Category : Pilgrim’s Chronicles

 

 

I’ve been running workshops for almost forty years and this years fall color in Acadia National Park is maybe the best I’ve eve seen!!!!  Jack and I scouted today and shot tons of images, I sure wish you were here!!!  Let me share!

 

 

Man o man is God good!  I am so excited for our attendees!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

Jack and I met in Portland, Maine around noon and headed up the coast to Bar Harbor for the Fujifilm Workshop to be held this week. I love Maine this time of the year and the color was really nice.  With some good fortune it should hold up through the end of this week and provide our students some fantastic shooting opportunities.  We caught nice, late light on an old red barn and some boats in a harbor at sunset, enjoy!  All with the Fujifilm X-T2 and the 100-400 lens, except the barn shot with the 18-135!

 

 

Blessings from Maine,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

I’ve had a lot of emails asking my why I have not done a review on the new Fujifilm X-T2!!!!  Some people have taken my silence as a statement, from me, that I’m not happy with it, and that’s not the case, please let me explain.  Months ago, Fujifilm loaned Jack Graham and I two of the very first X-T2 pre-production cameras to hit the shores of the U.S.  We were afforded that priviledge as X Photographers in return for our testing of the cameras, providing feedback,  and shooting images that could be used by Fujifilm for promtion and advertising.  The camera that I got was a very early example of what we have now, and it had very early, very buggy, firmware, so much so that using the camera was a real laborious feat.  While I loved the X-T1, this “prototype” was trying, to say the least.  Now this is not unusal for early prototypes or pre-produciton cameras, I experienced the same frustrations with the very early Nikon D800. It is during that “trial” period that cameras mature into the products we eventualy buy and love.  It’s an important and neccessary part of camera developement.

 

As I continued to struggle with the pre-production camera, friends were starting to take delivery of the brand new, production X-T2s. Fuji had agreed to compensate us for our work and speaking engagements with a brand new Fujifilm X-T2 and a Vertical Power Booster Grip.  I was getting pretty upset that all my friends had a X-T2 and I was still struggling with the early model I had been testing.  I was told the reason for the delay was our cameras would have a special serial number, and frankly I could have cared less, I don’t go around showing people my serial numbers to brag about how low they may be!!!  When the camera arrived just a couple of days ago, I was shocked, it is a pretty special serial number!

 

 

 

 

O.K.,  so what do I think about the camera now that I have one that actually works!!!!!  Before I get into that, let me say that the long wait was a real mixed blessing.  I really wanted to get the full benefit of the new 24.3 mega pixel sensor so I had started to use the X PRO 2 a lot more and actually really fell in love with it, in fact I bought a second one and now have two!  I love it so much I toyed with the idea of making the X PRO 2 my main cameras with the X-T2 as a backup.  Plan foiled!!!!  Don’t get me wrong I still love the X PRO 2’s and will give them a good workout, but the X-T2 is the camera I hoped it would be, when it grew up!!!!!

 

I won’t do a feature by feature review, plenty of those already exist. What I will do is share what things I really like, and what I don’t like.  As with all reviews keep in mind this is my impression based on how I work, your milage may vary!

 

PROs:

 

 

I love the electronic viewfinder!  It is at least one stop brighter than the X-T1 which I already loved.  The refresh rate is much higher the entire viewing, and composing experience is greatly enhanced.  Since, as shooters, we see the world through our viewfinders a lot of the time, this is a great improvement. The .77x magnification is also a big boost!

 

The seperate ISO dial that is lockable. While the ISO dial on the X PRO 2 has not driven me nuts, as it does some, I do still prefer the dial arrangement on the X-T2, it simply works and can be held in place with a very simple to use locking button.

 

The two way tilting LCD Screen.  I really missed the tilting LCD screen when using the X PRO 2.  The screen on the new X-T2 is very solid and it is great to now have a vertrical tilt as well.

 

Focusing speed and accuracy.  While this is not exclusive to         the X-T2 now that the X PRO 2 has firmware version 2.0, this is a very speedy camera in all operations, and the focusing has taken a quantum leap, so much so that it actually challenges Nikon and Canon for sports/action work!

 

Image Quality and Acros monochrome modes.  Image quality is identical to the X PRO 2 which is to say, “fantastic” and the new Acros film simulaiton is stunning, simply stunning!  Did I mention that Acros is STUNNING??!!

 

Ergonomics.  The new front molded grip is a more rubbery material and aids substantially in hand holding the camera, the overall placement of controls and build quality is typical Fujifim, which is to say solid, and well thought out.

 

That glass!!!!  The Fujifilm X System XF lenses are just spectacular, I own allmost all of them, and love everyone!

 

 

CONs:

 

The stiff to turn exposure compensation dial.  I know Fuji, you can’t please everyone.  When the X-T1 came out a lot of reviewers carped about how loose it was and how easy it was to knock out of place!  Gee, you think you might check and see where it was set???!!!  In fairness, Fujifilm has given us a really slick alternative in that the front command dial can be set to give exposure compensation and it’s lockable!!!!  Why they didn’t put a lock on the exposure compensation dial so it could be easier to turn with your thumb, like I like it, and lockable when I’m feeling paranoid, is beyond me, but hey, it’s a  small thing considering how great they did on this camera!!!!

 

Speaking of locks, why on earth does the memory card slot door have a latch??!!  The friction arrangement of the X PRO 2 mempory card slot door is much easier to use and still substantial and feels well made, but hey,  you don’t take cards in and out that much so it’s forgiveable.  Just puzzling.

 

I miss the Focus Assist button, and now open the Q menu everytime a want to enlarge the view.  I’ll get used to it,  just like the other arrangement better.  Not a big deal or deal breaker!

 

FINAL COMMENTS:

 

Thanks Fujifilm for giving us a supremely usable tools.  The X-T2 and X PRO 2 are designed for real photographers that know what the controls do and like using them to make great images.  The cameras are solidly built, have thoughtful features, and are capable of making incredible files if the photographer is!!!!  I can highly recommend it and give it two, really big, thumbs up!!!!

 

I know what you’re thinking!  Will the X-T2 or the X PRO 2 be my main “go to” cameras????  That’s easy……… both!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other day I got an email that I thought was very thought provoking and that should be shared as this is an interesting and vital discussion among all of us that go into the field to do workshops and just enjoy shooting the natural history environment!  I have not named the person who sent the email in respect to his privacy and I think his message was well crafted and with a lot of  merit.  I have included the responses from myself, Bill Lea and Jack Garham and I hope this will spur more discussion of this issue among my readers!!!  The orange is the origianl email the responses in blue.

 

Bill, Jack & Bill,

 

I respect each of you as photographers and have followed your work for some time. Bill Fortney, I met you when you were affiliated with Nikon and we were both photographing a scene in the Smokies. You impressed me then as a kind soul, encouraging me to join NPS even though our conversation was brief. Bill Lea, you and I have bumped into each other several times in Cades Cove and at the Morton Overlook as we stood side-by-side photographing and enjoying the wonderful scenes in front of us. Jack, I’ve not met you but have followed your work.

 

Recently Jack and Bill Fortney have commented in blog posts about the crowds at “iconic” photography sites – Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Monument Valley, etc. – and I have seen similar posts from other photographers and workshop leaders (Tony Sweet is one that comes to mind). Your posts struck me as ironic and somewhat self-serving, so I thought I’d share my thoughts privately (“Praise in public, criticize in private” was something I learned early in my corporate career).

 

I’m a resident of (DELETED) and have lived here for more than half of my life. I enjoy the diversity of scenery and seasons and combine my love of the state with my love of photography. Since 1998, I’ve traveled to the Smokies almost every fall to capture the fall color. Lately though, the venues have been overcrowded, and in some cases almost impossible to photograph due to the number of workshop and tour groups that arrive in vans, buses and carpools, all with tripods and cameras (and/or smartphones) in hand. You all are involved in a workshop (The Great Smoky Mountains Photography Summit), that is now in its second or third year, that invites 200 photographers and 15 workshop leaders to the small town of Townsend, TN during the peak week of fall color. Similar workshop “collisions” occur in Acadia, the Tetons, Yellowstone and other popular destinations (even Brooks Falls in Alaska).

 

As the photography business has changed, more and more professional photographers have resorted to leading workshops, as their print sales, stock image sales, and online revenues (Scott Kelby’s enterprise, for example) have dwindled. I understand the business model transition and don’t have a quarrel with it. But it has produced an unwanted consequence – every workshop leader wants to be in each iconic location at the same peak time. The last week of October happens to be that time in the Smokies for fall color.

 

My message is simple. Understand that you, the workshop leaders, are a part of the crowding problem. As an individual photographer, I’ve had to fight my way into a tripod row to get a shot I wanted, as workshop leaders were all instructing their acolytes on proper long lens technique rather than on photography etiquette. I saw it begin to happen in Bosque del Apache with Art Morris’s workshops. The crowds aren’t all Asian tourists. They’re photographers who arrive at these locations in groups of 10 to 200, each wanting to “get the shot”.

 

I won’t be heading to the Smokies this year. I can’t imagine trying to park along the narrow unpaved Tremont Road or getting into Cades Cove for sunrise with 200 of my closest friends vying for a spot for their tripods. Yes Bill Fortney, the “good old days” are behind us.

 

Respectfully.

 

My response: