olli

Luke, the male lion at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC (X-E2, XF55-200) DSCF2570 by olli, on Flickr

I used to shoot film (just because I'm older and when I got into photography film is what there was) but never got into it seriously - that is, I have never developed and printed film. For those who were more heavily into the full process, from taking the picture to printing the end result I can understand the attraction of film shooting but it has no appeal for me. Partly, this is because I much prefer shooting in colour and processing colour is more complicated than processing black and white. The real difference for me, which someone mentioned earlier, is in the more deliberative nature of shooting film. I remember reading about Don McCullin's journey to Stanleyville in DRC. He bluffed his way onto a plane taking mercenaries into the area with his cameras and 20 rolls of film - 720 shots. It sounds like a lot, but he had no idea what he would find there, no idea how long he would be there, no means of getting more film, and no option to delete and reshoot. Every shot had to count. With digital this kind of deliberation and calculation is no longer necessary. It is still possible, though, with a little bit of discipline to reintroduce it. I discovered this one day by accident when I loaded a 1GB card into my camera. With the camera I was using at the time that translated into around 30 shots. When I realised what I had done it became a real challenge to think about what to shoot. These days I still do this from time to time - deliberately - with a 1GB card and often one single focal length lens. It's an interesting experiment and worth trying (assuming you have or can still find such a thing as a 1GB card).

I do. Admittedly I don't have thirty thousand, but I do have files going back to 2008 that I routinely re-edit. The software that is available now is so much more capable than what was available at the time that I can get much better results now. My view is that developing technology will constantly improve the results I can get from raw files so I never delete any raw file of any image I am keeping. It doesn't mean that I'm going to reprocess every one, but for those I want to reprocess I always have the option.

Thanks for the info. I use the leash and the cuff. Both are great. I particularly appreciate the extra connectors they supply with their products.

"The point of training is to increase the speed at which one can be precise." César Luis Menotti A football coach, not a photographer, but relevant for photography. Just substitute 'practise' for 'training'.

I too was confused by this when i first got my x-e2, but eventually worked it out. The renaming is a good idea though i tend to think of it as 'discreet' mode, for those times when you don't want to draw attention to yourself, or when you're in a place like a church or a museum where flash is not allowed and where (in theory) it should be a quiet place.

I got a micro USB charger from Amazon for $9. I think the brand was oaproda. These are much better for travelling. Apart from the saving is bulk and weight they are also useful coupled with a USB hub since most hotel rooms are less than generous with plug sockets. And if you're really stuck you can recharge from a battery pack.

Looks like a magical place. I particularly like the third shot. Were they all on their phones? More importantly, did you go to Chengdu and did you visit the pandas ?

16, 23, 35. I'm two thirds of the way there. Now it's just a matter of waiting until the new wears off the 16 and it starts appearing in the Fuji deals.

I've always felt that environmental sealing is more important to protect against dust than water. As long as I'm not caught out in one of our regular typhoons it's not too hard with a little bit of care attention to keep things dry, but it's just about impossible to keep them away from fine dust. I discovered this with my very first digital camera, a Canon A520 which I bought before I moved to Tirana in Albania. Like many post communist cities Tirana was one giant construction site with cement dust blowing in the wind, On top of that our 'road' wasn't a paved road but a very wide dirt track, plied by lorries bringing cement to the local constructions. About six months after I got there the lens cover started to stick. I cleaned it as best I could regularly but in the end I had to manually open the blades when I turned it on. I can't imagine the damage that this kind of fine dust could do to a camera's innards. If the sealing works against this then, in some parts of the world at least, it definitely has a value.

Rangoon Central Railway Station, Burma (X-E2, XF18-55)

Waiting for the pope. These boys were taking a lunch break from standing on the wall behind waiting for the pope to pass by on his visit to the Philippines. At first they didn't want their picture taken. As I walked back down the street a few minutes later they called me over. I love the range of facial expressions of the kids. X-E2, XF23)

The Jesus Miracle Crusade, Harrison Street, Pasay City (X-E2, XF23)

I have a Watson battery that came as a freebie from B&H when I bought my camera. It has worked fine. My impression is that it doesn't last quite as long as my Fuji batteries, but the difference isn't a problem. I only have it because it was free and because it came from B&H which is a reliable business. Generally I avoid third party batteries. Having spent $700-800 on a camera I'm not inclined to try to save $30-40 by buying off brand batteries.

Tell your wife she's in the minority. Sometimes 'sharp' just means 'static'.

It's not just Sony. Panasonic has already done this with the GX7. Panasonic OIS lenses can also be used on Olympus IBIS bodies (though I understand that some Panasonic lenses automatically disengage the OIS when mounted on an Olympus body so don't offer a choice). That said, Panasonic hasn't repeated this approach with any subsequent camera. It will be interesting to see what they do when/if they produce a follow up to that model.

On EDSA, Pasay City (X-E2, XF23)

This is a black and white version of an image I posted elsewhere in colour. (X-E2, XF18-55)

Taken on a very windy evening from a very bouncy Millennium Bridge in London (X-E2, XF18-55)

The caves look incredible and the shot of the kids is wonderful. I'm definitely going to visit.

On a side street off Quirino Avenue in Paranaque a group of pedicab drivers pass the time playing cards (X-E2, XF35)

Not sure who you are referring to but my comments were not a complaint - I was simply suggesting the wording was somewhat odd. Nor am I a 'fan' of Fuji, anymore than I'm a fan of Toyota because I have a RAV4 or Sony because I have a Bravia TV.

If it's true then I'm pleased to see it but it does seem an odd kind of announcement. Perhaps it's just the translation but it does seem to suggest that Fuji started looking into an X-E2 update because of customer demand, but surely it should have been obvious to them that there would be this demand? And they hardly need to ask what user want - they (we) want the moon on a stick. Perhaps the announcement is trying to emphasis how responsive Fuji is to its customers but I'd like to think they were working on this before we started asking for it. I'm sure that the package, if it comes, will be determined primarily by technical and commercial criteria, not a consumer wish list.

Yes this seems to be the best option so far but being lazy I don't want to have to use workarounds And as far as I know it's still not possible to use high speed sync with any existing flash system on Fuj.

At the Pasay City market on Arnaiz Avenue in Pasay City. (X-E2, XF18-55)