Finally! The Sun Shines

After 3 weeks with the X100S the sun finally came out.   Managed to get a couple of minutes to really see what the colour is like.   No edits here, straight from the SD card to blogger, not even a resize.   Auto ISO, Auto DR, Auto Shutter, F5.6, +2 Saturation, STD film, jpg, -1 NR, +1 sharpening, flash on forced (not that it made a difference),  No filters.

Top shot is +.7 on the ev and 2nd is without.   This proves my point that +.7 is needed for snow.

I like what I'm seeing straight out of the camera.  I might turn the saturation down 1 click.  Meant to try out the toy filter on those big trucks but forgot, maybe tomorrow.

(click for full size)

X100S Ramblings

Been a week or so since I've posted much but to be honest I haven't been shooting.   The days are so short, work days are so long and the constant overcast, cold and now snow have really put a damper on things.  

A shot from last week that went terribly wrong.  Had the wrong White Balance, shooting into the sun and a crap angle.   Switched to monchrome added a vignette and make it look artsy - lol.  Still sucks! :-)

15cm's of snow fell last night and today is mostly overcast with the odd blue peaking through here and there.  Terrible shooting conditions, but what better way to really learn this camera?  For those who don't live in a snow environment, let me tell you, shooting in snow is a challenge/art.  You want to screw up a camera sensor?  Shoot snow - lol.   The trick, normally, is to dial in +.7 exposure and cross your fingers.   Today was white/grey snow and grey/white overcast.   Gotta say the X100s probably did a better job then I did.  Whenever you see an image where they nailed the white snow, click like, cause it's not an easy feat.

My mode of transportation these days to walk the dog.  He follows behind in my foot trail.

White snow, white sky.

Straight jpg from the camera.  No levels, sharpening or crop.   My settings =  -1 NR, +2 Saturation, Auto DR, f5.6, Auto ISO, +1 sharpening, STD film.  These seem to be a good baseline.

JPG with just a touch of levels and sharpening.

Was seeing if I could get the big front end distortion look like you can with the 10mm lens :-)  Not quite but the image still looks good, minimal modification.

Backside of the house.   Couple of feet of snow.

Other thoughts and ramblings:

- I'm still struggling in my own brain to get away from the landscape work and get closer to things.  I have to get my mind wrapped around the 23mm lens and stop spending so much time in my comfort zone.  But damn, it does do a good job at sunsets - lol   I need to get out on the streets of Ottawa and play, just tough to do these days with the cold and living 30 minutes from downtown.

- Received the fujifilm leather case.  Still costs way to much IMO.  I had it shipped from the states and by the time I got thru taxes and exchange rates I saved about 20 bucks or so, not much.   You can buy a full size leather jacket for the price of this thing.  Bit it is nice.

PRO's

• Very nice retro look and fits like a glove
• Leather smells great, it's only going to look better as it ages
• Great protection for the body
• Strap is wider then the stock one and more comfortable
• Flap door for the battery and SD card - nice!
• Magnets on the top cover - cool

CON's

• Cost way too much
• The top cover is nice for travel and stuff but you really need to ditch it when shooting.
• I have a hard time with the back dial and my right thumb as it is (I have a partially amputated thumb and I find the edge of the case really hinders me getting at the dial when changing AF points or the flash.
• No hole for the tripod :-(   You have to remove the bottom case to use a tripod.

- After 3 weeks of shooting with the camera what are my likes and dislikes?   Lets see;

LIKES

• It really does make me think when I shoot.  With the DSLR I click click click'd, I do find myself thinking a bit more with this camera.
• It's pretty intuitive.  You can put everything to Auto and just shoot and know your going to get a good picture.  Or you can play with the various settings and get great pictures.
• The top dials - enough said - great to be back to the way things were in the 35mm days.
• Colour and images are outstanding.   There are a ton of articles on this, go look them up, nothing I can say would be new.
• The weight - this was my big thing.   Easy to carry yet I don't feel like I'm sacrificing the quality of my images.
• The EVF and OVF - wow, I still can't decide which I like better.  A bit of a like and a dislike as I do find myself switching back and forth a lot and I also find it a bit busy, but it's up to me to turn some of the options off, I just haven't decided what yet.
• The manual focus EVF - OMG the best invention ever - zooms things up and lets you fine tune.  Way cool.  I do find it a bit rough on a bright day and trying to zoom something in the far distance.  Find myself just putting it to infinity and praying.

DISLIKES

• Not really the cameras fault but I keep putting my finger on the OVF and leaving a print :-(
• The rear dial for changing settings.  I just find it way to dainty.  They could take a lesson from Nikon on this one.   I find the rear controls hard to manipulate with my right thumb, easy to hit them the wrong way.  My Nikon D200 has a dial about the same size and I don't have this problem at all.
• Related to the dial is the changing of the AF point.  I find it very clunky and a pain with the dial the way it is.   Going to see if I can remap it to the fn button and then just maneuver with the dial. (edit, you can't map the AF points to the fn - that sucks!)
• The case does get in the way of the Q button and the rear dial a bit.  
• Probably not the cameras fault, just me needing to learn to check, but nothing jumps up and down to tell me when I've left the camera in custom WB or Macro or some other stupid setting :-)   LOL - my fault not the camera.
• Ordered some step rings for some of my filters and that was when I noticed that you need an adapter as the threads are on the OUTSIDE of the lens.  You can't screw a filter or step ring straight on.  To get the adapter you need to order the hood - sigh.  I don't like the price that Fuji wants for this so I have a knockoff coming from China (check ebay), which I hate to support but come on Fuji and other camera outfits, be more realistic with your accessory prices!

Not many dislikes and most of them are my own issues.  Just wish I had better control of that rear dial.   Will I be selling my DSLR stuff?   Still not sure.  There is definitely things that I can't do with this camera.  Reaching out and touching something is a prime case. But do I do this very often?  Not really.   If I were shooting the tall ships in Bermuda again, I would suffer when the ships are offshore.  My wide angle also has it's place.  I can see myself narrowing down my selection of lenses to "what I really need" and keeping the rest. But that DSLR will probably only get taken when I know that it is the prime purpose of my visit.  For my average "walking around, looking for an image" days I will be leaving the DSLR at home.

I'm sure I'll have lots more comments but that is enough for today.  BTW, that new T1 looks pretty cool :-)

Poor Dog

Poor guy, me sticking a camera in his face all the time and the polar vortex keeping him inside.   Worst of both worlds for him, he goes out to do his business and then straight back in, just to cold out there.   Killing him today as the sun is shining in so he's convinced it's nice out, reality is -31c windchill this morning.   Maybe a bit warmer this afternooon?

(images are bigger if you click them - exif info intact)

He loves to sit and protect his bone on his legs :-) 

Colour (raw) vs Black and White (jpg).   This time I kinda like the colour version

It's in the bag - or the case :-)

No new pictures the past few days.  Between the polar votex kicking our ass (-27C here this morning without the windchill) and working taking up my time the poor camera has been sitting on my desk.

But that sitting on my desk started to concern me.   When you sit down an SLR it sits up right, no issues.  But I found when I was setting down the new X100S I have a habit of laying it on it's back as that gives more surface area.   But that means I'm, without thinking, setting it down right on the LCD.   Over time this will probably result in scratches and scuffs.   Not something I want.   At least having a leather case on will lift it up off the surface if I set it down on it's back.   I hate those stupid LCD protector films, I always end up with bubbles and glare.

So I started the search.   The grand daddy of them all - the Leicatime. 

This is the one I dream of.   Full hand made leather from Luigi in Italy.   OMG this is a beautiful case.  I can even smell the leather looking at the picture.  Check out his website - http://www.leicatime.com/a000-CasesFujiFinepixX100.htm  But, the options I want would run me about 450.00 cdn dollars.  OUCH OUCH OUCH.   Maybe for xmas some year?  Anybody with money to burn who likes to read me and whats me to be the happiest man alive?

There are a few imitation leather things out there on e-bay that are half cases from China and a few other places.   They just look bad, REJECTED!

So I ended up ordering the actual Fujifilm X100S leather case;

Definitely not as "pretty" and I can't smell the leather :-)  but it will suit the functional needs.   The upper case comes off and will only be used for travel and stuff with the bottom part giving it the protection it needs.  One think it has over Luigi's is that you can access the battery and SD card without removing the case.   It runs about 150.00 cdn before taxes but I managed to order one from Adorama for around 140.00 with taxes and duties all in.   So saved about 30 bucks or so. 

BUT, the cost of this case is still near what you would pay for a full leather jacket.   NUTS!   Drives me crazy how much we pay for camera accessories.   But I'll have a nice looking case and one that protects my investment.

Did I mention that I love the Leicatime case and if someone where to buy me one..... :-)

Here is my blog traffic log.  Can you tell which day I was picked up by http://www.scoop.it/t/fuji-x-pro1   ?

House Bound - Radio Room

Had hopes of a sunny day to get out and stretch the legs on the X100s this morning but woke to blowing wind, snow and -13c windchill.  Stuck in the house.

So decided to play with the macro setting to see what the depth of field was like.  Tried some shots at f2.0 and found it way to shallow for everyday objects, might be good for bugs :-) but like the looks of the f5.6 images.  Here are a few from my radio room.  All are only slight levels adjustment, no changes to the colours.  The camera continues to amaze me with how good it captures the exposure.   f5.6 with auto speed and ISO.

(Click image for larger view)

My Goldline Microphone

Tuned to the Bermuda ham radio net, was chatting with my mates on the island.  This is my TenTec Jupiter.

My Kenwood rig tuned to 6 meter calling channel - not much on that band these days.

No depth of field here, just a shot of my radio room :-)    VA3XA

Back to work tomorrow with a late day planned, probably not many images over the next few days.  Have a great week everyone.  Stay warm!

Snow Continues

Still snowy and not much happening but a few shots from the X100S;

Click the image for a bigger view

This is actually a jpg from the camera.  A touch of levels and a small vignette.   Loving the jpgs from this rig.

Can't help but play with the black and white on this rig.   A small creek near the house. 

The creek on the other side.

Jen and Jackson ahead.  Seems I'm a bit pokey.

and even more sun - day 5

What a week!   Finally made it home with over an hour of sunshine before sunset and didn't feel as rushed.   Put some new settings on the camera and went out on the daily dog walk.   Poor Jackson is going to be traumatized with all the sitting I make him do on "his" walk.   But learning lots of things about this camera.

(click the images for larger view)

I'm typically not a selfie kind of guy but I really wanted to try out the colour with my jacket, the blue skies and skin tones.   I set the camera to take a jpg in Black and White with red filter and normal RAW.  So JPG+RAW.  I also turned off the Velvia and went to the Provia.   The Velvia has just has too much saturation for this time of year, but still not rejecting it.    The colour pic (left) is raw with just a crop and some minor levels and the monochrome (right) is the jpg from the camera, also just a crop and minor levels.   I'm very impressed.

Shooting into the sun is always a challenge so had to play with a few settings.   Basically, F5.6, auto ISO, auto Shutter and dialed in -1ev.   monochrome with red filter.    Small levels adjustment and vignette put on.

Jackson decided to walk into the scene (left) which gave me the idea of trying out backlighting (right).   Put the flash to forced, but it really didn't light Jackson up as much as I would have liked.   Didn't use the raw, but was able to bring the levels up on the jpg to get some detail on him and retain the shininess of the ice and capture the sky.   The camera is very forgiving.

More backlight playing.  This time processed the raw.

This is a jpg almost straight out of the camera.   Just a touch of levels and crop.  The colours from this X100s are very very good and the auto exposure works great.

We went out for wing night and much to Jen's horror I brought the camera.   Apparently it embarrasses her :-)  If I'm going to try street work this year I need to get used to it.   Anyhow the point is that I wanted to see what the low light is like.   I put the ISO to auto 6400 so I could get a taste.   On the left, I was under exposed and had to raise the levels in LR.   I did not put on any noise reduction (on the camera or post) and you can see the noise that was introduced to raising the levels.   But still very usable.   On the right is a neon sign outside the restaurant.  I missed the focus a bit but again 6400 and almost no noise.  No levels on this, just a crop.

Jen needed a few things so decided to play.   Straight out of the camera - jpg - no processing.

Watson's Mill in Manotick.   I thought I could get closer but they don't have the paths plowed to had to go up on the bridge.   A bit limiting with the 23mm lens.   Anyhow, the point is, a handheld shot at 6400 ISO.   This is the raw image with a bit of levels as I overexposed the building a bit, and that was with -1ev dialed in.   Bumped up the levels of the ice in the river a bit but spent no more then 1 minute in post.

Taking another 6400 ISO image I zoomed in and cropped.   Lost a bit of detail and you can start to see the noise creeping in, but not bad for handshot from a considerable ways away.

So, after 5 days my thoughts and comments?

- For me, I've had a double whammy of having to learn LR5 (and make sure your LR 5.2 and up so you have the best raw converter for the X100s) and the camera.   My old flow was with Nikon NX2 and PS CS5.   Well turns out that CS5 does not support the Fuji raw format and there is no upgrade for the raw converter plugin unless you go to CS6 and that is just not in my budget.   Naturally the Nikon software won't support it so I was pretty much forced to go with LR5.   After a few nights of playing I have to say I'm much more comfortable with it and starting to enjoy it's flow now that I understand what it's doing.  Still miss a few things from PS so I need to save stuff off as a tiff or psd and then go to CS5, which is a pain but we're getting there.

- As for the camera, overall very happy now that I'm finding settings that work for me.   I'm sure I'll be tweaking them as I go along.   I'm having problems with moving the AF focus points around thanks to smaller buttons and the fact that I have a partially amputated right thumb.   The buttons on my D200 were big enough that this was not an issue but the X100s buttons I find I'm hitting multiple things all at once.  Might try mapping it to the fn button.

- Velvia is too colour saturated for me right now.   Going to learn the other settings and then go back and take another look.

- The monochrome with red filter is AMAZING!  I could put this camera in monochome and never take it out.

- I find the EVF with the ability to switch easily to optical very handy.   Knowing what the pictures is going to look like before taking the shot is new to me.   I know it's on the newer cameras but not one that I have played with.

-  Trying to get the hang of back focusing.   After getting frustrated with the AF a few times I decided to try using AFL button for autofocus and then manual with the ring.   This is going to take some getting used to but I think it's the way to go.  Again my stubby thumb has a few issues with it.   Practice practice I guess.  Love the built in MF features that zoom up and B&W to really see the focus.

- Being able to spin dials for speed, aperture and ev is SOOOOOOO much better then electronic menus.   The only downside, my close up eyesight sucks in low light I am struggling to see the values.   But a tiny complaint.

- The kicker for me is the ease of the carry.  Fits under my coat and I never feel that it's there.  When I need it, there it is.   This truly is a camera that you can carry anywhere at anytime.

One last comment, I have been picking up a few accessories along the way off e-bay and amazon.  Will review them as I get them as most are very cheap (price wise) and are coming from China (I know....) but we'll see if they are any good or not.   Ordered a replacement battery from Amazon, a 49mm - 77mm step ring from China for my ND filter, still need to order another for my polarizer, another aluminum lens cap from China (the only 1 I could find like the Fuji one and I got the last one so finding a cheap supply of replacements is in order) and two cable releases.  Ordered two of these as the price was a couple of bucks each and who knows how long they will last, so have two too destroy :-)  

I thought about it but not interested in the lens hood at all, adds too much to the front of the camera, I want to keep it slim.  But this does mean that I need to be careful to protect the lens front.   I do plan to pick up the Fuji leather case.   It is pricey but looking around I think it's the best product for the buck that's out there.

That's my thoughts and comments up until today.   Off to the tattoo shop later today for some touch-ups to my last big tattoo so hoping to get some shots of all the colours of ink and stuff in the store.   We'll see how the Fuji colour palette works with all the inks :-)