jonathan7007

I still do 99% of my interior work when at a vacation rental property on full frame with Canon tilt and shift (17 or 24, usually tethered) but I always look to see if there is a new way to do this on the Fuji body. I want my images to be different so try to make images that show the room from normal adult 6 foot eye height. This approach creates a visual language (or dialect) of traditional architectural photography. I *have* done some TS captures hand held... I wish they still produced a 35mm instead of 45mm. (I had the 35mm FD version years ago but those go for $1000 now!)
 
Real estate agents are so price conscious and in a rush so I want to come up with a faster method that doesn't give up all the TS benefit. Everyone here expects all windows to look "natural" which means bracketing, no matter which software solution you choose for post-processing the final blended result. So a tripod is a must where window are present-well, almost always. Adam, do you approach this differently? With enough flash power and the right ceiling and room configuration you could do this in one shot, but that is impossible to know without a scout. I sometimes take inside one Einstein and a Vagabond battery on a stand, brightest 8" reflector. Paul Buff transmitter/transceiver connection.
 
So a simpler shift adapter for an older full frame lens (big enough circle) that allows aperture control. Is that only true of the Nikon mount engineering? How about Voightlander 15 for Nikon? Reading the above responses it appears that there was a change in Nikon engineering a while ago, and that I must stay with an older Nikon mount. Which configurations stop down manually? Adapter will have to allow rotation to shoot vertically.
 
There are several folding stools to look at. I have a little $11 one foot version-terrific small folded size, and I just keep it in the truck. I noticed someone came up with a two-step example for $45!
http://www.amazon.com/Range-Kleen-SS2-Double-Stool/dp/B007EEG7M0?ie=UTF8&keywords=folding%20stepstool&qid=1465492768&ref_=sr_1_6&sr=8-6
 
I found a used aluminum Gitzo 509 tele-studex that is very tall, very heavy. I love it. No weight savings there! But for real estate maybe the Manfrotto I have will work, equivalent to the current 055X. Hand hold where possible.
 
Could be that all this work to move the capture to a Fuji body isn't worth the hassle if one already has the full-frame tools. Just simplify the process with a different configuration of the "kit" and go with that, because the biggest hurdle really is the few wide-enough optics for the APS-C sensors. 
 
Hmm, might try that shifting Laowa if I can adapt it and the adapter doesn't constrict the image/vignette as soon as there is any shift.

Adam,
In post#35 you mention "OVF shutter lag." I use my XP1 with the OVF only (so far) and I'd love to know to what kind of lag you refer.
 
I enjoy the -1 articles. The ISO-less nuances are important, and they do affect minute to minute shooting choices. I wish Fuji's Auto-ISO lower limit on shutter speed would be absolute, immutable. Perhaps the way to deal with the squishy request is to leave ISO on a lower fixed setting and shutter speed set where my lower limit should be for the situation at hand.
 
Jonathan

the widest lens you can use with the OVF is 18mm.
 
Anything over that you can still use with the OVF, but it will tell you the field of view is wider than can be shown in the OVF so you will not get any frame lines.
 
There are some videos out there that show what happens when you go wider than 18mm.. I think some yellow arrows point out toward the corners telling you the frame lines (that would be for 16mm, for example) fall outside and beyond the OVF.
 
Again, you could use the OVF with 16mm and focus with it, but you will have no reference as to what exactly is being framed.. your best bet is to use the EVF with the 16mm.. or anything wider than 18mm.
 
And, yes, the 16mm is a rather hefty built lens and it will take up more viewing space in the lower right corner of the OVF.. definitely noticeable and more than the 35mm f2... i'd imagine it would block almost 1/4 of the OVF.. maybe a little less like 1/5th of the OVF... 
 
Consequently on the other end, the X-Pro2 will only provide framelines up to 90mm.. and even then it's so small, you'd probably not going to use it and just use the EVF to frame and get the shot properly.. I've used the 56mm.. it's the next smallest frame, but I feel it's just within usable range and not a problem.

When the sea is pissed off 
 
A couple weeks ago on the North Shore of Kauai.
 

Eastbourne pier II
 

Isola di Elba, Italy, waiting for fine weather
cheers, Andreas
 

 
 

Villers Sur Mer
FujiXE1 infrared conversion 720nm XF 35 F1.4 @ F8

Depends on what one has as a definition of a range finder.
 
If it's a camera that has a mechanism for determining range (aka focus by any other name) then pretty much every camera is a range finder
 
If a range finder is deemed as a specific mechanical device to align to images in a view finder (which it blantantly is ) to achieve focus then the Fujis are not range finders...
 
It's a little like a quartz watch and a automatic watch.
 
They're both watches
 
They both tell the time
 
One uses a Quartz crystal to regulate time keeping
 
The other uses a hairspring
 
Both have pros and cons
 
But anyone who says that a Quartz watch has a hairspring is incorrect, sure the Quartz is a kind of electronic hair spring, in that it does the same job as a hairspring.
 
Sure the job they do is quite similar as they both oscillate in order to count time
 
But it's not an actual hairspring, because it works differently, it has different materials, and a different construction.
 
And that's how I see the Messsucher vs the ERF
 
As I've written in the X-Pro1 article... PERSONALLY and I mean PERSONALLY
 
I wish people would embrace the Fuji ERF cameras for what they are, clever designs made by a company with a long hisory of innovation and technology, whose film products have been responsible for some of the most iconic shots in history.
 
Rather than seeing it as a poor man's Leica, forever trying to justify their rantionale by coatailing off the back of Leica's accomplishments.
 
The Fujis deserve their own identity.
 
But that's just me YMMV!

OK, then the next items to jump to the front of the lens "roadmap" have to be 11mm and 16mm tilt and shift optics to replace the Canon equivalents (17 and 24). I do use the 45 sometimes, so throw in a 23 TS, too. (Canon should have made that a 35.)
 
Looks like I lug big iron for a while at least to those shoots.
 
I, too, love these rugby portraits. Great lighting. Wish more clients asked for this.
 
No "on-off" errors during the sessions? I returned mine (bummed) and am waiting to see what Fuji figures out. Or what the % error rate is in real shooting.

On Fifth Avenue. More here.
 

From May 12th through the 15th I was up in Anacortes WA covering a conference/protest event called Break Free (from Fossil Fuels). It was the first time I have use my X-Pro2 in a busy, constant action situation. I was shooting all day long and in the night. It was a good variety of fast changing situations.
 
Overall, the X-Pro2 did well. I was using the X-T1 as a second body and the X-Pro2 performed distinctly better than the X-T1 because of the faster EVF refresh rate and much shorter blackout times. The X-Pro2 also focused faster/more consistently when the light became low.
 
I did have the 'turn the camera off and on' message for the first time. That is unnerving, but it only happened once and not at a critical moment. I do hope that is fixed/fixable in firmware. It is rather annoying to have an error like that in a high-end camera.
 
I also had another thing happen that was a problem. I was in a crowd and often holding the camera overhead or down low or out at arms length to reach around people. I must have accidentally hit the drive button because the camera ended up in "advanced filter" mode. What that led me to discover is that in the advanced filter mode, the camera does not save RAW files. I had the X-Pro2 set to record RAW to card#1 and JPG to card#2. Once the camera accidentally ended up in "advanced filter" mode, it saved JPG's to both cards. That meant those images were useless. So I lost some important shots because of this.
 
The ability to disable the advanced filter mode would be welcome. I will never ever use it (except by accident apparently)
 
I also hit the drive button by mistake one other time and ended up in bracketing mode. That I realized after a few seconds and it was not a problem. When holding the camera in odd ways (reaching around a fence for example) it is easy to hit various buttons such as the Q button by mistake. Made me think I might like some fast way to just turn off all the buttons in situations like that. Of course more experience with the camera and my hands may find ways to avoid the inadvertent button pushing. There sure are a lot of them though when I end up hold the camera in a different way.
 
I also had opportunity to shoot a bit of Video with the X-Pro2. I was using the 100-400 lens (on a tripod obviously) and I was very happy with the results. 
 
Overall, the camera performed well. With all the journalistic work I do, I missed the articulating screen. Shooting at night is great with the EVF. I do not miss how hard it was to see/compose/focus in the dark with my DSLR's. I take it for granted now. Most of my shooting was with the 16-55 and 50-140. Both lenses are fast and I never felt like focusing was slow or that I missed shots. A very high percentage of shots were sharp (easily 90+%). I also used the 10-24 and at night the 16 and 56 both wide open. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Pro Rugby is launching a league here in the U.S. I was hired to shoot some initial shots and decided to give my Xpro2 a go. Overall I was happy with the performance and especially the quality of the images. I mainly used the 56 and it worked like a charm. Focus was fast and accurate. Dumped all my Canon camera gear and have never looked back. 

To understand ZSM 35mm 0.95 II lens better I'm following old approach noticed in many lens review articles - using only single lens for some time.
 
3-4 weeks of daily shooting with single lens helps to discover its potential, and figure out if you like it.
 
BTW, I've contacted seller from Hong Kong. He was very kind and checked other 2 lens samples for me - all have similar slight shift of aperture blades.
Obviously it's not Zeiss or Voigtlander mechanics, so aperture blades are not perfectly centered. Good to know it's not a defect, but just build tolerance.
And it's not an issue for me : ) Meanwhile I mostly like to use f/0.95 - f/2.8 range for most shots.
 

 

 
 

[F2.8]
 

Note that one of the answers offered by a RSS Customer Support rep appears to say the RSS L-plate will have NO handgrip shape.
 
I read the comment to mean they'll offer a simple L-shape with the Arca-Swiss dovetail.