Okt
03
See on Scoop.it – Fuji X-Pro1
Great news for those of us that use Lightroom or Photoshop – Adobe has just released the final versions of Lightroom 4.2 and Camera RAW 7.2 that add support to a bunch of new cameras, including the Nikon D600 (preliminary suppport). A bunch of Lightroom bugs have been fixed and tethered support has been added to cameras like Nikon D4, D800, D800E and Canon 5D Mark III, 1D X. Many new lens profiles have also been added, including the Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 that we recently reviewed. This is primarily a bugfix and camera support release, which means that the final version of Lightroom 4.2 does not contain any new features compared to the last release candidate.
See on photographylife.com
Sep
27
See on Scoop.it – Fuji X-Pro1
Back in January I told you my New Year’s resolution would be More and Better. On some levels I think I’m on my way to accomplishing or at least approaching the goal I set for myself. Although the road ahead is often longer than we initially anticipate. I’ve made some very important decisions about what I want to be doing with my photography, the gear I want to use and the overarching philosophy behind it all. I’m writing tons of stuff down, trying to define how I see things to force myself into applying those principles in my work. I’ve come to realize that sometimes, to get ahead, you need to look reality in the eye and not be afraid to cut cords. And so with a fair amount of sadness I’ve made a profound decision that will probably surprise most of you: I’m moving to Lightroom. Yes. For real this time. In fact, I’m already settled. Everything you’ve seen here for the past three weeks (starting with the Feather post) was edited in Lightroom 4.1. And while I initially thought of keeping Aperture as my DAM using the workflow I’d described a few months ago, I quickly came to the conclusion that this would be more hassle than it was worth. So all new shoots are now being ingested directly into Lightroom. Is it as elegant as Aperture? No. But I’m adjusting and actually finding things I enjoy. Publish Services for one. The linear Modules approach goes against my natural way of thinking but cleaning the default UI and learning some shortcuts has made it somewhat less painful. I only wish we could customize the keyboard commands to make the transition easier….
See on www.laroquephoto.com
Sep
25
See on Scoop.it – Fuji X-Pro1
It was after much deliberation that I sold my Canon 5DmkII to buy the Fujifilm X-Pro1 with all three lenses available at the time (18mm, 35mm, 90mm) in anticipation of the RTW trip that I’m currently on. Whilst I had always been happy with the image quality from the Canon workhorse, I had grown tired of lugging it around, especially when I was travelling for leisure, and on this ‘low weight, low budget’ trip, the Canon was certainly not the right tool for the job. The X-Pro1, with its promise of high quality, lightweight performance, seemed to fit the bill perfectly. That it looked gorgeous certainly helped too. The X-Pro1 has certainly come a long, long way from when I first owned it. With this latest 2.0 firmware release from Fujifilm, it almost seems like a new camera, especially when you compare it with the camera I bought at firmware 1.0, with the slow autofocus and annoying aperture clicking.
AUTOFOCUS
AF speeds, whilst still not lightning fast, are definitely more than adequate now, especially with my style of shooting. I have tried it on all three lenses, including the reputed slowest XF 60mm, everything seems to be just snappier. I really like that the image freeze in the EVF whilst focusing is gone, making shooting a much more fluid experience. 6400 ISO selectable in Auto mode is also appreciated, since the images from 6400 are still plenty noise free and I wouldn’t hesitate to use it if I had to, instead of risking a slower shutter speed when the (low) light called for it. Pity the minimum shutter speed for the Auto ISO mode is still not selectable, and the camera still defaults to dangerously slow speeds, hopefully this will be an option in the next firmware release.
MANUAL FOCUS
The ‘focus by wire’ design of the XF lenses, as opposed to a mechanically coupled design, has been much derided since it was first released, and for good reason. It was practically unusable before, requiring countless turns to focus on anything. With firmware 2.0, this has improved drastically, with fewer turns needed to achieve the same result, whilst remaining sensitive enough to dial in small focus tweaks. It still doesn’t have the same satisfying feel of a good Zeiss or Leica rangefinder lens but it is quite usable and I might start using it in low light when the AF starts to struggle. The 3x focus zoom to check focus whilst in MF mode has also made it much more usable than the default 10x zoom on firmware 1.10, you can actually check critical focus without zooming in so much that you completely lose any reference of the composition.
WRITE SPEEDS
I’ve been using fast Sandisk Extreme Pro (95MB/s) SD cards since I first owned the camera, so I can’t say that I’ve noticed much improvement in the write speeds, although according to the firmware release notes, there has been an improvement. I’m sure there is, but it was just never and issue for me.
Overall, I’m very happy that Fujifilm is committed to listening to user feedback and is continually improving their product for their existing userbase. For the next firmware iteration, I hope to see some more manual controls in video mode, as it can’t be more than a software implementation.
Bravo Fujifilm!
See on handcarryonly.com
Sep
24
See on Scoop.it – Fuji X-Pro1
Those who haven’t realized this yet, I now own a FujiFilm X-Pro1. I haven’t done a review on this because frankly there’s a ton of reviews out there. When I find more time to write about my thoughts on it, I’ll put together some thoughts. But basically I’ll just mention that I do love this camera for it’s image quality and handling. It’s not a DSLR so you have to think differently of this kind of system.
I’m going to focus on RAW processing images with the FujiFilm X-Pro1. One of the significant issues is the lack of a good processor. In fact the in camera JPG files are so much better than even the packaged RAW processing software made by SilkyPix specifically for the X-Pro1. The software is horrible to use and poorly translated and very unintuitive for seasoned image editors. However it does offer some very sophisticated controls once you learn what each thing does, however despite that, it still doesn’t match the JPG images well. One of the major issues is an odd artifact that appears in some details. It almost looks like a colour noise and it maybe subtle, but once you start to adjust your image you really start to see it. Regardless, I tried several other RAW editors and Lightroom being my main program was what I settled, however it too did a lousy job of processing the Fuji RAF files…..
See on frontallobbings.blogspot.fr
Sep
20
See on Scoop.it – Fuji X-Pro1
This is a comparison of focusing speed of the new firmware 2.0 (body and lens) for Fuji X-Pro1 with the 35mm f1.4 lens and the Olympus EM-5 with the 45mm f1.8 lens. Pretty darn close, slight edge to the Oly EM-5.
See on www.youtube.com
Sep
20
See on Scoop.it – Fuji X-Pro1
I’ve been using the Fuji X-Pro1 regularly since it was released in March. It has been the camera I go to first for personal work (including the birth of my second son), and at most weddings I have shot since then as well. Today Fuji released v2 of the firmware for the camera and lenses, and in doing so they addressed the main issue that I – and users in general it seems – had with the camera: it’s focussing. It had never been quick to focus, but I mainly found it to be accurate except for when the light levels really dropped. The slower speed didn’t bother me greatly as I always try to slow down when working anyway. I considered the Fuji to be more related to using a manual focussing rangefinder, than a complete SLR replacement. All change now…..
See on www.andyrapkins.co.uk
Sep
19
See on Scoop.it – Fuji X-Pro1
We’ve been impressed by the way Fujifilm has embraced the idea of using firmware updates to improve its X-series cameras after release, fixing bugs and adding new features. With Firmware 2 for the X-Pro1, it’s substantially improved the camera’s focusing, which we considered to be its Achilles’ Heel in our review. Autofocus speeds have undoubtedly been improved (although we’ve not yet had enough time to properly assess the impact on real-world shooting), and the previously-dysfunctional manual focus has essentially been fixed, and is now far more usable than it was before.The upshot is that an X-Pro1 running firmware v2.0 is a much better camera than it was with v1.x. Fujifilm says the new X-E1 has exactly the same improvements, which means that the outlook for that model looks very positive. Huge credit must go to Fujifilm here – not only has it shown it’s prepared to make innovative new products, it’s also genuinely listening to criticism of its products and fixing their flaws. This can only be applauded.
See on www.dpreview.com
Sep
19
See on Scoop.it – Fuji X-Pro1
Fujifilm upped the ante today with a firmware upgrade for the X-Pro1. AF and general operation speed of the camera has been improved. I took the camera to a volleyball game tonight and was actually surprised to feel the difference. AF seems snappier although I didn’t venture into continued tracking. Write times to the SD card has been improved and you feel it right away. Scrolling through your images is a breeze. The first three frames below were shot in single shot AF. The remaining shots were shot at 6 fps. bursts. For some shots I used manual focus. I would use the AE-L button to lock focus and then fire away. I also wanted to check the auto white balance and ISO performance. I have always found it challenging to shoot these games in poorly lit gyms with my SLR. I think the X-Pro1 did a decent job. Mind you I only had one lens, the XF 35 1.4.
See on 500px.com
Sep
18
See on Scoop.it – Fuji X-Pro1
In my initial review of the X-Pro1 I talked about the Agile iterative development method, drawing a parallel with the way Fujifilm seems to be working with the X series cameras. Today, we get to see how powerful these updates can be. The new 2.00 firmware version for the X-Pro1 camera and XF lenses is a gigantic leap forward. No, ginourmous . Over these last months I’d gotten used to the camera’s reaction times and had learned to either compensate or simply accept these quirks as part of the experience. But anytime I picked up the X100 I was reminded of the performance discrepancy, especially in low light situations. No longer: this is now a brand new camera — a total reboot…..
See on www.laroquephoto.com
Sep
18
See on Scoop.it – Fuji X-Pro1
The firmware update Ver.2.00 from Ver. 1.11 incorporates the following issue. To enable those features, please update the firmware of your Fujinon XF lenses into Ver 2.00 at the same time.
1.Improvement of Auto Focus Performance
- Auto focusing speed has become much faster under a various shooting condition such as dark scenes, bright scenes and so on.
- The shortest focusing distance without switching to macro mode has become shorter.
2.Improvement of Manual Focus Performance
- The speed of images coming into focus when turning the focus ring has become faster.
- When adjusting the focus with the EVF or the LCD, displaying live view with the minimum depth of field in full aperture has made it easier to focus on subjects.
- In addition to the focus checking with the 10-time magnification function, the checking with “3-time” magnification function has been added.
3.Improvement of Writing and Processing Speed
- Writing speed to a memory card has become faster with the maximum speed doubled. <Note> The speed may vary depending on card type and sizes of images.
- The waiting time of viewing image after shooting has become shorter.
- An image will be displayed approx. one second after pressing the playback button.
4.Other improvements
- The ISO setting of “Auto (6400)” has been added.
- When EVF or OVF is used, the indicator lamp will turn off because the lamp comes to just in front of your right eye if you see the finder with your left eye.
- When shooting in low light situation, a recorded image will look like more natural atmosphere you saw.
Firmware Fuji X-Pro1 V2.00
http://www.fujifilm.com/support/digital_cameras/software/firmware/x/xpro1/index.html
Firmware XF lens 18mm V2.00
http://www.fujifilm.com/support/digital_cameras/software/firmware/lens/xf18mm/index.html
Firmware XF lens 35mm V2.00
http://www.fujifilm.com/support/digital_cameras/software/firmware/lens/xf35mm/index.html
Firmware XF lens 60mm V2.00
http://www.fujifilm.com/support/digital_cameras/software/firmware/lens/xf60mm/index.html
See on www.fujifilm.com
