Mai
07
At some point Fuji is going to disappoint me. They’ll have to let me down, I just know they will. Everything follows this basic, unforgiving law of averages right? But at the risk of coming off as some sort of fanboi, that day hasn’t come and I’m again forced to swoon over an upcoming X-series product: the Fujinon XF 55–200mm F3.5–4.8 R LM OIS. This lens isn’t out yet but Fujifilm Canada sent me a pre-production unit to test — with all the caveats this involves. A telephoto is the one thing I’ve been missing most on this system so I was eager to try it out. I had to install a new firmware version in order for the camera to recognize it but everything went without a hitch. I was warned by Billy (Luong, of the Fuji Guys) that there were still improvements being made (the zoom itself is way too stiff but this won’t be in the final version), and Tokyo has put an embargo on any full size images until everything has been ironed out. But I’ll tell you this: if this is the level of image quality in the pre-production unit… Man, we’re in for a serious treat. The contrast, sharpness and highlight rendition is right up there with the 35mm f/1.4. My initial feeling is that it even surpasses it. The OIS feels like a Steady-Cam; Manual focussing follows in the footsteps of the 14mm and 18–55mm and keeps me eating my own words about fly by wire. And when mounted on my X-Pro1 the entire kit feels like it’s at least half the weight of my old Nikon 70–200 2.8 on its own. I can’t wait to shoot portraits with this lens but for now, a few images from my backyard (moments after the lens got here and a few after dinner) just to give you an idea of what it looks like wide open — which of course will vary based on focal length. Make sure you hover over the lightbox images to get the exif data. One more detail: minimum focussing distance seems to be a little over 3 feet, a bit more on the long end. Enabling macro mode on the camera doesn’t seem to do anything.
See more picures on www.laroquephoto.com
Mai
07
Which One? Adobe Photoshop CC or Lightroom 5:
An Intro For the Completely New Photographer
Firmware & Software / Firmware & Software / Firmware & Software / Fuji X-E1 / Fuji X-Pro1 / Fuji X100s
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With today’s announcement of Adobe Photoshop CC and the previous announcement of Adobe Lightroom 5 Beta, we have a very good idea of who each product is tailored to. However, many people don’t know if they need Photoshop or Lightroom–and many by default just end up purchasing Photoshop. But if you’re trying to figure out which one is for you, here’s a quick guide that won’t get too technical.
For those just stepping into the world of photography, you’ll very quickly get blinded by the term, “I’ll Photoshop it.” While the program allows for lots of work to be done on an image, keep in mind just that–the emphasis is on one image. That is generally good for:
- A retoucher working very heavily on a set of images but focusing on one at a time.
- A wedding photographer needing to fully edit 200 images before shipping them off to the couple
- Commercial photographers working to ensure that their client has the best image they possibly can deliver
- Working with images where you’ll need to insert text and all.
Remember though, if you’re shooting loads of images, culling through those picture and editing each is going to be a tedious process that will eventually eat away at your computer’s RAM……
See on www.thephoblographer.com
Mai
07
After reading the great reviews of the Fuji x100s, I decided to take the leap and buy one. I’ve been getting more interested in street photography lately, and this camera seemed like a good fit. Plus, its supposed to sync at all shutter speeds, which is great for flash photography outside in bright sun. David Hobby and Zack Arias both have nice in-depth reviews.
But, things are rarely perfect. It turns out that the x100s can’t sync at f/2 unless you’re at around 1/1000 or slower on the shutter. Nice but, still, I was curious why that is. So I decided to run some tests to figure it out.
Phantom to the rescue
I used a high-speed video camera to watch the action of the shutter in relation to when the flash was fired. The setup is shown in the sketch below. The x100s sat on a table looking into the lens of a Phantom v1610 high-speed video camera, which was set to record at 40,000 frames/sec. A Cannon 430EXII flash was connected to the x100s via an OCF cord. The flash was set to manual, and aimed such that a little of its light could be seen in the video. The main purpose of the flash was just to add a timing mark to the video. Most of the light for the Phantom came from two LED flashlights (it has a really sensitive sensor). I know, a real strobist would have done a better job on the lighting, but I didn’t have a lot of time to play with it.
The video camera was set to trigger when the flash fired. So, when the shutter release was pressed on the Fuji, the flash fired, and the Phantom recorded the Fuji shutter motion. I made several recordings at various shutter speeds on the Fuji, all at f/2, no ND filter active. ……
See on www.khousen.com
Mai
05
We just got hands on some high-res sample images taken with the new Zeiss Touit 12 mm and Touit 32 mm.
See more pictures on dunkelkammer.co
Mai
03
Zeiss Touit 12mm F2.8 and 32mm F1.8, Price, Specs, Sample Images |
Cameraegg
Fuji X-E1 / Fuji X-Pro1 / Lenses and Accessoires / Lenses and Accessoires / Sample Images
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Zeiss has announced more detail on two mirrorless camera lenses for Sony NEX and Fujifilm X-mount cameras. These two lenses are Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8 and Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8, the first two lenses in the new series Zeiss Touit. This two lenses will officially announced and available for pre-order in early May, 2013. (7.May 2013)
Zeiss Touit Prices:
The price for Zeiss 2.8/12 is USD $1,250 or €1.099,-
The price for Zeiss 1.8/32 is USD $900 or €799,-
See more pictures ….
Touit 2.8/12
http://lenses.zeiss.com/camera-lenses/carl-zeiss-camera-lenses/camera_lenses/touit/touit2812.html
Touit 1.8/32
http://lenses.zeiss.com/camera-lenses/carl-zeiss-camera-lenses/camera_lenses/touit/touit1832.html
Touit 2.8/50 macro
end of the year 2013 ….
See more pictures on www.cameraegg.org
Mai
03
Adobe Teases Lightroom for iPad | Gannon Burgett
Firmware & Software / Firmware & Software / Firmware & Software / Fuji X-E1 / Fuji X-Pro1 / Fuji X100s
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While it may have taken around three years to do so, Adobe is finally giving a sneak-peek at some high-end photo-editing software for the iPad. The app previewed – which seemed to be quite in the beta stages – would be something along the lines of an iPad equivalent of Lightroom, obviously a bit limited with editing, due to horsepower constraints. Tom Hogarty, product manager for Lightroom, previewed an early prototype of the application on Scott Kelby’s The Grid.
There’s no promise as to when the app will ship or how it will fit into their current RAW image workflow right now, but for now, I’m sure many – myself included – are happy to see a working prototype. Below is a list spelled out by CNET as to some details Hogarty laid out.
- The ability to edit photos taken in raw photo formats, including Lightroom develop-module parameters like exposure, clarity, shadows, highlights, and white balance. • Cloud-synchronized editing so that changes made on a tablet arrive on the same photo on the PC. • The ability to zoom all the way to 100 percent for checking photo focus and details.
Another quote worth noting is in reference to his own, personal desire to be able to sort, flag, and/or reject photos within the app. To this, he said “I spend couple hours computing on the train,” he said “I’d love to be able to sort and select images.”
Adobe seems to be stepping up their game more and more, especially since the rise of Creative Cloud and seeing their actually working on apps for organizing and editing RAW images on-the-go is another step in the right direction. One possibility I can think of as to how Adobe can minimize CPU strain on mobile devices (which in turn drains the battery faster) is to utilize a feature they’re implementing into Lightroom 5, which is “Smart Previews.” From our news article on the Lightroom 5 beta:
- This feature creates smaller, lossy .DNG images of your full-sized RAW files on your computer, keeping them as previews in a cache of sort.
If they were to include this ability in the application, you could edit a smaller, iPad optimized .DNG and once the photos are uploaded to your computer, the .xmp information could be transferred over to the full-sized image. It’s a rather obvious solution, albeit one which Hogarty didn’t quite hit on. It will be interesting to see what features make it and what features are specialized for the mobile workflow. It’s worth noting the images shared within this article are of the prototype meaning little to no UI design is implemented, which is why it looks much more complicated than we can expect the final product to be whenever it does go live.
See on twoeight.co
Mai
02
VSCO Film 02 x Fujifilm | Visual Supply CO
Firmware & Software / Firmware & Software / Firmware & Software / Fuji X-E1 / Fuji X-Pro1 / Fuji X100s
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We’ve updated VSCO Film 02 for LR 4 and ACR 7 to include Custom Camera Profiles for Fujifilm professional cameras, including the X100S, X-Pro1, X-E1, the X100 and the X10. If you are an owner of VSCO Film 02 for LR 4 or ACR 7, this update is FREE. Login to your vsco.co account and re-download the Film 02 pack. If you don’t own VSCO Film 02, it is 15% off till end of day Friday, May 3rd, 2013. Additionally, as an owner of VSCO Film 01, Film 03 and or VSCO Keys, you are eligible to receive an additional 25% off with your VSCO Loyalty Discount. We’ve also updated the Film 01 and 03 for LR4 and ACR 7 to include support for Fujifilm’s outstanding X100S. Login to your vsco.co account and re-download and install the respective pack. For more details on how to update your existing VSCO Film pack with the new Fuji Profiles, check out this article in FAQ. Provided below are a collection of spectacular sample images by Jonathan Percy, a photographer and producer based out of New York. Jonathan is currently an Executive Interactive Producer at the advertising agency BBDO & shares his personal imagery on his blog. All of Jonathan’s images below were processed with VSCO Film 02, utlizing the Fujifilm Custom Camera Profiles.
See on vsco.co
Mai
02
There was a lot of excitement at photokina 2012 when we talked about a forthcoming new family of lenses for mirrorless systemcameras. Soon, users of Sony NEX and Fujifilm X cameras will be able to enjoy their own ZEISS lens series. For the first time these lenses will have their own family name, which will encompass all the focal lengths in the series. The name of the family will be Touit. But where does “Touit” come from? This illustrious name was found through an intensive international selection procedure. We followed a concept that is already well established in the automotive industry: selecting certain themes for product names. As an example, one well-known German carmaker names its automobiles after types of winds and currents. We decided to derive the future names of the lenses from the Latin names of birds. That fits well, as birds usually have excellent eyesight and can take unusual perspectives. Birds are also diverse and lively animals. Furthermore, the Latin names all have an attractive sound and are common in many languages and cultures. Touit is pronounced like the English “do it.” Touit stands for good visibility, agility, mobility and diversity, qualities which also aptly describe the new ZEISS lenses for mirrorless camera systems. The name Touit comes from the band-tailed parrots. This bird is very small and agile, and its plumage is deep green. The Touit parrots live in Latin America and the Caribbean in a wide range of different habitats, from damp-tropical island regions to lowland rainforests to thorn-bush savannas and even high in the Andes Mountains at altitudes of up to over 20,000 feet. The first two focal lengths in the Touit family will be the Touit 2.8/12 and Touit 1.8/32. The names of the optics concept that have been used in product names until now (for example Distagon or Planar), as well as the T* symbol denoting the anti-reflective coating, will continue to appear on the front ring of the lenses. “With the Touit series, we are starting a completely new naming convention,” explains Martin Dominicus, Head of Marketing of the Carl Zeiss Camera Lens Division. “Our lenses will not only be unmistakable for their imaging performance, manageability and product design. Their name will also give this family of lenses a very unique identity.”
See on blogs.zeiss.com
Mai
02
At last! The most rangefinder-like of the mirrorless camera systems has a 35mm equivalent lens! We’ve always been a fan of SLR Magic’s lenses here on the Phoblographer and when we received the 23mm f1.7 in the mail, we were super stoked. It renders a near 35mm field of view on the cameras. Though Fujifilm themselves will be releasing one later on from the publishing of this piece, they were beaten to the cake by SLR Magic. We’ve spent a couple of days with this lens since seeing at Photokina, so far and we have to say that this one makes the X Pro 1 feels like the Leica cameras that I was trained on.
Pros
- - Beautiful bokeh
- - Fairly sharp wide open in the center and even sharper when stopped down
- - Excellent ergonomics
- - Solid build quality
Cons
- - Corner sharpness isn’t the greatest
……
Conclusions
While the SLR Magic 23mm f1.7 is an extremely fun lens to use, it will also require you to slow down your working process a whole lot. For portraits or street photography, you’ll really need to sit in one place and think due to the fact that it focuses manually and you’ll also need to zoom in/magnify areas to ensure that you’ve got a sharp photo. And this is where we really wish that Fujifilm has a focus peaking feature in the X Pro 1 as of the publishing of this story. Either way, for the price one really cannot go wrong. And though we’re not overly enthusiastic about this lens, it still really is a very good purchase for the money.
See on www.thephoblographer.com
Mai
02
That’s what we call the subway in DC. It’s usually very crowded and often not working in certain places… but overall it’s not too bad (if there’s a stop near you). Maybe if I used it more often, I’d be singing a different tune.
A few weeks ago, I went to run an errand near Capitol Hill. I rode from Woodley Park to Eastern Market and back, transferring trains at Metro Center. Here are some of the pictures I took along the way. They were all shot with my Fuji X-Pro1 and 35mm lens. Nothing too special… but a good reminder that while I’m here, I need to take the metro more often (good thing I’m in Trinidad)!
See on blog.karimhaddad.com
