Monthly Archives: February 2016

 

 

Going into the weekend I want to ask my readers to take some time over the weekend to pray for our friends from KelbyOne, the ones that are left to carry on, and especially the ones that are now seeking employment.  All these people have become special to me, and I hate to see the family broken up, but instead of wringing our hands about how this happened,  lets join together and pray for a great outcome for everyone involved.

 

I’ve been on both sides of this coin and it is very hard to make the decisions that have been made, and it is tough to be on the parting end of it too!  My personal prayer will be that everyone learns from what they have gone through, finds a new way to use their considerable talents, and finds, over time, they are better for having lived through it.

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

I’ve now had a chance to use the Fuji X-PRO 2  enough to start drawing some conclusions and answer some questions I’ve been getting!  Let’s start with questions:

 

(1.)  Do you see any advantage to the X-PRO 2 in terms of the Optical viewfinder or should I wait for the XT-2?

 

If you shoot with the 23mm, the 35mm and 56mm I think the Optical Viewfinder is a lot of fun and does have some advantages.  It is such a beautiful view and you can always switch to the Electronic Viewfinder for very wide and very long lenses.  Having that extra view outside the frame is starting to get addicting.  But if that is not important to you, wait.  However read the rest of this!

 

(2.)  Is there any really huge advantages to the X-“PRO 2?  

 

Huge, not sure what huge means to you,  but I can tell you this, the new 24.3 mega pixel sensor is definitely better, the noise is better, the construction, especially the button actions are much better, the joy stick is well, a joy.  What else, The body is slightly larger and feels great in the hands and with the added grip is feels even better.  The new processor makes everything work a lot faster and the new AF system is much improved, so yes, it is a huge step up.

 

(3.)  Will the Fuji X-T2 get all these goodies?

 

I really don’t know but my guess is that since they now have all this technology it would be surprising, very surprising if the sensor, processor, and button improvements plus the joy stick should make it to the new camera, but as I said I’m guessing!!!!  Fuji would want the New version of the X-T1 to be the equal of the X-PRO 2 except for the Optical Viewfinder, so it would make sense that the  new X-T2 (assuming that is what it would be called, doubt they would call it the Fuji X-T3) will be a big step up too.   Hopefully by summer we will know!

 

(4.)  Is there anything about the X-PRO-2 you can[t live without?

 

Live without?  No.   Would really miss?  YES!!!!  Now that I’m used to the operation of the X-PRo 2 I’m going to be using it most of the time until we see what the X-T2 looks like and to be honest, I might end up buying a second X-PRO 2 even then,  it is one really fine camera.

 

(5.)  Should I be loosing my mind over this?  I don’t know whether to  jump now, I’m just not sure I will like a rangefinder?

 

If you are using the X-T1 and like everything about it, and I sure do, but want the new technology I would say wait, the rangefinder does take some getting used to, and I have to believe the X-T2 will be all the same good stuff.  If you can wait for a few months I think you will be good, if you just can’t wait, then hey, go for a X-PRO 2!

 

So I hope that helps, I can’t wait to take this baby down Route 66 and on to Arches / Canyonlands.

 

Now on to something else:  I want to talk to all of you that posted and wrote me emails an a few of you even called me, the central theme has been am I o.k.?  Just in case you are worried and if you are, thanks for being so concerned, but I’m absolutely fine, even better than fine.  I don’t let these kinds of things get me down.  I have nothing but love for all those people involved in the Kelby Media situation,  I know Scott is suffering , I know those that were let go are suffering, but everyone is landing on their feet, they are talented hard working people and they will not only survive they will thrive, again! I’ve been through tough times, really tough times, and I’ve learned one thing, God is in control, and we can only win on our knees!  We start by asking Him to take things over and we trust Him, no matter how bad things are they are never out of His ability to perform miracles.  The mistake is believing we can do it alone and not letting go, and giving it to Him.  My prayer right now is everyone involved in this situation is on their knees giving it to Him.  I pray they come to understand that, it is the only way to see things made right.  Join me in praying for everyone involved. Real help is always available for all of us, we just have to ask for it, let’s pray that everyone does! Thank you again for showing such gracious concern, but don ‘t worry about me let’s help everyone else!  God has my back!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

 

 

I love the American flag, I photograph it every time I find a great one.  Why?  Because it stands for something bigger than ourselves.  Men and women far braver than I have given their very lives to hold it high, to preserve it, to help it stand!  Love of country is one of our greatest devotions, right under our Love of God, but above all else.

 

The love of friends is still very high on the list of our priorities.  It is that devotion that has led me to a very difficult decision, but one I must make.  Let me give an illustration to that point.  Let’s pretend that I have been invited to my son Scott’s house in Florida for Christmas with my entire family, Sherelene, all of my children, their spouses, and my six grandchildren.  I’m so excited to get to be with them!  My time with them is always so precious.  Then I get a call on Thanksgiving that the plans have changed, each of my three families and Sherelene are going to have to be somewhere else, but I’m still invited to their empty house and enjoy Christmas alone.  What do you think I would do? I’m sure you can guess!

 

I joined NAPP almost a dozen years ago, then worked with Kelby Media and now KelbyOne.  Over those dozen years I’ve met and adopted the teams into my family of close friends, a lot of people that were part of all those different iterations of the same company!  Business is a fickle thing and all kinds of things can happen to change the fortunes of a business, as sad as it is, it sometimes means some people have to be let go to help the company survive.  This has happened  several times over past few years.  A number of great people are still at KelbyOne, unfortunately the ones I was closest to, with the exception of Scott himself, are now all gone.

 

This is my dilemma, can I still go home for Christmas?   Sadly no.  I have decided to pull out of Photoshop World, and from Kelby One.  I’m not mad at anyone, quite the opposite, I am very thankful for all the great times I’ve had working with Scott and all his incredible team, for all those years.  I’ve loved taping classes, speaking at Photoshop World, meeting all the great members and Scott’s people have treated me better than I deserve!  I want to thank Scott Kelby for allowing me to be a part of such a great team, meet so many wonderful people and for being so kind to me.  I wish it could have gone on forever!

 

But, sadly, now I can’t go home for Christmas!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

Summation:  The X-PRO 2 really shines and shows it’s 33% more resolution in  these examples!!  I love my X-T1s, I have three but they will get little less use now that I have this incredible instrument to shoot.  The bitingly rich resolution is just stunning. Micro fine detail and contrast is right up there with the D810, quite amazing.  I will walk you through the examples I shot, but the summation won’t change, this is one hell of a camera!!! (excuse my French!  😉

 

All examples were shot with the subject cross/side lit with a LED light panel as the light source to create side lighting to show the most texture. The tripod mounted X-T1 and X-PRO 2 were  mated with the sharpest lens I’ve ever owned, the 90mm f 2   All images shot at f 11  The rezed up images were taken to 6 foot by 6 foot at 100 dpi and a small section was cropped out of these blown up files.

 

In each sequence the first or top image is the X-T1 the bottom the X-PRO 2

 

Here we go:

 

Now the blow ups of these files:

 

 

Keep in mind these are 72 dpi images for the web, in  the full res files the difference as much more apparent.

 

Round Two:

 

Now lets get big and close!

 

 

Once against the X-PRO 2 files are about a 1/3 stop darker and sometimes the detail is hard to seebut it’s there.

 

 

Where it really matters is unreal world application, the X-PRO 2 and the 100-400 do their job well!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim