Walking around downtown with the X10
This past weekend some good weather finally stuck around so I finally got a chance to get out and walk around. I only had about 30 minutes but I came away with some interesting photos. Afterwards, I met my girlfriend at the hospital and actually captured some fun images there as well. That's why I love the portability of the Fuji line of cameras. Half of these shots I would not have gotten with my large DSLR, mainly because I wouldn't have brought it in the first place.
First professional portrait session with the Fuji X-E1
The purpose of the post is to share my experience of using the Fuji XE-1 in a profession setting. In this case it was for family portrait session I had at ONWA, which is not for profit organization that supports Aboriginal women and their families. Let me know first give everyone a little background about myself and why I chose to use the Fuji XE-1 as my sole camera for this job.
I am currently a part-time professional wedding and portrait photographer. For the last 4 years I have been getting paid to do this job so I do consider myself a professional. Although, I know I still have a lot to learn which is actually quite exciting and something I look forward to. Mainly I have been using Nikon gear which typically includes a d700/7000 body combined with a 50mm 1.8 lens and 70-200mm 2.8 lens. If I had to estimate I would say the 70-200mm was my primary portrait lens. The Nikon gear has and still works great but those 8 hour wedding days really take it's tool when you are carrying around all that gear. Which is why, I was anxious to explore the Fuji series camera's.
I first fell in love with the Fuji X-Series line when I picked, borrowed and eventually stole my Dad's x100. It was not love at first sight. I struggled to take good photos with it, especially in low light conditions mainly because I didn't understand fully how it worked. Once I explored it a bit more it really started to shine. I carried it with me everywhere for those 2 weeks that I had it. Fast forward to when my father left and took the camera with him, I felt like I was going through withdrawal. It was like I lost my trust sidekick.
In the following weeks I spent at least 2 hours a day looking on eBay for used x100's, contemplating buying a new one, waiting for the x100s, going with a whole X-Series camera... it was painful. Finally I made my way to the camera shop convinced I was just going to go in for a look. To see if they had a x100. No luck. 30 minutes later I walked out with an X-E1. It wasn't the camera I was intending to purchase but the ability to swap lenses, the other added functions and the overall look and feel of it quickly reeled me in.
Still, I wasn't sure if I should have just waited for the x100s. But, in those 3 months that I would have waited, I captured so many photos that I would not have otherwise taken. So in my mind it was worth it. Plus I envisioned myself potentially using the XE-1 for professional shoots done the road. That takes me to last week, my first paid portrait session with the XE-1.
Don't get me wrong, I still took two extra camera bodies, all my other lenses, and hell, I even brought my little X10 in case I was feeling adventurous. In the end, the XE-1 survived the entire shoot, but not without a few hiccups...
The first part of the shoot was done using my portable studio. This included a few pocket wizards, a couple strobes hooked up to some shoot-through umbrella's and that's it. Before I left for the shoot I quickly tested the system and how it worked at home and it all seemed like it worked. Plus, I knew is something went wrong I had my other Nikons there that I have used time and time again.
Once I was set up, I called for the first family and the rest was really a blur. Everything worked quite well. I basically left both flashes at the same setting the whole time and just used the XE-1 to adjust the lighting (ISO and aperture). Aside from the flash not going of sometimes (which is natural), and the memory card lagging sometimes, it worked quite well. Oh, and sometimes for some reason, the screen would lock up and I would have to turn it off and one. I wasn't sure, if it was because the memory card was still writing or some other reason. Regardless, I know now I need to get the 90mb Scandisk cards and not just the 30mb. I also think battery packs are in order for the flashes.
So, now to the most important part. How did the photos turn out. Honestly? Fantastic! The colours were almost perfect right out of the camera. I kept all the settings in-camera to 0, and used the RAW/Fine jpg function. I eventually used the latest release of Lightroom 4 for the Mac to edit the RAW (converted to DNG) files. I still did my fine tuning and colour enhancements but they didn't really need that much work. For the BW images, I used Silver Effex 2. Almost every photo was sharp, and I did not use a tripod at all. Near the end of the session I did some outdoor photos of some of the families and I think these colours actually turned out better then the studio shots.
Were these photos out of the Fuji better then what would have been produced from my Nikon? I'm not sure. They are at least the same quality if not better. Plus, I had a blast using the 35mm (50mm equivalent) Fuji lens. It allowed me to get nice and close with the families. The main reason I loved using the Fuji was because it was light, small and extremely easy to use. I'm not sure if I can get away with using just Fuji's for my wedding gigs, but one thing is for sure, I'm definitely bring it along to see how it performs.
Too see more photos please feel free to check out my other professional blog. Below are some images from the session. Thanks for viewing!
I am currently a part-time professional wedding and portrait photographer. For the last 4 years I have been getting paid to do this job so I do consider myself a professional. Although, I know I still have a lot to learn which is actually quite exciting and something I look forward to. Mainly I have been using Nikon gear which typically includes a d700/7000 body combined with a 50mm 1.8 lens and 70-200mm 2.8 lens. If I had to estimate I would say the 70-200mm was my primary portrait lens. The Nikon gear has and still works great but those 8 hour wedding days really take it's tool when you are carrying around all that gear. Which is why, I was anxious to explore the Fuji series camera's.
I first fell in love with the Fuji X-Series line when I picked, borrowed and eventually stole my Dad's x100. It was not love at first sight. I struggled to take good photos with it, especially in low light conditions mainly because I didn't understand fully how it worked. Once I explored it a bit more it really started to shine. I carried it with me everywhere for those 2 weeks that I had it. Fast forward to when my father left and took the camera with him, I felt like I was going through withdrawal. It was like I lost my trust sidekick.
In the following weeks I spent at least 2 hours a day looking on eBay for used x100's, contemplating buying a new one, waiting for the x100s, going with a whole X-Series camera... it was painful. Finally I made my way to the camera shop convinced I was just going to go in for a look. To see if they had a x100. No luck. 30 minutes later I walked out with an X-E1. It wasn't the camera I was intending to purchase but the ability to swap lenses, the other added functions and the overall look and feel of it quickly reeled me in.
Still, I wasn't sure if I should have just waited for the x100s. But, in those 3 months that I would have waited, I captured so many photos that I would not have otherwise taken. So in my mind it was worth it. Plus I envisioned myself potentially using the XE-1 for professional shoots done the road. That takes me to last week, my first paid portrait session with the XE-1.
Don't get me wrong, I still took two extra camera bodies, all my other lenses, and hell, I even brought my little X10 in case I was feeling adventurous. In the end, the XE-1 survived the entire shoot, but not without a few hiccups...
The first part of the shoot was done using my portable studio. This included a few pocket wizards, a couple strobes hooked up to some shoot-through umbrella's and that's it. Before I left for the shoot I quickly tested the system and how it worked at home and it all seemed like it worked. Plus, I knew is something went wrong I had my other Nikons there that I have used time and time again.
Once I was set up, I called for the first family and the rest was really a blur. Everything worked quite well. I basically left both flashes at the same setting the whole time and just used the XE-1 to adjust the lighting (ISO and aperture). Aside from the flash not going of sometimes (which is natural), and the memory card lagging sometimes, it worked quite well. Oh, and sometimes for some reason, the screen would lock up and I would have to turn it off and one. I wasn't sure, if it was because the memory card was still writing or some other reason. Regardless, I know now I need to get the 90mb Scandisk cards and not just the 30mb. I also think battery packs are in order for the flashes.
So, now to the most important part. How did the photos turn out. Honestly? Fantastic! The colours were almost perfect right out of the camera. I kept all the settings in-camera to 0, and used the RAW/Fine jpg function. I eventually used the latest release of Lightroom 4 for the Mac to edit the RAW (converted to DNG) files. I still did my fine tuning and colour enhancements but they didn't really need that much work. For the BW images, I used Silver Effex 2. Almost every photo was sharp, and I did not use a tripod at all. Near the end of the session I did some outdoor photos of some of the families and I think these colours actually turned out better then the studio shots.
Were these photos out of the Fuji better then what would have been produced from my Nikon? I'm not sure. They are at least the same quality if not better. Plus, I had a blast using the 35mm (50mm equivalent) Fuji lens. It allowed me to get nice and close with the families. The main reason I loved using the Fuji was because it was light, small and extremely easy to use. I'm not sure if I can get away with using just Fuji's for my wedding gigs, but one thing is for sure, I'm definitely bring it along to see how it performs.
Too see more photos please feel free to check out my other professional blog. Below are some images from the session. Thanks for viewing!
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