Some Wednesday thoughts!
FIRST: Fujifilm has relased the new X-H1. I don’t have one on order, not sure if I will later, either. I want to share some thoughts, and I will not be doing a review since I’ve only held one for a few hours, and then had to return it. There are a ton of video reviews on Youtube and lots of very useful information in them. Instead I would like to answer, as best I can, the questions I asked myself and I bet many of you have asked yourselves as well; “Do I need to buy this camera body? Does it replace my X-T1 or 2 or X PRO 2???”
Let’s start by thanking Fujifilm for continuing to grow the X Sereis line and bringing us ever newer technology and products. The recently released X-E3 seems to be loved by those that have bought it, it’s nice and compact and fully capable of making the same great images we have been making with the X-T2 and PRO 2. Great to have choices!
Why the X-H1? Several reasons. Fujifilm has been criticized for not adding IBIS to any of their bodies, and their competitors are all jumping on that bandwagon, and beating their drums loudly! To stay competitive Fujifilm had to follow suit, and they have! The 5 Axis IBIS in the X-H1 works incrediby well, and if you shoot available light with any of the Fujifilm lenses that do not already have Optical Image Stabilization, then this will certianly make those lenses better for shooting in low light or with slower shutter speeds! Next Fujifilm was still a little behind the ball on video. If you’re a video producer, you now have a Fujifilm camera capable of shooting with any of the competition, it is a terriffic video capable camera!
Fujifilm wants to play in the sports and photojournalism arenas and this camera is rugged enough and has all the right features to play in that field. It’s quieter than almost anyone’s camera and the shutter release reaches a new standard of softness and precision, all good things!
So to answer the original question; if you need these features or want these features, I would add it to my stable of camera bodies, if you don’t then I think you could live without it! For now I can live without it. Anyway Jack is getting one and I can figure out how much I do or don’t want one by watching him use his!
I juat got back this past weekend from one of the very best conferences out there, the Southwestern Photojournalism Conference. It’s a gathering of fellow photographers from many fields but all closely tied to photojournalism who all believe that photography is a calling and we can spread God’s love through our profession! You won’t meet a nicer group of people, and the men and women who run it are great freinds who I have known for many years, it will be back in Nashville next year and I hope you will consider coming! I will alert you to the dates here!
I just took my drone flying to the next level!!! I picked up DJI’s Googles for flying the drone as if you were actually “in the” drone. It is just like going back to my ultralight flying days except I’m not risking my life!!!! it is a great way to get the sensation of flying while sitting in a camp chair, safelty on the ground!!!!!
Please let me encourage you to pray for our country and our leaders, we are at an all time high of animus and bitterness in Washington, and it’s we the people that suffer when our leaders are more intersted in gaining power than serving the American people, please pray for revival among our leaders! Only God can heal our land!
In a text today from Ricky Skaggs, he said it best, on the loss of Billy Graham;
“He’s not dead, his address just changed!”
Blessings,
the pilgrim
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 21st, 2018 at 5:33 pm
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Ricky Skaggs nailed it — what a great description that says it all so beautifully!
Good description of the new Fuji addition. Not for me. I am at either at an equipment buying plateau or pinnacle, depending on how you look ai it.
Sad about Billy Graham and two more of our police officers being shot. Isaiah 11:6,: But I am energized by the high school students in Florida (and elsewhere) who are reminding us that we are failing them as parents and adults (and they’re not taking “no” as an answer). Not sure I entirely agree with them on specifics but one thing I know as a parent is that much of the time they seem to blow us off, look like crap and listen to crap but when something hits the fan and they do come to us they expect us to do our jobs and if we don’t we’ve lost credibility with them. (And they also know when we’re b.s.-ing them.) It’s a sad day when they have to remind us to do our jobs as adults and even sadder when we don’t.
We can fix this, but many are approaching it from the wrong direction. We need to prevent people
ith genuiune mental problems from being gun owners, but the states with strictest gun laws still lead the nation with the most gun deaths. Why has this not happended in Wyoming? Because every cowboy has a gun and knows how to use it!
Check it out:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm
“Strict” gun laws are not the cure-all and they won’t work unless universal: you can’t have a chlorine free area of a swimming pool. But the status quo is also unacceptable and the kids have a point when they call out Congress’ b.s. They are saying what many of us have been thinking. I know that the presence or absence of a comma illustrates it well. No, gun control won’t solve all the problems. No gun control won’t solve all the problems, either. We have a model law in Maryland that withstood constitutional muster and could be a national model. But the politics has to come out of this. I told my congressman (Paul Ryan) that it’s time to bring the best minds in the country together in a special commission to study this and make evidence-based best practices recommendations. He blew me off. And for the first time I will vote for his opponent.
On the X-H1, I’ve taken the plunge and pre-ordered one. The IBIS system was the key for me. I’m noticing that as I get older, my hand-holding isn’t producing images with the sharpness I feel I need, and I can’t shoot everything on a tripod. Plus being able to use the body stabilization to provide image stabilization for lenses that lack it is a great deal as far as I’m concerned. The video is a plus, along with the stronger body, and larger grip. I’ve taken the opportunity to order it with the battery grip and the 16-55 lens (a lens I’ve wanted for a long time, but have been reluctant to get because of the lack of image stabilization). Hopefully I’ll have this whole rig before Route 66 and then we can spend the week evaluating it.
Regarding Billy Graham, as a young teen I had the opportunity to see him in a crusade in the LA Coliseum when my parents took the family on a cross-country trip to California. Reading about him yesterday, I learned that back in the early ’50s he had insisted that his revivals in the South be desegregated, and that when the ushers in a Jackson, MS, revival failed to follow his instructions to remove ropes separating the races, he came down from the pulpit and removed them himself and then told the crowd they should sit anywhere they wanted. He also supported and preached with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – and even provided bail and paid fines for him when Dr. King was arrested. All you need to know about what a good Christian he was. What an example to all of us!
Amen!!!!!!!
Billy Graham inspired so many, Rick, and I especially appreciated your post. I was a student of civil rights history — notably the contributions of whites. In ways large and small there were so many times when whites literally stuck their necks out to do the right thing and many never get credit. And politically — let’s just say the civil rights laws would never have seen the light of day if it wasn’t for Republicans. Thanks for the reminder.