MrSteveVee

Switched to XT2 late last year. XT1 was the camera that made me switched from Canon SLR to Fuji. I have not regretted my decision. Here is one of the last weddings we did with XT1 last year. I still don't get some of the latest reviews I've read that said the XT2 is not good enough for weddings. The XT1 was good enough for me!
 
http://binaryflips.com/blog/2017/01/laura-kyle-wedding-at-branford-house-ct/
 
 

Yeah, I hear that often, like "if you ave to crop, you weren't close enough" or "you're photo wasn't good enough"... This is, IMO, a statement from another time, that doesn't apply anymore today. Point a camera to someone 50 years ago, and you obtain a nice Magnum-like candid street portrait. Point a camera at someone today, and most likely you'll have a macro shot of his hand and a "Go away, you creep" thrown at you. I have the feeling that only the poorest countries of this world still have the curiosity of the camera. Most of street candids I see on the Internet are from poor countries in Asia or Africa, often children. Here in Germany, I think people would call the police if you try to take their portrait...
 
Anyway, I noticed this statement about cropping often comes from photographers who mainly do street photography in a very orthodox way. When you do macro or landscape, you can't always get closer or reframe the way you want, because the insect would be gone, or because a tree is blocking the view, or because there's a cliff. Even when you do street, sometimes you take what you see, and then you analyse your picture and wish that car wasn't here. 
 
Cropping isn't a bad thing to me, just like increasing the contrast or switching to black and white. It's just reframing the picture afterwards, because you change your mind, notice something else that wasn't worth being shown in the frame, or because the cropped scene just looks better to you. Who cares if it's cropped? The photo itself is a crop from the real world. Would it be a better photo to frame in 35mm, change your mind, put a 50mm on your camera, and take the picture?
 
That's an advantage of 24mpix cameras over 16 or 12. If you crop, you'll have enough room for printing. I personally don't print anything bigger than a paper sheet, but some people might need it.
 
I agree with what you said about better cameras. I saw a lot of people with expansive gear, producing not so great pictures. That's why I do more and more film: the cameras are certainly not the latest, so you need to move your butt and get a nice picture by yourself. Technology won't save you!

Haha touché'! I used Nikons from the Film days up into Digital too. I used my old Faithfull D200/D300 for many years with some nice weighty lens including a couple of years pro work with them. When I hit the big 60 My loving Bruv got me an X-pro1 at a fantastic price as the pro-2 was on the way. I've not touched the old Nikons since.

Hiya. I do not have the XT-1 so cannot answer directly on how to achieve focus back button but if I generalise you should get the idea of what it means.
 
As a general rule, most digital cameras shutter release is set to do three functions. As you press the shutter button it will focus, take a light reading and finaly fire the shutter. Now some people like to have these three functions (or some, or a combination) done as seperate tasks rather than all grouped together. So depending on the sophistication of the camera, there may be customisable options that allow these functions to be re-assigned.   Back button focus: Another button on the camera is assigned to be the focus button. Therefore when the Shutter release is pressed, it will no longer focus the camera, to focus the camera a seperate button must be pressed.   Usage: To focus on the prime subject then move the camera where you wish and take shot after shot without the camera trying to focus each time. Very useful if you was doing birds in flight, press the focus when you know the bird is in the frame so the camera is not trying to lock onto everything other than the bird. I use this a lot on my Nikon Cameras   AFL: Auto Focus Lock. The Focus is locked until the shutter is fired. Depending on the cusomisation allowed may be set as a press and hold or switch on/off   Usage: To allow re-composition without the need to hold down the shutter button. I am sure there are a lot of other uses but personally I never use this so I cannot add more   AEL: Exposure Lock. The exposure is locked and will not change until the shutter is pressed. Depending on the cusomisation allowed may be set as a press and hold or switch on/off   Usage: Take a light reading of prime concern then recompose to shoot. I use this option a lot on my Niko Cameras   AFL/AEL often these buttons are one and the same. Most annoying as they should be separate in my opinion . I always configure my cameras for AEL only (exposure) as I use the back button to ffocus so do not need focus lock   Therefore if you are interested, on my Nikon Camera I will compose the shot how I want it, move the sensor to the prime exposure position,  half press to take a light reading then AEL lock the reading  now I move the sensor to the prime focus point, press the back focus to focus it, then lastly I press the shutter to fire, I may then change metering/focus points and fire off another several more shots etc. I use this a lot for interiors.   X-Pro1: The AFL/AEL button is also the back focus button so I cannot set this camera up like my Nikons. That's a bit annoying but as I do not need back focus botton that much on this camera for my uses I just set it to AEL lock only   Final note, this is just generalisation so that you can understand what the buttons are for, some people use different techniques and therefore done need or use them this way, The best thing is to have a play about, change settings and get to understand how these functions work then see how they best fit with your shooting style   Hope this helps   Steve V
 

We had one of the "Tough Mudder" events in the park at the weekend, 14,000 entrants for it and most for charitable support.

The idea was to complete a run with obstacles to negotiate and rather than a race it was to remain as a team and complete together, some very wet and muddy obstacles.

I managed to get up there for a couple of hours with the XPro2+16-55 and grabbed some images that I am happy with - would have liked more time so next time will plan for the day!
 

 

 

 
 

I agree about the view modes and I really wish Fuji would let us customize which ones we want. Given that choice I would have Eye Sensor and EVF+Eye Sensor.

Well, I do think that he attracts more visitors by posting opiniated and sometimes controversial reviews on his site. He gets a lot more publicity this way than when he would only post balanced and factual stuff. 
And look above; if KR thinks your camera is great, then he is a cool guy. If your camera was reviewed badly, then he is a dinosaur. I bet he is fully aware of how his reviews are received, and judges that this style generates more income for him.

Coming from Canon, I've spent the last decade shooting exclusively raw, because 'as any fool knows', it's *better* than jpeg.
 
I've spent the last decade sitting at my computer tweaking and poking the files to get them to something I'm happy with and then printing or exporting the files for display.
 
For the first 5 years, I loved working this way, it opened up new avenues, I could explore, it was fun, but for me, over the past 5 years, it's become a chore, a task, it's not fun anymore and I've noticed a significant drop in my social photography.
 
I've had an X100 on the side for ages, but because 'raw is better', despite shooting in raw + jpeg, I only imported the raw files to Lightroom and my heart would sink when I would see something I was happy with (the jpeg preview) disappear to be replaced by the 'adobe standard' raw - knowing that signaled the start of another set of slider bashing to get it back to something I liked, but you know. it had to be done because 'raw is better'.
 
Finally, with the XPro2, I've decided to reverse my workflow. I'll still shoot raw + jpeg, but I'll import the jpeg only into Lightroom. If (and it has not happened yet), I have a shot I need to push to the limits, I can go find the raw on the card and import it, if not, I'll delete them.
 
For me this means I'm 90% of my time on the camera and perhaps 10% on the computer, perhaps even less. It would have been pretty much the opposite when I started out in digital, but do you know what, neither approach is correct or incorrect, it's just a matter of what works for you, but I'm sure there are a lot of people who shoot raw, not because it works for them, but because it is what is 'expected'.
 
Back in the context of this thread, I'd say if you like the ACROS from the camera, use it. You can develop in camera from your raws and tweak the settings as needed - kind of like a mini version of Lightroom in the camera, with the Fuji magic built in. To my addled mind, the goal of photography is the visual impact of the product, not having a technically lossless version of it.