robvisual - photography

I recently drove to Fehmarn an island in north Germany at the baltic sea to take some photos and enjoy nature together with a friend. I took my new 100-200m with me. I've ended up with a square photo challenge (the 50r is perfect for this kind of photos). The lens worked like designed. It is still a heavy bulky lens but on the other side there is no tube sticking out of the design and it is weather resistant. For me it is the perfect zoom like my XF 100-200mm I owned before. The OIS works flawless and bear in mind that even on larger sensor it is still a 200mm telephoto lens. You just get a wider portion of the image. In the near future I will invest some money into the teleconverter to get some extra focal length for more compression.

Yes, it's a Ricoh GR III and not another Fuji camera. Why? After buying the GFX 50R I needed a small and lightweight camera that travels with me all the time. After a longer research I found a used Ricoh GR III with the optical viewfinder in a well known camera store in Hamburg and decided to give it a trial period. When your are coming from a Fuji camera you need some time to get into the menu system and the design philosophy of this brand. After setting it up for the streets I started to make my first experiences with this new tool. Note: this article is not about the image quality or pixel peeping. There are tons of blogs doing this kind of stuff very good. For me it is the ease of use and the handiness that counts. It will post some images here in the future and tell you my opinion about this camera. Some images I took with it recently:

After the develop machine broke down at my local photo shop I had to wait some more days for the first results. The first strips of negatives are now in my hands (three more to come from the lab) and I put them on a Epson Perfection V750 for a first dirty scan and some retouching. After fiddling around with the interface of the Epson software I got some nice results to show here on my blog. I did not spent too much time with post processing and other stuff. I will dive deeper into this later. My favorite photo is the woman that is going up the stairs. Due to the less sensitive Ektar film I had a longer exposure time and the subject has some fine motion blur at the fast moving feet. The overall details and colors of the image are awesome. I love the square format on this scene. The first image was a long exposure. I metered the light inside the new Elbphilharmonie building in Hamburg and put the camera down behind a window inside the ticket shop. You see the main f...

Back in the days I was a little film shooter. But nowadays I love the convenience of digital photography without waiting for lab results etc. But why going just into one direction? I don't think that film is outdated. It is a completely different medium with it's own characteristics and pros and cons and if you start with medium format you can achieve superb results without paying ten to thirty grand for a digital medium format system. Just buy a TLR or a Pentax 67 and start medium!  I recently bought a Yashica Mat 124 6x6 camera to start with medium format. I've tried out some films and I am still waiting for the results back from the lab. I always wanted to own a TLR because I love the way you shot with it. It is a full manual way of shooting. Everything needs to be set by you. The square format is a different way of looking at a scene and you need to be careful to hold the camera right to get everything straight the way you want it. It slows you a bit down and makes...

As I reported some days ago I had a serious problem with my new X100F. The AF switch was broken and the camera could not be set to AF-S via the switch on the left side. The camera is now repaired and works fine again. There is only one minor thing that bothers me a bit. Back in the days Fuji pulled my camera via UPS for free and now you have to send the camera in on your own bill (except you are a pro how owns more than two cameras). I think that this is okay if your camera is older than two years, but my camera was freshly bought and near mint. The guy I phoned with at Fuji repair was not really cooperative and I had to add another amount of money (delivery with insurance) to the pile of money I've spent on the camera. Sad but true. I don't think that this is the right way to treat customers who bought a premium product. UPDATE 17/05/12: My camera has a new problem now. The silver cell that keeps the settings when you change the battery is now dead. After one to thr...

Everyone is talking about the new Fujinon 50mm f2 that is available now. I know, this lens is weather resistant and has a fast auto focus mechanism. Are these tech specs convincing for a photographer who already owns the 60mm f2.4? fake GFX 50s medium format panorama out of two images For me there is no need to buy the 50mm. I don't need a WR lens, because I never had any problems with light rain and I also have a super duper mini umbrella in my bag and the XPRO2 (or X100F) can be used one-handed without a problem. The auto focus speed is also not a real problem for me. The 60mm is still fast enough in most occasions (even with moving objects / look at the dog below). And don't forget that this lens is a macro lens which can be use to get real close to the subject. And the best thing is that this lens is a sharp beast (even wide open). It produces crisp and clear images with great color and contrast (read about it here at photozone ). The lens is also very compact...

Time to share my further experiences with Fuji's new model of the X100 family with you. As I wrote in my last X100F article I was coming from the older X100S and the changes for me were huge in terms of the auto-focus, the sensor and the overall speed. a lung-bun (Lungenbrötchen) as we say in Germany  After one week of taking this camera to different places I want to show you some images and share my views about the changes Fuji made in the product line. Auto-focus and EVF/OVF If you're coming from the X100S you will notice the difference, because the auto-focus was really bad back in the early days of this product line but I managed to deal with this flaw. Now it feels fast enough, more accurate and serves my needs as a documentary and street photographer very well. There are faster systems out on the market but this is not the aim of this camera. Most of the time the auto-focus delivered just the way I expected it, even in OVF-mode. EVF is bliss! It is fast ...

Despite the fact that the bigger sensor delivers more pixels for larger prints and higher ISO with less noise, there is no real noticeable improvement in image quality in most occasions. Who will pixel-peep at 100% into every photo? It is the overall look to the photos that does the magic. And this magic is still there since the x-trans-sensor was introduced to the photographic world. I was recently invited to a birthday party that was celebrated in a billiard pub and I took my X100S with me to capture some photos of this event. This small and quiet photographic tool helped me a lot to be invisible most of the time. Back at my mac (nice rhyme) I took the raw photos and applied my black and white tone curve to them. And after turning off any noise reduction I saw the magic in front of my eyes: the sensor noise looks so organic! It looks like an grainy high ISO black and white film. There is no need to reduce that kind of noise. You want it. Trust me! But how about color photog...

Yesterday I told my Fuji dealer (a real shop! support them!) that they should put me on the list for a black model. I own a X100S and I don't regret the long wait. I started with the X100 back in the days and this camera was just too sluggish and painfully slow. I had the great opportunity to trade it for a X100S that is slightly better with the brilliant Trans-X-sensor. As the X100T came out I was not convinced to buy this camera because the only major things that have changed were the OVF (pip) and the in camera WiFi. Too less for a change. The implementation of CDAF and PDAF (auto focus methods) in the X100S and X100T was poor, even in bright light they are inaccurate and slow. So I decided to wait for a model that at least keeps up with the XT1. And now the gap is closed and the new X100F supports the same auto focus system like the XPRO2 what is great because I love to use the OVF on my XPRO2 and it works great. The new button placement and the ISO dial are a good evoluti...

The "F" stands for "Future" ;-) As always I want to drop a little list here to share my thoughts about the upcoming new model. Let us start with the problems I have with my X100s: it is sluggish - a slow camera with a bad auto focus even in bright light no updates - Fuji has done a great job in ignoring the whole X100 line in the last two years What I expect from the X100F: a fast auto focus like the X70 or XPRO2 that meets the industry standards faster interface and startup time a wheel to change ISO on the fly! maybe a better lens performance at wide open aperture That´s it. I skipped the X100T to wait for a camera that will meet up with competition in terms of auto focus. When you use this camera with the OVF you need a reliable auto focus in all situations or this thing becomes a bit of a roulette thing. And there is also room for a small front wheel you can put ISO on to change it on the fly. I don't want to dig into menus. This spoils t...

A good question that can't be answered in one sentence. Is this your first Fuji camera? Then buy it if you have the money. If you don't need the updated auto-focus system and the extra pixels your can also go with the XT-1 or XT-10. You are coming from the XT-1 There is only the auto-focus and the extra pixels. The higher frame rate and better video can be a game-changer for some people. But the display of the older models is good enough, trust me! You are looking for a mirror-less for shooting moving subjects (sports etc.) The new XT-2 is great for you. With the optional battery grip it has more juice for higher frame rates. If you can trust the most reviews out there the performance is good enough for most occasions. If you're a professional sports photographer you still should go with a DSLR. No mirror-less camera can beat this system today. Do I need the latest camera body from Fuji? Not really. But this is not the strategy....

Lightroom can do a lot for you and it is a professional tool to develop and manage images. Today's cameras have the ability to transfer photos wireless to your smartphone via an app. With my Fuji cameras I use this feature a lot when I am on the go. After the download I use apps like snapseed (you can do a lot of things with this free tool) to tweak the contrast and some other aspects of the image. The colors come from the color profile I attached as I developed the raw file in-camera. The results are outstanding when it comes to sharpness and color. Most of the time I only had to tweak the contrast or add some warmth to the image. I know that you have more precise options at your calibrated workplace at home...but man, the results are so good, I often prefer to upload them to instagram than the versions from lightroom. This is not a rule of thumbs for all photos. When I do landscape, stills, architecture or portrait photography I prefer to have more possibilities with pr...

A lot of people on the web are writing about the new AF performance of the new X-T2 and how good this camera will perform when it comes to fast moving subjects. Yesterday I had my old trusty Fuji X-T1 hanging around my neck with the Fujinon 55-200 mm attached to it. I love to use this combination when I am out in the wild or - like I did yesterday - at the beach. It gives you a good range from normal to telephoto and helps you to compose your shots under changing conditions when you are for a walk like my wife and I did. After composing some dense shots like the one above I spotted some kites in the sky and by following the ropes down to the ground I saw some guys with surfboards. Usually I don't do much sport photography, but the setting and the light was perfect. I dialed in a fast shutter speed and a wide open aperture going into the maximal focal length of 200 mm. I also activated the continuous AF and drive mode to get some material to choose from. I took plenty of...

I think it is time now to write some lines about what it feels like using the new XPRO2 for two months now. I used the camera a lot and it still feels like a solid piece of photographic gear. There was no software bug or something else bothering me. I also had no problems with heat or other similar quirks, so the camera is doing it´s job without letting me down. The resulting images are a good example how good the new sensor works. The camera produces great natural looking images that have enough detail and latitude for later editing (if you need that, because the in-camera-processing is also great). The WIFI feature is something I still enjoy. In conjunction with snapseed or VSCO you can create stunning images on the fly. The only drop of bitterness is the lower resolution of the images coming from the camera. Why is there no resolution setting to get more details? The faster auto-focus is most of the time accurate and makes the OVF a real joy to use. If you use the 35 or 27...