On Monday I flew back to Baltimore to spend two weeks working at the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins, much like last year. Just a bit warmer this time, no blizzards shutting down the city yet. Rather than lug my usual companion, the Nikon D700 and multiple lenses, I gladly toted my new quirky Fuji x100, who some have claimed (Zack Arias), that if they only had one camera in the world to use – it would be the x100. I am not sure that I completely agree, but I’m quickly becoming a believer. The images posted are all SOOC (straight out of camera) except for a few minor adjustments in Lightroom to make up for my compositional challenges and the one image converted to b&w. Additionally, these were shot as jpegs – not RAW quality. I wanted to see how the Fuji’s in-camera processing fared, which has several different film simulation settings that I will leave for another discussion.
The x100 is unique on several levels. It has a full size digital censor typically found on pro cameras, a prime (non-zoom) non-detachable f/2.0 lens which is sharp and wicked fast – which means you don’t typically need a flash to shoot in most conditions. Lastly, it has a very high ISO range. It can easily shoot to 3200 ISO with minimal noise noted in the images. These are all qualities found on the Nikon D700 and D3 pro series. That’s the good news.
However, this camera is not for the faint of heart. I certainly wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who doesn’t regularly shoot with a dslr. It is difficult to navigate the menu system and coordinate the multiple buttons, command dials and impossible manual focus ring, all on a camera body half the size of a full-frame. It is certainly manageable. But this isn’t a camera you pull up on a moving subject and rip off 10 fps of spot-on focused images with near perfect exposure in aperature priority mode. Each time you push the shutter release you have to be thinking about the shutter lag and slightly off center compositional issues of a range-finder type camera. I tried this tonight on a skate-boarding street gang (see below) and got off two images panning as they blew by. But one image was exceptional – given the lighting and situation. Perhaps almost as good as a camera 3-10x more expensive… I just didn’t get the 10 images to edit through that I typically would have.
At this time, I am shooting it in manual mode. That way I know exactly what it is or isn’t doing and can make the appropriate adjustments. The auto ISO is good during the daytime, but will crank up the ISO too high for some evening images such as xmas lights. Another good examples is shooting long exposures, like the moving cars below. It can only be done in manual – like a dslr. But that’s as it should be. These are not the type of shots one is going to get from your regular p&s camera.
The big advantage for the x100 is of course the image quality, which is very very good. In addition, it is small, unobtrusive and dead quiet. No shutter flap that is fairly noticeable, at least on the full-frame Nikons. However, it also forces you to go back and be more creative, take time and think about exactly what/how/why you are trying to capture perceptually. In other words, it makes you work harder for good quality images and I think that it will make everyone who uses it successfully, a better photographer in the long run. But I suspect a few words of discouragement (#@*!) along the way will be heard from the lips of even the best photogs.
For example, tonight I ventured out into the surrounding community to explore a bit. I spent a fair amount of time around the Baltimore Basilica, the first cathedral in the US. After about 30 minutes of fiddling with settings/menus/compositional challenges and being questioned about exactly what I was trying to do by several homeless folks and then making a small donation, I came up with some good images. Granted this was my first time out shooting with the X100, short of around the house. Tomorrow, I get the day off and will explore Washington, D.C. and see photographically what turns up. Any thing is possible…besides, I can only improve at this point, which is a good thing!
. Thanks for stopping by!
) is much more valuable than any technical detail, for me!
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