robvisual - photography

Yesterday I got rid of my XT1 and my trusty old X100S in Exchange for a X100F (by adding some extra cash). After a little set-up in the shop the camera was instantly ready to use. When you're a Fuji user this little tool has no real learning curve for you. After leaving the shop I took some photos to test the camera. This is not an in depth review, I will write about my real life experience with this model in the coming days. If you want to know something then just ask me below in the comments or via twitter. Same same, but different I don't need to write about the build quality or the integrated lens because there is no real difference to the predecessors of this model, but the placement of the buttons has changed. In case of the Q-button it was a little misplacement for my taste. It is placed at an area where I rest usually rest the thumb of my right hand. You can lock this button by holding down the menu button for a few seconds so this is not a real problem but ...

Look at the photo above. It was taken at a cafe where they serve third wave coffee (research it if you love coffee) and this guy suggested us a Brazilian blend as we were talking to the guys behind the counter. After taking a seat I pulled my camera out and took the image above. He was drinking his coffee like a monk and he contemplated over the whole thing for half an hour. I pulled my card out and walked over to his table. I already transferred the image to my smartphone and did some retouching to it with snapseed (it has curves!). I showed him the photo and asked him if I can use it on my Instagram account. He looked at the image and his face was delighted. He said that he loves the photo and that he is a design student from south Germany and working on a special project for a new coffee brand. We were ending up in a little conversation about his project and my style of photography. We exchanged our contact data and I wished him maximum success with his great idea and told him ...

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...

Back in the days I thought I was just too afraid of not being a commercial photographer. But do we always need to turn our passion into a paid job? Yesterday I had a little conversation with a workmate. She works at the lounge area and is taking care of the coffee machine and meals served. She told me about her talent to refurbish old furniture to turn them into little treasures. She showed me some photos and I was blown away by her skills and creativity. The first question I asked her was: "why don't you start a busines?" and she responded: "maybe I outsell my passion and it becomes just ordinary work with too much pressure". Is it okay to think that way? Is she just afraid of starting a business? I don't think so. There is not one way to do things and we live in a world where nearly everything has a certain value in terms of money. You can easily outsell your whole passion and get sucked into a business thing that will leave you unsatisfied and stuffed w...

Sometimes it seems that art is like a club you can join to boost your fame. But when you meet other artists, most of them are working on their own. They get some inspiration from other people and can be a part of a collective (think of an actor) but most of the times they follow their inner voice sucking in the outer world as a kind of inspiration. So ask yourself, what is your motor behind your kind of art? Do you want to be a part of a collective or do you just want to join a club to call yourself an artist. If  you have to pass the bouncers and if you desire to be part of a certain collective it may force you to do things that lead away from your inner path. Does this thing drive you or are you the driver in the front seat? Is this really the thing you wanted to do as you started with your projects? Is art like the Berghain in Berlin you want to get into? Do you depend on that? I remember when I first started to upload my photos to flickr twelve years ago. I tried to ge...

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...

What is creativity? Can we do something out of nothing? No. We can only create things based on other things that inspired us. In a modern sense you would say that you remix things. Remember the science fiction stories you read in a book. Fictional stuff about different planets and different species. But if you think a bit deeper you will realize that most of the things are not new. They are just remixed from things we already know. Even electricity and light (flashes) were always there. We just found a way to generate, store and use them in a different way. With photography it is the same thing. We are just remixing the things we see. We can be inspired by music, literature, nature, paintings and many of the other million influences, but at the end it was already there. You just apply a new angle of view, your personal taste to the whole picture. Sometimes it is good to think about this philosophical side of creativity and realize how important inspiration is for us. It is not imp...