HAWAII WITH THE FUJIFILM X-PRO2

On the first day as I wandered around Waikiki Beach trying to overcome some jet lag, I came across these kids being kids. I watched for a little bit before taking any photos and while they were aware I was there, they soon just went back to timing the surf and leaping from the pier. I liked this photo best because while most of these kids jumped feet first, this girl just went for it.  1/680 @ f5.6, ISO 200.

During a recent trip to Honolulu, Hawaii, I had my first chance to spend some time walking around with my new Fujifilm X-Pro2. In the previous post, I explained my initial camera setup and my thoughts behind those choices. In this post, I'll discuss whether I stuck with those choices and share a few things I learned.

The camera handled great, felt good to carry and performed up to my expectations. That really isn't a surprise, however, I was surprised by how much I liked it more than the X-Pro1. Granted, I only spent a week with the X-Pro1, but Fuji really did take the time to improve this camera versus the original. Little things, but well thought out.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, it didn't take long for it to get dark. I was photographing surfers and paddle boarders coming ashore when I noticed a hotel's flood light illuminating a patch of sand, so I positioned myself hoping that some action would take place in or near the light. I like the warm yellow light contrasting with the blue ocean and sky and that last hint of pink. I think that just enough light reaches the subjects and ensures that they weren't in silhouette. 1/35 @ f2.0, ISO 3200. 

I stuck to shooting Auto ISO with my max ISO set to 3200. I was happy with the results, but I may up that to 6400. During this trip, I was working during the day (video project) so most of my personal shooting with the Fuji was during the evening hours where 3200 was fine, however on one occasion, I was shooting after the sun had set and in that case I could have used the faster shutter speed provided by setting the upper limit to 6400. 

I was around the fifth person to reach the top of Diamond Head just as the sun was coming up. In this photo, several visitors defied the off-limits signs and ventured about 50 yards to another peak. I didn't pay much attention until this gentleman climbed atop the metal frame. I like the contrast between the grass, concrete and the performance of this man balancing atop some old metal. With Honolulu in the background, he's on top of the world. 1/75 @ f6.4, ISO 200.

I'm really glad I choose the 35mm f2.0 R WR lens. Unlike the 35mm f1.4, which I previously used with the X-Pro1, It is smaller, quieter and weather resistant, all things that came into play during this trip. Another thing that I appreciated about this lens is the focal length. At a 50mm equivalent, it has a nice reach, yet still works in close situations. I will probably still purchase something wider, but I'm not in any hurry.

Something else I realized was that within a half hour of me reaching the summit of Diamond Head, I was joined by the entire country of Japan. Seriously, it did get really crowded and most of the visitors continued to take photos of the rising sun, probably long after it made sense. But as I made my way back down, I wanted to take a photo that would give a sense of the crowd, when I spotted this woman taking a picture of the sunrise. I turned, made three frames and keep moving. 1/120 @ f6.4, ISO 200.

The autofocus was really quick and the added ability to move the focus area around quickly using the joystick was a welcome addition. In a few instances when shooting on the street, I reacted quickly and the focus was locked on without me having to think about it. Like all the previous mirrorless cameras I've used, you do have to make sure the camera "awake" or you could experience an initial delay.

On Oahu's North Shore, there are hundreds of spots to pull over and explore the coast with your camera. The weather was not great and most of the morning I was dealing with volcanic fog, or VOG, as the locals call it. Eventually, as I continued to drive along the coast, this tidal pool caught my attention and I focused on the lone snorkeler and the range of subtle color changes throughout the scene. 1/680 @ f5.6, ISO 200.

I loaded the dual card slots with San Disk 32mb SDHC cards, capturing monochrome jpegs to one and raw files to the other. Not sold on this. I still really like seeing the results in monochrome as I shoot, but I also utilized the built-in WiFi a lot with this camera. It's how I transferred my photos to my phone and iPad then shared on social media during the trip. However, since I was caputing in monochrome, if I wanted to use a color version, I had to first do an in-camera raw conversion. Again, this is something I'm going to have to work on.

On my last night in Hawaii, I was walking back from dinner along Waikiki Beach watching all the tourists line up to photograph the sunset. It was a nice sunset, however with nothing spectacular to put in the foreground, I was drawn to the color reflected in the receding waves. A different view of the setting sun. 1/40 @ f3.2, ISO 200.

There is no doubt the X-Pro2 is now my everyday carry-around camera. It handled well in all the shooting situations I found myself in and the 24 megapixels images are just beautiful. Off to Portland, Oregon, next week, so more to follow.

FUJIFILM X-PRO2 INITIAL SETTINGS

Fuji Xpro2 with XF 35 f2.0 lens, two SD cards, extra batteries and a soft shutter release button. Details and links appear at the end of this post*.

I finally got my hands on the new Fujifilm X-Pro2. And like with every new or loaner camera I receive, I downloaded the manual and read it (I highly recommend this). In this case, I read it several times even before the camera arrived.

Then once the camera was in front of me I went through all the menus and adjusted the settings in a way that makes sense to me and will best compliment my shooting style.

Below are the changes to the factory settings I made:

IMAGE QUALITY - FINE+RAW: I prefer to shoot with this set up so that I can take advantage of Fuji's film simulation options with the jpegs while always having the raw file to process anyway I want. Taking advantage of the X-Pro2s two SD card slots means I have the jpegs on one and raw on the other. 

FILM SIMULATION - ACROS-Ye FILTER: ACROS is a new monochrome film simulation option on the X-Pro2, so I'm giving it a try. Additionally, I've added the yellow filter (you can also add a red or green filter) which slightly enhances contrast and darkens the sky.

LONG EXPOSURE NR - OFF: Will activate if needed, but see no reason to leave on until then.

AF ILLUMINATOR - OFF: One of the advantages of mirrorless cameras is the ability to blend in, so the last thing I want when shooting at night or in dark situations is to draw attention myself with light.

AF+MF - ON: This setting allows me to manually adjust focus while the shutter button is pressed halfway. The camera must be in focus mode S for this work.

INSTANT AF SETTING - AF-C: This tells the camera what autofocus setting I want to use when I press the AF-L button while the camera is in manual focus mode.

CORRECTED AF FRAME - ON: This adds a second focus frame to the display in the optical viewfinder for distances of about 1.6. Corrects for parallax inherent in rangefinders. 

SHUTTER TYPE - ES ELECTRONIC SHUTTER: Eliminates shutter noise and used for the same reason I turn off the AF illuminator and turn all other sounds off. The less attention I draw to myself when shooting, the better.

ISO AUTO SETTING - MAX SENSITIVITY 3200 and MIN. SHUTTER SPEED 1/30: I started using auto ISO on my X100S about a year ago and really like not having to worry about making changes when moving from inside to out or in and out of the shadows. Besides, if I change my mind it is easy and quick to change the ISO using the dial located on top of the camera.

SOUND SETTING - ALL OFF: It should be obvious by now.

IMAGE DISPLAY - 1.5 SEC: One of the coolest things about this camera, like others in Fuji lineup is that a preview of the photo you just took appears in the viewfinder of the camera. It gives you instant feedback, especially when using the optical viewfinder.

FOCUS SCALE UNITS - FEET: What, am I in Europe?

FOCUS LEVER SETTING - ON: One of the new features on the Xpro2 is a joystick located on the back of the camera that enables you to move the focus-point around the viewfinder. This setting makes the joystick active.

EDIT FILE NAME - Changed the SRGB name to JFWP and the AdobeRGB name to JFW. No reason other than I can and after all, how boring is DCS.

CARD SLOT SETTING (STILL IMAGE) - RAW/JPG: I really like having two card slots in this camera. The second card slot can be used as overflow or as backup, but as mentioned previously, since I'm shooting both raw and jpegs, this setting allows me to separate them on two different SD cards.

WIRELESS SETTINGS - GENERAL SETTINGS: Changed the wireless name to FUJIFILM-JFWPHOTO.

Once I've had a chance to spend some time shooting with this camera, I'll give you my thoughts and also update you on any changes I've made to the list above.

Fujifilm X-Pro2 Body (Black)

Fujinon Xf35mm F2 R WR - Black

Wasabi Power Batter (2-Pack) and Charger

SanDisk Extreme PRO 32GB SDHC memory card

Neewer 10mm Diameter Red Plan Metal Soft Shutter Release Button

PHOTOGRAPHING DAY ONE ON THE DC STREETCAR

Fujifilm X100S,f8.0 @ 1/800, ISO 400.

On Saturday, the DC Streetcar began carrying passengers along H Street, so late in the afternoon, I decided to check it out.

To get the first photo, I positioned myself close to the edge of the platform in order to capture the driver and the waiting passengers as the streetcar approached the platform. I was somewhat limited because on this first day of operation there were plenty of volunteers on hand to keep people from doing exactly what I wanted to do, which was get closer.

I like how the shadows create a criss-cross pattern on the platform, mimicking the design pattern on the side of the streetcar. Additionally, I like that the light illuminates the boys face to the right, which makes a connection to the light on the driver.

Fujifilm X100S,f4.0 @ 1/900, ISO 400.

When I boarded the streetcar, I moved to the back of the car hoping to catch some shots as we left the platform, maybe including one of the volunteers out the window. The woman in this scene with the wonderful light on her face immediately caught my eye so I knew I wanted to place her in the foreground. The streetcar was very crowded and I was only able to get a few photos before we pulled out so instead of capturing her with the station in the background as originally intended, I caught the Hopscotch bridge and another photographer. I still like the photo.

Fujifilm X100S,f2.8 @ 1/900, ISO 400.

As I returned to the Union Station stop after making a four-mile roundtrip I knew that I wanted to get at least one more shot; one that would connect the crowd to the streetcar while at the same time give a sense of the opening day ridership. I purposely focused on the streetcar and just let passengers walk by doing my best to frame the logo. In this photo, I like the boy on the right holding a hand and while I purposely tried not to show faces in this shot, the man looking down does help to draw attention to that gesture as well.

NOT ON TASK OR PURPOSE, BUT STILL COOL

*original photo caption appears at the end of this post.

I have noticed this sponsored post in my Facebook feed about a dozen times over the last couple of weeks. I'm sure it is because many of my friends have liked it, or maybe because I'm a veteran, or perhaps for entirely different reasons, but what I am sure of is that it is not because I posted my photograph.

It is almost always a surprise when I come across one of my photographs in print or online, especially when it is used to promote or advertise something unrelated to the original intent of the photograph.

In this case, I had several reactions.

Cool! One of the reasons I'm in this business is because I like having my photos seen by the public, so whenever they're published, it somehow validates that I'm doing my job well.

What? Why is a photograph taken in 2012 in Southern Pines, N.C., being used by Task & Purpose to urge people to sign a petition telling the Veteran's Administration to approve the cost of service dogs to treat mental health issues? This photograph was taken on assignment for the U.S. Government and then publicly released, therefore, restrictions are few in who and how it can be used, but it still makes me wonder.

Wrong? I know that many times photographs are used to illustrate concepts or support articles that have no direct connection to the original photograph. And that is the case here. The photograph is actually of a military working dog being trained to detect improvised explosive devices.

Ultimately I don't own the photographs I take for the Navy and can't control where they are used once released. And in this instance, I can't even argue with the cause or that the photograph doesn't work as file art. However, a quick search on DOD image sites that the public has access to shows plenty of photographs, many better, that would support this plea for signatures, so why this photo.

I'll just go back to my original reaction. Cool!

*Original caption reads: SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. (Jan 18, 2012) Grady, an improvised explosive device detector dog (IDD), waits for a command from his Marine trainer during an Office of Naval Research (ONR)-hosted IDD 2.0 project technical demonstration. IDD 2.0 is funded by the Joint IED Defeat Organization and the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. (U.S. Navy photo by John F. Williams/Released)

PHOTOS OF SNOWZILLA 2016

Placing a person in this photograph helps to show both scale and the dilemma of the pedestrian in the aftermath of the 2016 blizzard.

Sitting at my window watching the recent blizzard dump over two feet of snow on Arlington, Va., I found myself in a familiar internal debate; venture out while it is still snowing or wait until it has stopped.

This time, I waited for it to stop, mostly because it really was a blizzard, or as you may better know it as, "Snowzilla," which in my neighborhood started at 1 p.m. Friday and didn't stop until 11 p.m. Saturday. It wasn't until Sunday mid-morning that I dragged myself out of the apartment in order to photograph the aftermath. 

Even by noon, many side streets had not yet been plowed. I like the light in this photo, people emerging from the shadows; while some streets are cleared, many remain untouched and unexplored.

I titled this photo "Whole lotta love." What originally caught my attention was the line of people waiting for the Whole Foods to open. Then this couple caught my attention and I loved that they were in their own world. I also like how they help to fill some space in the empty parking lot.

What drew my eye to this scene was just how far-reaching and intrusive the snow was, even entering the parking garage that no cars had entered. I also like the symmetry of the opening and the splash of color from the poles.

I probably could have spent much more time with this scene, but the juxtaposition of dining al fresco just 13 hours after the blizzard ended tells a story about the Clarendon neighborhood in Arlington.

This was the aftermath of a much larger snowball fight held at the Clarendon Metro Station. I clearly wasn't the only one who had a bit of cabin fever.