The day I bought my first Full Frame DSLR Canon 5D Mark II, for its unparalleled quality and dynamic range I promised myself never to buy any other format but Full Frame or larger possible sensor I can afford. I do not own any point & shoot, cropped or micro four third nor does it interest me.
For last few months I am into street photography; there were times when I felt that smaller and quieter camera could be the right choice for shots which I have to miss.
All thanks to a dear friend Subodh Sheety (
http://subodhshetty.com/) who loaned and brought me Fujifilm X-E1 along with Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 and 60mm f/2.4. Holding it, I felt home; aperture and speed settings right on the place where and how it should be, small quiet and fast enough for candid shots. However, it was the quality, dynamic range and color depth which blown me.
On the streets of Dubai, well the UAE, you are always challenged with bright sunlight; this situation becomes tougher shooting people wearing bright white dress. However, X-E1 surprised me with its detailed highlights:
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| Can you shoot me? f/5.6 | 1/125 | ISO-200 |
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| My beautiful niece... f/2 | 1/60 | ISO-200 |
The area which literally blown me was perfect JPGs right out of the camera:
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| Perfect details right out of the camera. f/2.8 | 1/250 | ISO-200 |
When played with contrast results were amazing:
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He was having tea, when asked can I shoot? Yes, with smile...
f/3.6 | 1/80 | ISO-200 |
Colors are not bad either:
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| Going down. f/5.6 | 1/125 | ISO-200 |
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| Fujicolor :). f/4 | 1/60 | ISO-200 |
Amazing Macros:
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| Vibrant. f/5.6 | 1/125 | ISO-320 |
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| Go green. f/2.8 | 1/125 | ISO-200 |
Moments which I would hate to miss:
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| There is a little child. f/5.6 | 1/80 | ISO-200 |
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| Oo its fun. f/5.6 | 1/125 | ISO-200 |
High ISO:
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| Calligrapher. f/2.0 | 1/30 | ISO-2000 |
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| Shop it. f/4.5 | 1/9 | ISO-800 |
With built in flash, bounced, loved this functionality:
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| My sweetheart, my daughter. f/2.4 | 1/60 | ISO-200 |
I have tried and tested Fuji X-E1 in almost every possible scenario I shoot. It impressed me immensely; however, one area that really sucks is post processing software support. I am forced to use Silkypix (SILLYPIX) due to lack of compatibility of CS5 to X-E1 native RAW format. When converted to DNG, file size become humongous. But thanks to its neat in camera JPG, one doesn't need processing at all.
On the street this camera is serious tool, did not miss one single shot whole time.
Great read! I guess this Fuji must be quite something to get such a great article :)
ReplyDeleteP.S. I loved how you kept getting blown away! ... and that Calligrapher shot is fantastic!
Thank you Zaki...
DeleteP.S. lol... when pixels doesn't get blown I do... first shot you see was in sunlight with white dresses and I overexpose it by 2 stops; not even a single pixel 'blown' in highlights though... :)