Interior shots with the XF 14mm

Hotel entrance (ISO 200, f/8, 1/80s)

During our recent family mini-trip to Granada, we stayed at the picturesque Hotel Palacio De Santa Inés, in the Unesco World Heritage Albaicín district. Its 35 rooms are located in two small 16th century Mudejar buildings, restructured and renovated in 1995 and 2001 respectively. The hotel fascinates by its courtyard beauty because of its fountain, columns, balustrades and in particular, of Renaissance frescos painted by two of Rafael’s disciples.

What better setting can you imagine to learn more about how well the Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8 lens handles interior and architectural shots?

Hotel lobby (ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/25s)

Lobby courtyard (ISO 400, f/4.5, 1/40s)

With no side windows at ground level but a lot of bright daylight coming in through the courtyard’s skylight, these images challenge the dynamic range of the X-Pro1 and X-E1 X-Trans sensors. Fortunately, these raw (RAF) files provide a lot of room for optimization in post using Adobe’s Lightroom 4.4RC, and combining detailed highlights as well as low-noise shadow areas is not to hard at all. Just pull’em sliders…

Second courtyard (ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/5s)

Second courtyard (ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/9s)

Working in small, cramped spaces with a 21mm-equivalent wide angle will often require tilting the camera, resulting in the well-known converging vertical lines. These may become an interesting compositional element, as in the following two shots (that again challenge the dynamic range). Alternatively, state-of-the-art post-processing tools like Lightroom incorporate perspective correction features, which were moderately applied in most of the other pictures.

Skylight in lobby courtyard (ISO 400, f/6.4, 1/75s)

Skylight of second courtyard (ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/40s)

I will point out once again that on this family leisure trip I did not bring any tripods, bubble levels etc. as you would normally use for this kind of images. All shots were made hand-held, in a minimum of time, occasionally resting the camera against whatever column or railing was appropriately available. Using a tripod would have allowed smaller apertures (and more DOF) as well as lower sensitivities (and thus lower noise and better dynamic range). But hey, these are X-cameras, so higher ISO settings are no problem, and the 14mm lens gives a large depth-of-field at almost any F-stop!

Upstairs (ISO 400, f/9, 1/30s)

Stairway (ISO 800, f/4.5, 1/30s)

The least I can say is that the XF 14mm prime has not disappointed at all! Just as with the exterior pictures shown in my earlier posts, this little gem keeps amazing me. It has rapidly become a favorite of mine, and will find itself in my bag on many, many occasions. I am really looking forward to give it a run at some ‘real’ architectural work, working from a tripod and taking all the time required for optimal image quality.

Breakfast room (ISO 800, f/3.2, 1/25s)

In the next posts-to-come, we will have a look at that other excellent travel companion, the Fujinon XF 18-55mm zoom. Stay tuned!

Gear notes: Fujifilm X-Pro1 & X-E1, Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8

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More XF 14mm shots from Granada

Continuing our visit to Granada, let’s find out this time what the XF 14mm captured outside the Alhambra.

Cathedral (ISO 400, f/8, 1/170s)

Plaza Nueva (ISO 800, f/8, 1/2000s)

With its wide angle of view, the XF 14mm is ideal for the traditional ‘postcard shots’. You cannot escape from converging vertical lines as soon as you tilt the camera upwards of downwards: so you options are either to keep them as an element of composition, or correct for them in post-processing. If you make your framing generously, you can properly account for the cropping required after strong compensation.

‘Wired’ (ISO 200, f/7.1, 1/40s)

Souvenir shops in the Albaicín (ISO 200, f/6.4, 1/25s)

The wide angle view of the XF 14mm also comes handy in the narrow streets of old Granada, such as throughout the Albaicín Moorish quarter. The 21mm (35mm equivalent) perspective for me is a little too wide for people-oriented street photography, but is works great to capture a broader view of a cramped environment.

Iglesia del Salvador (ISO 400, f/4, 1/35s)

Carrera del Darro at nightfall (ISO 1600, f/4, 1/15s)

Coupled to either the X-Pro1 or the X-E1, this lens performs equally well in low light situation, indoors and outdoors. There are no obvious issues like flare when light sources enter the image. Fairly long exposure times are quite feasible with a little technique (and, to make sure luck goes your way, an extra take or two just in case …).

Next time, we’ll try the XF 14mm at some interior shots.

Gear notes: Fujifilm X-Pro1 & X-E1, Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8

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Granada captured by Fuji’s XF 14mm f/2.8

At the Mirador de San Nicolas, looking out on Alhambra and Sierra Nevada
(ISO 200, f/8, 1/450s)

A couple of weeks ago, we took a short but much needed break from the Belgian winter and from all other things-as-usual. We set course on Granada, a city of UNESCO World Heritage fame that we hadn’t visited before. This was to be a relaxing family trip, so I was told to go tourist-style and leave behind any heavy stuff or tripods.

My travel kit was easy to assemble: first the X-Pro1 with the just arrived all-new 14mm f/2.8 wide angle, then the X-E1 with the 18-55mm zoom, and finally the 35mm f/1.4 just in case. Everything fitted comfortably in my Think Tank Retrospective 7, with room to spare. Sometimes things fall nicely in place…

Alhambra – The Palace of Charles V
(ISO 800, f/8, 1/60s)

Alhambra – The Courtyard of the Lions in early morning light
(ISO 400, f/11, 1/170s)

We found ourselves in a sunny but bitterly cold Granada, with above-zero temperatures between mid-morning and late afternoon only. The wind had a nasty chilling bite. This time of the year the light is very harsh: perfect conditions to challenge the sensor’s dynamic range. The quality of the out-of-camera JPEGs keeps surprising me, it is simply amazing how much shadow and highlight detail is captured and available to be further exploited in post-processing. I did often shoot at a minimum ISO 400 or 800 to maximize the potential dynamic range enhancement.

The Courtyard of the Myrtles, one of Alhambra’s signature shots
(ISO400, f/11, 1/180s)

Tesselations and arabesques 
(ISO400, f/11, 1/180s)

The harsh lighting conditions and the huge contrast between indoor and outdoor scenes however call for shooting RAW followed by careful post processing: that remains the best approach to reveal all highlight detail while maintaining low noise shadow information. Adobe’s Lightroom 4.4 release candidate finally brings us X-Trans demosaicing support at the level of the sensor’s image quality; this software was used for all sample images in this post.

Around the Courtyard of the Lions 
(ISO400, f/5.6, 1/40s)

Around the Courtyard of the Lions
(ISO400, f/5.6, 1/50s)

The Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8 proved to be all that is reported by many reviewers and early adopters. The lens is sharp right from its maximum aperture, shows excellent micro-contrast and is virtually distortion-free. Color rendition is superb. Autofocus is more than adequately fast (behaving like a true tourist on this trip, I almost never selected manual focus). Shooting handheld only, I was able to use fairly long exposure times with a very high keeper rate. In one word: the 14mm prime is a pleasure to work with!

Alhambra – Hall of the Ambassadors 
(ISO1600, f/5.6, 1/8s)

Alhambra – Ceiling of the Hall of the Abencerrajes
(ISO800, f/4, 1/45s)

The very wide field of view of course means that perspective distortion always lies just around the corner. Lightroom’s lens correction tools make it easy to compensate when desired, and the image files allowed so without visible loss of quality and detail.

Looking out at the Palacio del Partal
(ISO400, f/5, 1/450s)

The famous fountain in the Patio de Lindaraja
(ISO800, f/6.4, 1/60s)

Let there be no doubt: the 14mm prime is a beautiful lens that is likely to come along on many more trips. And that’s just one of its many potential applications!

Vista from the side gallery of the Generalife
(ISO400, f/11, 1/480s)

Generalife – View on the Patio de la Sultana
(ISO200, f/8, 1/850s)

More images from Granada and its wealth of monuments and sights to follow.

Gear notes: Fujifilm X-Pro1, Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8

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Xboxes on a stroll

Finally back after a long period of… well, just no time for blogging. Luckily, that did not mean no chance to get out shooting (just almost no spare room for reviewing, processing etc.).

I took my X-cameras along on a full day of street photography in Brussels’ Marolles neighborhood, situated between the Law Courts of Brussels (the biggest building worldwide constructed in the 19th century) and the Brussels-South railway station. During the Middle Ages lepers were exiled to this area, where they were cared for by the nuns of Maria Colentes (Marikollen) – hence the origin of the area’s name.

In later centuries, the Marolles became a working class district, and in modern times even a laboratory for the construction of social housing. The neighborhood today is known for its social authenticity, as it houses a mix of generations and ethnicities.

Visitors and tourists will be attracted by the daily secondhand trade market on the ‘Vossenplein’ and by the many antiques in the surrounding streets. But if you venture a little further, there is much more to discover!

Not uncommon for street photography in general, I find this subject matter ideally suited to be captured in black and white. So these few selected shots got a good dose of Silver Efex Pro.

Gear notes: Fujifilm X-Pro1, Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4 & 60mm f/2.4;
Fujifilm X100

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Xperiment

I am still discovering, bit by bit, the wonderful tool the X-Pro1 continues to be for me. As I grow more familiar with its operation and its characteristics – and learn better ways to deal with its puzzles and pitfalls – I take the camera to new challenges.

As I am writing this, Adobe still has not released any X-Pro1 RAW support for Lightroom 4, my preferred – and in reality uniquely used – post processing utility. Apparently an early evaluation version has been available to a very restricted number of parties, and most likely the ACR crew is busy finding out the hard way how to fine tune the demosaicing for Fuji’s X-Trans color filter array. So we’re stuck with out-of-camera JPGs for now, and thank God-san these are nice and useable well above average!

I currently shoot RAW + JPG large, so I will have a RAF file to revisit when LR4 support makes it to my desktop. On a few rare occasions I used the in-camera RAW conversion function to get an ‘alternative’ JPG next to the one with my default settings.

Not only do I find the X-Pro1 JPGs of very high quality with respect to color fidelity, tone rendering and image detail, shooting with neutral to somewhat flat camera settings leaves you with base images that do quite well with common post adjustments.

The image above got a dose of Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro 4 filtering: a mix of Bleach Bypass and Detail Extractor that I have found to like a lot. And the X-Pro1 JPGs respond rather well to such a treatment.

Recently I accepted to shoot the wedding of a good friend of the family. I was not ready – by far – to rely on the X-Pro1 as my main camera: not enough hands-on experience, no medium tele option (still waiting for that 60mm lens…), no RAW support in LR4, autofocus to be improved (at least) for fast paced events…

My trusted D700 with its 24-70 f/2.8 took good care of the formal ceremony. But the X-Pro1 played excellent as second body, and I shot it a lot more than anticipated during the more casual and private parts of the day. More than anything else the indoor, no-flash, available light images surprised me pleasantly!

The flower arrangement of the little bridesmaid was shot with the 35mm f/1.4. That JPG went through LR4 and next through Color Efex Pro 4 AND Silver Efex 2. Yes, you can combine an ‘original’ image with both a color and a monochrome treatment thereof, all three mixed appropriately within Lightroom using Perfect Layers.
Look ma, no Photoshop!

Adding a slight touch only of a plug-in filter effect to an image is something I happen to do more often lately. This shot from the main Greek Orthodox Church in Brussels (captured with the 28mm f/2.0) received a little kick from Color Efex Pro’s Bleach Bypass and Detail Extractor filters combined, each one muted using a low opacity setting. The result shows a pinch of an HDR-like effect but keeps a natural look. All starting from a single JPG file…

I can’t wait to discover the full potential of the X-Pro1 images once the gates to their RAW richness get unlocked!

Gear notes: Fujifilm X-Pro1, Fujinon XF 18mm f/2.0 & 35mm f/1.4

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I stand corrected

As of today, I enjoy a much clearer view through my X-Pro1 viewfinder: I finally could install a diopter appropriately correcting for my vision.
I never intended for this blog to be about technical issues, but I guess my recent ‘quest for the optimal diopter’ may be of interest to many X-Pro1 owners.
Is there a problem?
The Fujifilm X-Pro1, unlike most recent cameras, does not come with any built-in means to adapt to its owner’s eyesight. Whether that is the result of some technical limitation linked to its unique hybrid viewfinder design, or as one more way to add to the retro look and feel, who but Fuji’s engineers can tell? The end result anyway is that many people with less-than-perfect vision - and especially those keeping on their glasses while shooting – will not be able to have a uniformly sharp look through the viewfinder, be it in optical (OVF) or electronic (EVF) mode.
Adding insult to injury, those using progressive lenses face another handicap: they will see the top and bottom of the viewfinder image with a different degree of sharpness, as their glasses’ corrections vary from top to bottom as well.
And then alas, there’s more… In OVF mode, electronic information is displayed on top of the direct optical view. The Fuji engineers for some reason have decided to ‘project’ the two images at different apparent distances. Some estimate that the optical image appears at about 1.5-2 meters, whereas the electronic overlay (and, in EVF mode, the full viewfinder image) lies closer.

A wealth of information in the X-Pro1 optical viewfinder

Is there a solution?

The viewfinder comes equipped with a screw-in clear protection glass with zero correction. How do I know? If you remove the part and hold it over e.g. text on a page, the image seen through the glass does not shift when the glass is moved around.
That ‘neutral’ eyepiece can be replaced by a diopter, a lens with a positive or negative correction factor just like eyeglasses. The X-Pro1 accepts a 19 mm diameter screw-in type diopter, the same type as once used by Voigtlander Bessa cameras, or older Nikon F (FE, FM, FA…) series SLR bodies. If your photography history goes back far enough, you might have some lying around in a drawer. Otherwise, you can go hunt for them at the handful of specialized camera shops that still carry or cater to (used) rangefinder cameras. As these diopters recently became a hot item overnight, you will likely find them back-ordered from the manufacturer: prepare for another patient wait… (remember the anticipation for your camera to arrive?).
What diopter correction do you need?
Correction eyepieces typically come in -3, –2, –1, +1, +2 and +3 diopter strengths (a 0-D part has no correction and serves as a replacement for a lost neutral glass).
If you know the details of your eyeglass prescription, you may try to do the math. Take into account that by design the X-Pro1 viewfinder has a built-in correction of –1, as confirmed by Fuji support sources. That value has been known to work best for the ‘average’ photographer (know any?), and also was the default with the older Nikon SLRs; Leica M-series cameras come preset to a –0.5 strength. It’s not impossible to calculate the desired correction, but nothing will work better (or at least, prove to be more reliable) than a real eyes-on test.
Better swing by your local optician and look into the viewfinder through the correction lenses they always keep handy. Test first with an EVF display (or call up the Q menu), then switch from EVF to OVF. Do this while wearing your glasses, of course, if you plan to keep them on while shooting. You will be able to verify the perceived image under different circumstances (OVF, EVF).
I myself cheated. Being nearsighted, I knew I needed a positive correction *. I recently have liberated a set of three Hoya close-up filters (in +1, +2 and +4 strengths) from the drawer where they had long retired. Every accessory I have with a 52mm filter thread has become popular again: once Nikon’s standard thread for basic prime lenses, this size is now used on the Fuji XF 18mm and 35mm lenses. So I had a set of trial diopters ready at hand (and a lot of filters as well).
* Just to be clear: nearsighted (myopic) people need a negative correction from their eyeglasses for distance viewing. For more nearby objects, that correction typically (and over age) will be weaker, maybe even zero for very short distances. Progressive lenses therefore add a positive ‘counter’ correction kicking in across the lower half of the eyeglasses. And as I want/need to keep my glasses on for shooting, I need a positive correction on top of the bigger negative one already built into them.
Where do you find one?
I ordered my Voigtlander +2 round diopter correction lens online from www.robertwhite.co.uk. They are sold at an acceptable GBP 15.00 excl. 20% VAT; too bad the cheapest delivery method, signed-for air mail, adds another GBP 10.50 excl. VAT. Reported out of stock at the time of my order, the diopter still came in pretty fast and showed up at home this morning.

Left the Fuji original, right the Voigtlander +2 diopter

The Voigtlander diopter looks remarkably like the original Fuji eyepiece. I would not be surprised if they shared a manufacturing line somewhere East. Fortunately, the diopter glass has a discrete reflective (in my case) +2 marking, barely visible in the above (click to enlarge) picture. The diopter has the same nice rubber coated ring as on the original: ideal for eyeglasses. Beware that the Nikon diopters have metal rings!
Do diopters work well?
Of course they do! With my diopter installed, I have a perfectly sharp view on the entire viewfinder area. Well, at least on the electronic overlay part and – when enabled – on the EVF image. Which is what I find most critical: the EVF is used for an exact display of the frame-to-be-captured, and also for macro shots and for fine tuning (manual) focus, with or without the optional enlargement. There is a small but noticeable difference between top and bottom sharpness, but of course that’s due to my use of progressive eyeglasses (there’s no progressive diopters that I know of…).
However, the OVF image showing at a different apparent distance now is slightly more out of focus. Not all too critical, since the OVF frame lines are approximate anyway, and all of the electronic data still looks tack sharp.
So I managed to reach my objectives, and finally have a super view through the super viewfinder of a super camera.
Just to be 100% convinced that I did not overcompensate with a +2 correction, I also did order a +1 diopter now (see? I should have taken a better look to begin with!). I will evaluate both options in real-life use, and perhaps one of the diopters will find another home then. Will take some time: the +1 is on back order…
Gear notes: D700, Tamron 90/2.8 – iPhone 4S
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Xpedition

Just two days after getting my Fujifilm X-Pro1, I participated to a Belgiumdigital Shooting Day in the southern Antwerp area. Our route partly followed the ‘Expedition Blue Gate Antwerp’ trail, a discovery tour laid out last year through a historically significant but today largely abandoned section of the old harbor (locally known as ‘Petrol South’).

The gear was brand new to me, but coming from the X100 and having read the X-Pro1 manual long before the camera arrived, the basics were well understood. Just a matter then of getting familiar with the latest toy and two of its new lenses.

What’s so special about the old petroleum harbor? In 1863, only four years after drilling the first well in the US, Antwerp already had become the largest and best equipped import harbor for oil products in Europe. It kept that status until 1927, when Hamburg and Rotterdam took over.

At the start of the 20th century, Antwerp moves its focus for oil related activities to the south of the city. An area of 100 hectares is acquired and construction work starts: a 300m long concrete pier, underground pipelines, huge fuel storage tanks…  After only one year of operations a big catastrophe happens: one of the fuel tank ruptures and ignites. Immense fires rage for twelve days and destroy the installations almost completely.
Within the year, the infrastructure is rebuilt and industrial activities resume, and with that, the first complaints about oil leaks and the resulting pollution are recorded.

When World War I erupts, the authorities give the order to set fire to the oil tanks and destroy all infrastructure. The arriving German troops will find only a small part intact. After the war, the expansion of Antwerp’s petroleum harbor resumes. By 1920, no less than 233 oil storage tanks are counted. A final extension is realized in 1934. But the area runs out of space for new plants, and oil tankers have grown to a size that the old harbor can no longer accommodate. During the same  year a first new refinery is constructed in the northern harbor. This is the beginning of the end for ‘Petrol South’…

Today, only a few oil-related companies remain active, the rest of the area is dotted with industrial antiquities and derelict buildings. But the heavily polluted site stands on the brink of a new future: a massive cleanup and reconversion effort has begun to turn this part of Antwerp’s south harbor into the place to be for new sustainable and ecological ventures.

It’s not hard to see that ‘Petrol South’ is a visually rich area and a real treat for photographers. So it did serve as an ideal playground to discover a new camera that by itself represents a unique combination of past and future.

Gear notes: Fujifilm X-Pro1, Fujinon XF 18mm f/2.0 & 35mm f/1.4

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