This past week has been very busy with travel and praying for and being with Wes through his treatments for Lymphoma.  First and of most important to me, thank you for your prayers, Wes is working hard to get through the chemo.  His blood component levels dropped this last few days and he was back in the hospital for 6 more units of blood, but he has recovered well and is resting before round two of chemo.  He continues to soldier on, and your payers are vital, so again, thank you!!!

 

 

The Bill Fortney’s Photo Vlog:  I just posted the 6th Vlog last night and I’m pleased that so many of you are enjoying them.  I get a number of email questions and this has been a good way to answer those questions directly to all who might be interested.  To find them, simply go to Youtube and search for Bill Fortney’s Photo Vlog and it will direct you to my channel, please subscribe and if you find them helpful, please give us a LIKE!

 

 

 

This coming week I will be in Austin, Texas for the Precision Camera University Weekend!  I’m looking forward to beign w ith a bunch of students and working together to improve our vision and technique!!!  I have to be honest, I’m really looking forward to a trip to Hutz Burgers with Dudley Hawthorne too!!!!

 

My sincere thanks to the great folks at Bedford Camera in Oklahoma City.  the event was a truly a blast and their people were very nice!  I also got to spend a day and evening with Joe (McNally) and  Anne (Cahill).  Joe will be in Kentucky with me early this coming week to attempt to do some coal miner photographs, hope he is prepared for culture shock!!!  They were in London when the attack happended but are safe!  Please pray for them!

 

 

 

 

Next up for Jack and I is the first of two Fujifilm X-Photographer Summits this year.  This one will be April 5-9 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  If it’s early April, my heart is always in the Smokies!!!!

 

 

 

 

You may remember this example from my previous post in the GFX vs the X-T2 post.  A good friend a great shooter Sam Garcia, noticed something that I should have caught, the X-T2’s slightly softer image of the example above,  might have been because the focusing was slighty off, I will try some more examples the next time I get my hands on a  GFX, needless to say the GFX proved to be fantastic, but the X-T2 really held it’s own too!!!!  I am pretty sure a GFX will be at the event next week, so round two, I hope, is coming up!!!!

 

 

 

 

I posted a while back about this fantastic trio of f 2 lenses from Fujifilm, and I’ve now had a few weeks to work with them.  My first impression has only grown more glowing, they are all stellar glass, and a joy to work with, given their size and compactness.  I often find myself just taking these three lenses out and rarely miss anything longer or shorter, quite a statement from a certified lens freak!!!!

 

Once again look how sharp the 50mm f 2 is (75mm equiv.)!

 

 

Well, that’s it for now, I will check in mid next week after Joe and I do some coal mining photography!   Thanks again so much for the prayers, please keep them up!!  Our family loves you guys and your faithfulness is such a blessing to us!   Wes sends his love and deep and sincere thanks, he says he really feels the prayers!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

 

 

 

I’m at Bedford’s PhotoCon in Oklahoma City and I just got the chance to wring out the new GFX and shoot some comparison shots with the Fujifilm X-T2.  This is not an exhaustive test, but is quite revealing!  How so?  Follow along.

 

Let’s start with an overall scene shot with both cameras: (which at this size are identical)

 

 

Both cameras were set at ISO 200, f11 and Auto White Balance, shot with a self timer off a tripod on a concrete floor.

 

First, I cropped out the bottle and orange and yellow car section from both cameras files.  You can guess which is which?!

 

 

At this point it is very hard to tell.  Top X-T2, bottom GFX.  Now let’s blow this file up to a 7 foot wide file from a cropped section to compare!!!

 

 

Now you can see the very fine detail at the bottom of the bottle start to be much better defined in the GFX file (top image), but remember this is as tiny portion of the original files, blown up to 7 feet wide!!!!!!!

 

Let’s try another:

 

 

 

 

The GFX file on top is actually less sharp on the wall (both f11) because the depth is greater in the smaller sensors at the same focal length equiv.  At full image size it is hard to discern a difference other than the depth.  The GFX is still crisper but not by a very large margin.

 

 

 

The GFX file (top) has more bite and acutance, but not by a lot once again, at full file size!!

 

 

Again full files, close to the same, GFX on the bottom!

 

 

So some early conclusions:

 

1.  The GFX has a ton of resolution and can be blown up to outer space and still have enormous detail, and the X-T2 holds it’s own until we start cropping or making very, very large prints on the order of feet by feet.  Can you see the difference with your nose against the print, yes you can, but standing back at a reasonable distance I suspect it would be harder, though the GFX would still have the edge!

 

2.  Is the GFX worth the difference in price?  Yes and no.  If you’re a pixel peeper of the tenth order, and demand the ultimate in resolution and acutance, a big Yes!  If you rarely make very large prints or reproduce in very high end slick publications, not as much.

 

3.  Would it be a great camera for landscape work?  Yes it would, definitely, the detail would be a big advantage, but then again what are you going to to do with those big juicy files?  Prints of enormous size you bet, it would be the ticket!   24X36 and 40X60 at reasonable distances it might be a closer call.

 

4.  Would I buy one?  Maybe, it would depend on what kind of work I was doing and then the cost is a factor for all of us.  I’m thinking about it and weighing the options.  Too soon to say, but I’m mighty impressed!!!

 

5.  Is it worth it?   YES, it is one of the finest medium format cameras I’ve ever shot, it is a dream to operate, very much like a big X-T2, menus are much the same, and it has some very helpful features.  The price is not low, but the quality and files are spectacular.

 

More after further research!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

One more:

 

 

Bet you can guess which is which here, pretty amazing!

 

 

O.K. just for grins guess what these were made with????

 

 

 

 

 

O.K. some kind of world we live in, these are 2 megabyte files from a iPhone 6+ !!!!!  Maybe he Millennials are on to something!?

 

Wes Update:  Wes has completed his first week of Chemo and is doing very well, the treatment regime is very aggressive, but he is a fighter and is all in for the fight!  As always he tells me to t hank all fo  you for your prayers, he says, “I can really feel them!”  Please continue to stick with us, I will keep  you informed as he progresses through his treatments.

 

Travel Update:  I knocked off a couple of early season travel plans to stick close to home for Wes and our family!  I fly to Oklahoma City Thursday a.m. to speak for Fujifilm at the Bedford PhotoCon Event.  I am thrilled to get to hang out with my Fuji family and Joe McNally and Anne Cahill McNally!  Dhopuld be a fun event!

 

Bill Fortney’s Photo Vlogs Update:  I now have four Vlogs posted and  hope to get another one up before  I leave town tomorrow for the airport.  I really appreciate the questions, it keeps things fresh when I can talk about the things you want to hear about from me!

 

Texas Event Update:  I will be in Austin Texas for Precision Camera’s Camera Universtiy Weekend 2017,  the weekend of March 31st – April 2nd!  I really like those folks and expect to have a great time with them!

 

The Fujifilm X-Photorpahers Nature and Travel Summit Update:  Jack and i are excited to wecome a good crown in for our frist Fujifilm X-Photogrpahers Summit April 5th – 9th.  Lots of great guests, Fuji folks and an expected quick start to Spring inthe Smokies!

 

That’s it for now, and thanks again so much for your prayers a good wishes to Wes and our family!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

From PetaPixel;

 

Popular Photography, the largest circulated imaging magazine that launched its first issue in May 1937 in New York City, has ceased publication after being continuously in production for 80 years. The March/April 2017 issue will be the last in print.

 

When print magazines close, their online counterparts often live on, but in the case of Popular Photography, PopPhoto.com will also simultaneously close (though it may stay online for a while).

 

“I want to take this opportunity to share this news with the entire company and the reasons behind our decision. In our most recent Town Hall, I spoke of how the pace of disruption through digital and technological advancements is unprecedented. Unfortunately, the photo industry is an example of where this disruption has forever altered the market. The rise of smartphone-camera technology and its increasing ability to capture quality photos and video and instantly share them socially has dealt the photo industry formidable challenges. For our brands, these industry challenges have left us with insurmountable losses in advertising and audience support. Despite the extraordinary efforts of our committed colleagues at Popular Photography and American Photo, as well as our best attempts corporately to find a sustainable path forward, we are simply unable to overcome these market forces.”

 

Eri Zinczenko

 

During its run, Popular Photography developed a fine system of testing cameras. Former editor John Owens said more than 10 year ago that in excess of a million dollars was spent in setting up a state of the art testing lab. Pop Photo was one of the few places where you could read in-depth camera reviews, they have been doing bench tests for a long time, and produced pretty involved reviews and they were considered fairly authoritative.

At its peak, Popular Photography had a circulation of nearly to 1 million. Today, as per the 2017 Media Kit, that number stands at 320,000. The audience was always male dominated and stands at 60%. The median age is 49.9, so millennials are missing, and that could perhaps be one of the reasons for the demise.

 

While I no longer picked up a copy of the magazine, it was a staple of my photographic life for many, many years.  Sad news and a reminder of how our photo industry is changing, and will surely continue to change.

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim