asathor

I bought the XE-1 first and have continued to like the E body but the X-Pro2 is growing on me even though it is missing the built in "fill flash." Of the 4 bodies I have none of them have broken, worn out or malfunctioned, although one did suffer abuse by me which Fuji fixed. The Fuji optics are great but the magic is in in the combination - if it was just the glass the other camera maker would offer Fujifilm grade .jpg SOOC because they all have several (some many) superb lenses. They used to call it pedigree and I think Fujifilm has nailed it; grab any one lens and any one body and take some pictures w/o worrying about what else you could have had in your bag, if you know the craft you will be rewarded with keepers. Knowing what each body can and can't do falls under the heading of Home Work, of course I am so old that I go back to the time when the camera operator had to decide which part of a persons face to focus on and how to set the depth of field for the shot to work.

You found a "Black Hole" in chip-programming or firmware. Send it in. The warranty should replace it if need be. I never keep server components that behave like that - if electronic shutter is a feature it needs to work. I have enjoyed shooting in "silent" mode with my X-Pro2 and it would obviously be far to late to find out that it was shooting blanks after an event.

As an IT Server Room professional let me add my two cents worth. You are describing a problem inside Adobe and thinking that Fujifilm should help them; before we ask Fuji let's consider this: Adobe employs many hundreds of programmers (I don't know the number) - Iridient has ONE GUY who can figure out how to read Fujifilm raw files just fine. What does this tell you . Another example, when Adobe rewrote Audition (they bought Cool Edit at some point) to include Dolby 5.1 and go 64 bit they dropped 50% of the important XF features because "that is all you need for Premier" - what would keep them from doing this to their Photo products in the future . Sidecar files are a detriment to safe-keeping and transfer of files and in particular digital assets. Every time a file would need to be transferred you would have to Zip/RAR (put in in a wrapper/container) to be sure both parts got there . Adobe really doesn't matter in this equation. They could close tomorrow but at the moment they are the makers of a popular (great) photo editing program, a decent asses management program and a mediocre RAW developer that cannot read the files it purports to be able to work on fully. If they closed we would not need to upgrade our software any more - a pretty good deal if you tell me . Remember, if Adobe closes everyone could flock to DXO - thay can't figure the xTrans out either . ...or the Foveon, or the new 2 layers Canon, or the curved Sony or the organic sensors that run on blod ......... To be brief: Adobe is a Huge, Lazy Bureaucracy that pretty much rules out innovation or collaboration . But we could start with a meeting about that, at least to set an agenda for a later meeting, the one before the one where we include the managers, so they can go back to their team and see if the Department Heads should be consulted, or legal, or HR ......... oh, the engineers have not signed off? ............... Please stop me

My EF-20 (tilt version) works fine - I bought it for the X-Pro2 after getting the body so it is "new" stock.

You may need to wait a few years before you can get a camera that can take those shots, by overexposing by that much you are lighting the inside of your camera like a Christmas Tree and all bets are off for quality. The current crop of cameras can only handle 13-14EV. The Finepix S5 Pro could do that 10 years ago so sensor technology has not improved much for dynamic range but as we all know it has in other areas. The cross hatch pattern are demosaic patters resulting from missing recognizable color information - you get similar patterns at very high ISO and it ain't pretty close up but not directly visible by the time you have something print worthy or downsize for computer and tablet screens. If the shots were actually "keepers" there is still a lot you do to recover in post. I have attached my take on it ( I had to compress a little to get the size down). The Trees: I ran max Highlight Recovery and tight Curves on one, Knocked out Magenta and Purple on one, and show the original for the sake of the Histogram and Blow-Out warning.

Apparently I downloaded the SilkyPix 7 for the VERY visually impaired people, my one monitor is 2560 x 1440 the other 1920x1200 - Unfortunately the menus/GUI is sized for 1280x768 - that is everything is HUGE. This does not happen with v2 from Fuji or any other program. Does anyone know about this bug?

If you bring 2 lenses you will have the wrong lens as much as 50% of the time - and so on, if you have one you will to take the best pictures you can get. My choice would be a relatively wide prime for the venue on the T2 - and then crop in post. No one expects posters from this kind of party. As others have pointed out normal 15 yr old' are very lively and self conscious. So use the Canon when they already expect to be photographed if you bring it - they will surely notice it and promptly change behavior for better or worse - but for sports, games etc. the big rig and zoom will be handy because it is now "normal" and it may also be handy when you want to pose them for group - if others bring cameras it is nice for the kids to see that you have the biggest and that they should pose when you say so*. Set the T2 to Silent (no sound no shutter no flash) and use the 90 (50, 35 depending on venue) to pick out personal moments by gracing outside the group at a distance - since they won't know when you are shooting they will eventually ignore you. You will get the best shots from the "silent" approach but you may not get everyone so the group shots still have merit. And bring your Instax printer or Instax Hello Kitty, that will show you what really matters. * we just had a family reunion and my X-Pro2 outranked the other cameras but no one cared, the group shoot participants went from one "See Me" to another as the phones and cameras blazed - If we had continued for an hour we might still not have had a picture where everyone looked close to their best. I would have needed an old fashioned Gun Powder/Victor Flash Gun to get their attention or maybe a hat with a Press Card.

You are all showing some very fine results with some very nice shots. I just tried to download the latest LR from Adobe and the flaky installer/downloader kept abandoning me w/o useful error messages - I think it is an omen that I should try Silky Pix and Capture 1 while waiting for Iridient for windows. About the Silky Pix GUI - It is inconceivable that there is anything worse than LR out there. I own 5.5 and never learned to embrace the disconnect between file system and whatever it is that the program does.

About Macro: The Fuji extension tubes are 100% automatic and with no glass they don't weigh much = easy to carry. The 18-135 is excellent for handheld close-up of small stuff.

Everyone will speak English well soon enough! Just so you know, the Fujifilm image quality is addictive. This means that you will still be emotionally attached to every piece of Fuji gear that took one or more good picture in 20 years, so be careful how fast you add more stuff.

Fuji and your computer maker are at the mercy of the chip-makers. I spend enough time in the server room to know that compatibility is never 100% when it comes to USB. Make sure you are plugged in to USB 2.0 as the USB chips were slower and more stable than the various USB 3 chips. With the file size of the X-E2 you can get away with a USB 2.0 card reader as well and they are inexpensive because they are simple and probably a carbon copy of the chip makers reference design. The new P2/T2 outputs 50MB RAW files so there you want a USB 3 card reader if you have a choice and anything to plug it into. I always bring a basic (slow) USB card reader when I travel.

The 27 is lacking a lens hood and it shows at times that the lens as designed is not well protected from "Cross Light" - it handles head on flare much better than expected however. Because the only hood attachment option is the 43mm filter I made a prototype "slip-cover" lens hood. The final will be black felt or better yet, something similar that does not shed. Another lesser issue is curvature of field - you can see it in Fuji's MTF chart ( http://www.fujifilm.com/products/digital_cameras/x/fujinon_lens_xf27mmf28/specifications/ ) at 45 degrees as a wave. This means that you have to move the Focus Point in the camera if you want very precise focusing or at least be at some distance and stopped down accordingly, you can't just "Lock and Re-Frame" if you target is off center. Overall it is a LOVELY lens - I just shot this Across Cowboy Shot (through the windows - it is Zero degrees out there).

While the firmware people are at it how about allowing current dates for folder names - 1000 shots to a folder if not humane. I structure my filesystem by date - with keywords etc. That also makes it easy to back back and delete all the bad shots that I save "just in case" I find someone who asks for "450 not very good shots"

The greatest advantage of the 24Mp over the 16Mp is that the ~20% higher linear resolution allow you to crop more. For an improved 16MP to perform better in the real world should be 1-2 stops faster so it could be used with zooms that fill the frame at all times - and of course perfect zooms. Of course it is fun to imagine a 16Mp with 2 stops lower noise that most likely spank the D500 for a few month anyway - but wait Nikon would also have chosen that sensor. It does look to me like there the is an upcoming speed-bump on the road to higher resolution - but since marketing departments does not understand anything but large numbers - they fix that with processing (brilliantly engineered, patented, mystical, galactic and of course New and Improved processing).

The OLED is potentially able to do 100% Adobe RGB but so can other technologies. OLED can can do true Black but if the others can get "black enough" it may not matter. My Samsung S2 tablet (9.7) scores around 98% with sumptuous blacks and it makes my shots look super but the specific calibration is 100% unknown. It is also getting replaced with a new model, hopefully w/o self-ignition and after-burners. Back to reality - the X-Pro2 EVF does look "off" from time to time but I have not had a chance to investigate, the rear screen is spot on though.

Problem solved - Depute is Right, It never Rains! Just did a Google Search and less than 3/100 pictures have no sun or evidence of rain, floods, oceanic storms and wet dogs (not necessarily in that order). Only when you search Cornwall/England/Storm do you see much water and that is mostly Neptune reaching for what is probably his in the first place. Enjoy and bring a couple plastic bags, use them for carrying ice for your beer. And if it rains you will be the the first to document it properly in the world famous Fijifilm colors.

The Kaizen philosophy is the most effective way to expand the base of loyal owners, if no one feels like they were left behind each camera sold more or less counts as a loyal owner (even those of us with too many). My own first venture into digital SLR/ILC was the Sony A55 ILC (same sensor as the first Fuji 16Mp) - by all means a decent camera. By the time I had 3 lenses Sony had stopped development of all but the flagship A77 and had moved emphasis to the small mirrorless E series, When I started to look seriously for an upgrade theA7 was on the way - now the second Best New Thing that could not use my lenses w/o a $350 adapter that made the camera as big as a full frame. I was contemplating the Nikon 7000 and Pentax as well as Fuji but the Rumor mill was full of the "next sensor" talk already, so I decided to conduct an experiment: I ordered an X-E1 w. XF 18-55 on closeout for $720 (see Fuji Rumors). Because the X-E2 was already out I ended up paying only around $300 for the body. Being a "slow" photographer I found it amazing and when I added a XF27 I was sold. I later added an X-M1 which is still a cute little bugger and a used X-2E which is now an brand new X-2(s)/T10. Before I finally got my X-Pro2 I had 3 Fujifilm cameras that met my expectations above 100%. To this day none of these are obsolete and they all respond like thoroughbreds when I mount the 56 or 90. Back to X-T1 an Kaizen - If Fuji makes sure the X-T1 remain better than what people expected when they bought it they have our loyalty - to expect that they make it more is not realistic, There never was an X-T1.5 and there never will be. A few weeks ago you could get the X-E2 with the 18-55 for $699 - I wanted to buy two to prove the point. With sensor production ending Fujifilm will undoubtedly convert the last of their inventory to the most profitable cameras but there still could be some good deals out there on 16's in the near future.

The X-E2 and X-T10 is now showing up with the 18-55 (better that the 16-50) in you price range. This gets you into a great camera and one of the better lenses from the start and 16Mp is plenty with a zoom lens when you pay attention and fill the frame. The linear resolution increase of the "2" series is only 20% and I frequently loose more than that when cropping a shot from a prime lens if I am not able to move around as I shoot (Rivers, Traffic, Rooftops, Grand Canyon etc.)

Use one zoom - 18-135 is bullet proof for travel with its WR and superior stabilization - you always get a good shot. The "kit: 18-55 is good enough and fast enough at 18mm to be your wide angle lens. Add one or 2 primes and force yourself to walk around like we did in the old days. Remember that all the "1" series cameras with a zoom framed correctly are just as good as the "2" with the wrong prime that requires too much cropping. You can buy a "1" very cheaply now that the megapixel race has hit Fijifilm as well.

I use Smugmug, the service is good and usually speedy. Startup on a HD(2k) video can be poky but everything photo is fast. They also help you with copyright management etc. and yes it does cost money. I have tried several software and hardware vendors "Cloud" offers and can tell you that I plan on keeping software and storage separate. I think software companies will continue to budget bandwidth based on sales as it is the only way to stay in business.