and the [shoplink 6136]Fuji X-Pro1 (price & specs)[/shoplink]. Fuji explains the technology here.

Fuji X100s pre-order options: Amazon | B&H | AdoramaFuji X20 pre-order options: Amazon | B&H | AdoramaFuji X-Pro1 price check: [shopcountry 6136]

[NYT, via PetaPixel]