milandro

A friend of mine just joined the Fuji X-T1 crowd. He is a senior citizen and despite being an expert photographer was very confused by all the many operations which he believed that he had to perform. I pointed to him that the EVF gives an accurate rendition of what the picture will be like and that by means of the exposure compensation ( or the ISO dial ultimately if he found the shutter speed uncomfortable or not suitable) he could manipulate the shot easily and quickly using the WYSIWYG principle. He did it and now he is shooting away getting most of his pics quickly and efficiently made without too many problems. Of course he could shoot raws but then this would mean hour and hours of post processing when he really only needs little corrections which he can do in one of the several programs which he has.

Maybe you forgot to attach the pic...

which is one of the reasons to want the 120mm macro

Yes, I thought that by now you too had gone metric , after all, the American Revolution was supported by the French who gave you Lafayette and ( though much later ) lady Liberty and gave us (with the exception of the Brits who were the champion of the “ Imperial" system) the decimal and metric system. I am sure that using some Raynox ( or other cheaper) close-up lenses would give you the possibility to count how many devils (or angels) can sit on a pin-head.

the thing is, what are we talking about? Unless you are shooting pin heads ( I have a friend of mine who does) this lens is more than adequate when it comes to its “ macro” possibilities. if you want more you can ADD the macro tubes ( and a close up lens too) to this lens and increase its range This I just shot, on the fly, I may have shot even a little bit closer ( I published only the relevant bit of the image) I think, if I had put a little bit more attention

With all due respect, for what I see depicted here on this forum and elsewhere on line... I think that most of us produce pictures for which Jpeg’s straight out of the camera offer already more than what they really need ( or in some cases deserve!). Nevertheless it is nice to keep the raws for “ just in case” the question is whether every user is THEN capable to do any better than the camera does.

Stay realistic, cameras have to reach, sooner or later, their maximum upgradability. Kaizen creates a sense of entitlement in the customer. Fuji is just learning to deal with this and the expectations they have created.

I agree ! As a form of reassurance, this is the equivalent of “ the check is in the mail already “

ok, I too a look! I am afraid that this free-lensing is not for me! I am still recovering from the shock that I got with my first Fuji XE-1 and the problem that “ oil”spots and dust caused on the sensor ( cleaning was done by Fuji Germany took two weeks and then the camera came back with different dirt than it originally had). So, NO freelensing for me, also because I have a condition with my hands that would probably lead to drop the lens if I fiddle around that way with it! Anyway the lensbaby thing can get very expensive if you do it with a proper lens with a good aperture like the Edge 80. I am trying to find a cheap Tilt-shift bellows but I am afraid that unless I come across someone who knows absolutely nothing about these rare beasts that ain’t going to happen because they want as much as the lens baby would cost.

what do you mean by Free-Lensing? I am afraid I am not familiar with the term.

So better watch out and better not cry because, by then................... Santa Claus is coming to town!

if, if ..........hurray!

When I shot portraits with a view-camera in the ‘90, I started using the camera movements, changing the direction of the focused plane and limiting the aperture, in order to isolate parts of the subject while, on purpose, leaving out of focus other parts of the subject. Back then this was very “ hip" and achievable mostly with large format cameras and small number of medium format and small format cameras, generally by using a special bellows. Apparently this effect is still, to this day, rather “ hip” and a brand, “lensbaby”, practically was built around this concept. You can achieve a similar thing if you manage to get hold of a macro bellows with tilt and shift functions ( not easy or cheap to find) and by means of an adapter try to mount it on your modern digital camera. Yes, I hear you thinking, you can do something that looks a bit like this also in post production. But I don’t intend to talk about it ( but by all means feel free to do and discuss it somewhere else opening your own thread about it if you so wish! ) A similar effect can be reached by using the built in “ miniature” effect in your camera. Yes there are some limitations to it ( shoot only jpg or not being able to position the sharpness on a diagonal line and of course it works only in a bi-dimensional way! ), nevertheless it is a different way to use this effect , quickly and without having to buy anything else that the camera that you have already. The effect puts a blurred band directly above and under the part that is sharpened. Fortunately on the X-T1 camera this varies depending whether you are shooting a vertical or horizontal picture and the effect turns with the camera. Also you can position the autofocus anywhere and the blurred band will still be just above and just under the point where you are shooting. There are several things that one could ask fuji to do to make this effect more usable to this purpose ( varying the position of the blurred bands in a circle, modifying the width and the intensity of the blurring, adding a customizable vignetting effect, do this in Raw, apply film simulation to it..................whatever! ) but I don’t engage in the kind of threads where people start fantasizing on what they wish Fuji would do for them. I’d rather use what there is. This is an example of the unadulterated effect, it is possible by PP to add a lot more to it but I just wanted to show what you can do “ in camera”. Please use at will and show your results.

I have to admit not knowing anything about using these lenses/ I’d like to see what the people here are doing with the composer pro and sweet 50 ( I would also like to see if they do anything with the edge 80 but that doesn’t seem to be available for Fuji or could I buy a composer pro with sweet 50 for Fuji and replace only the front?) well, the lensbaby circular fisheye pics that I have seen ( someone published a picture here too) looks less than pleasing to me and the same effect could easily be obtained ( and better ) with any circular Fisheye, really!

actually you can find it quite a bit cheaper too http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Camera-accessories-Andoer-38mm-Aluminum-Screw-Knob-Mini-Quick-Release-Clamp-Compatible-with-Arca-Swiss-for/32291914152.html

well Marcelo you already had shown how good it was in another thread that I had started and to which you took part before. http://www.fuji-x-forum.com/topic/292-the-humble-though-honorable-xc-50-230mm-f-45-67/ This link Yes, very good! I have yet to find any shortcomings in this lens and for anyone using the long lenses (and this features still, to date, the longest Fuji focal length) occasionally, as I do with long lenses I can’t think of a better way to spend very little money

I have said several times before This whole reaction to the X-E2 lack of upgrade business ( but let’s not forget a similar reaction by the X-E1 and X pro 1 owners) is the product of the Kaizen backfiring. The Japanese marketing department obviously didn’t foresee the amount of negative reactions ( grading from disappointment to bitterness or even, in some cases, of sheer hostility towards Fuji ) shown by the left out owners that the lack of upgrading to their older models has brought about. Now, after verifying that the whole of the Western Fuji customers owning their older models actually feels defrauded of something that the market perceives (whether rightly or wrongly it doesn’t matter, the market is always right) as a natural right as in “ they got it, why shouldn’t I? That is an injustice! ” Some statements were issued so that “ the market” would be appeased for a while. Come the end of the year, now, something will have to be released at this point but what this will be is now ( I bet) under deep scrutiny. Obviously this needs some rethinking because, Next time around there will be even more people who will feel they are missing something that is their natural right to have. Of course it is easy for me to pontificate since I am in the luxury position of having bought ( by sheer chance since I was in the shop with both the X-T1 and the X-E2 in front of me) a camera that has received the “ upgrade” ( but then we have seen that the “ upgrade” was very much less in real terms that what we all had been lead to expect. Anyway, we shall see.

It’s a street shot in Hong Kong . Pardon me & my frankness, it is just a picture though... nothing special. Not in terms of subject, composition, execution. Some parts that aren’t in focus but without any real reason for it, some bits cut out left and right, the remnant of a blurred head of a passer by on the bottom of the picture... . What is there to say about it?

They are keeping the cards very closed to their chest. I am afraid that this is none the clearer than the previous reassurance given by Fuji France and it sounds very much like some emergency plan being put in place rather than a well thought strategy ( which would have had a clear release date from the beginning on). Something will be given what will be given remains to be seen. Only time will tell. However, yes, something is better than nothing.

I think that there is much to be said about shooting pics for oneself. Shot just to remember that you’ve been somewhere with somebody whom you want to remeber. But these are pictures that have a meaning for you and you alone. You’ve been there and remember what you felt when you were there. These pictures mean something to you but not much to anyone else. Now ask anyone else, someone who hasn’t been there and is willing to give you an honest answer. What do they see in these 3 pics ( I took a look at your enormous gallery too, there some good stuff but there is a lot of clutter too)? They are like postcards or like those not particular interesting paintings that one buys when on holiday and then when you take them home, after the novelty has worn out, no longer mean much and end up being put in the attic waiting to be forgotten. Your pictures do not necessarily have to want to change the world but if you want to make them interesting... think of interesting someone else other then yourself with them. Imagine yourself going through the pictures of a glossy magazine and coming across these pictures..would you dedicate more than a passing glance to these pics? Keep on shooting.

neither have I ( or was it Eye? ), the only thing that is ever so slightly annoying is the thing that I should really remember to not wear my spectacles since the dioptric correction of the camera fits me just fine ( when I don’t, by mistake, turn the wheel and change it, one of the so many controls which should have an harder “ click” to stay in place without accidentally being turned).

the simple applying of paint or other materials to the rubberized parts or the whole of the surface of a camera is nothing new really, it has been done for decades and many examples can be found of such individual modifications. There are also examples of more or less limited custom options offered by the company itself such as the Pentax Q 10. But I thought to see in anyone here had come up with something more that it has been done before!

this one 10890-8.jpg

actually there are watertight cases for not too much money out there , such as the Meikons ( for about $250) They have one for the X-T1 and one for the X-M1 and the X100S This one is for the X100S for the money it costs you might as well use it even just to protect the camera from the rain !

This thread is not about lens sharpness. I take plenty of pictures myself where sharpness is not the most important thing. Yet there is this interesting phenomenon of so many (often young people) using the most modern camera and the oldest lenses in combination. This happens for the first time in photographic history with such high percentage of photographers. In years past I have used plenty of techniques ( pinhole photography?) where sharpness wasn’t essential, but the number of people doing these things was relatively small. Now it is very large. That’s what I wanted to talk about. See also my other thread on the use of the Petzval lens.