A few months ago, I watched a Youtube video of a talk Scott Kelby made at a B&H event in New York.  He spoke on using the iPhone as your second camera and how well it had worked for him.  His images, the talk and the information were all excellent, which comes as no surprise!  Scott is one of the very best instructors in the business!  In fact I’m currently using my iPhone 12 Pro Max as my back up camera and he’s right it works fantastic!

 

This morning my wife asked if I would make a grocery shopping run, also called a good way to blow a couple of hundred bucks, but that’s another story.  I was happy to help my very hard working wife out and headed up to London to buy an index card’s worth of grocery items.  I took my iPhone in case she thought of something we had left off the list, a common occurrence.  It was very cold this morning and very overcast so I wasn’t really thinking about making images, but did see the painted wall above and made a mental note to stop and shoot it on the way home.  I shot it with my iPhone and while getting back in the car saw the image below of a water main cap, and shot it too!  It’s digital, after all, no added cost!   😉

 

 

I lay my iPhone on the passenger seat so if I see anything that requires quick action I can grab it!  A few hundred yards up the road at a stop light I saw this car with a guy and his dog, and his handicapped sticker created a cross between them!  I loved it and I was fortunate that the light stayed red long enough to get off a shot!

 

 

World class images?  No, but images I probably would not have made if getting out a camera bag,  putting a lens on and setting up my tripod had to be done and they would have never gotten made!

 

Found images are fun, and it’s easier to react to these kinds of situations if grabbing your phone is all the is required!  I honestly doubt if I had shot them with my X-T5, they would’ve been made, and if they could, would not have been any better!

 

There is something about owning a few bodies and hand full of lenses that makes you think otherwise, but we all have to remember that getting the shot is the most important thing, if you never make the shot, you’ll never have it!

 

So, I get it, this is one more tool in the kit that will help you sometimes, just get the shot!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

I love teaching photography and I love sharing the joy of the craft!  I am preparing lessons for an upcoming class I will hold in Corbin, January 20th.  In preparing the new lessons I reviewed a lot of my images made in the last 12 years with digital photography!  I wanted to do a sound synch with 30 of my favorite images both technically and aesthetically.  After picking 30 of my favorites I checked the exif data and was shocked to learn that all 30 had been made with cameras at least 10 years old and all with 16 mega pixels or less.  The vast majority were with the Fujifilm X-T1, a couple with the Fujifilm X-E1 and one with the X10.  I still have 2 X-T1s, and the X10, since I no longer have a X-Pro 1,  I  have substituted the X-Pro 2, (which has 24 mega pixels). All of these are big steps down from ,y current main camera the X-T5 with 40 mega pixels.)

 

One of my favorite quotes which I use a lot in my classes is from Rod Planck, who said “Technique beats equipment every time!”  I know that is true and since I have become enamored with the advancing technology in cameras, I have bought the latest and greatest ones over the past decade.  I believe after this shocking revelation of my favorite images that with great technique these 12 year old cameras can still perform admirably!

 

So For the first 6 months of 2024 I will do all my imaging with the three cameras above;  Fujifilm’s X-T1  (16 mega pixels), the X-Pro 2 ( 24 mega pixels) and the X10, my first fujifilm camera that has with 12 mega pixels.

 

I will post images I’m making, with technical details, over the 6 month period and we can judge together just how well they can perform!

 

The images below are some of the images that convinced me to do this project!

 

Shot with the X-E1 and the 18-55 lens.

 

Shoot with the X-T1 and the 60mm macro lens.

 

Shot with the X-T1 and the 18-135 lens.

 

Shot with the X-T1 hand held with the 55-200 lens and Nikon 5T diopter @ ISO 6400!

 

I can’t wait to see what can be done with this gear and strict use of great technique!  Please follow along for the fun!

 

Blessings,

 

 

the pilgrim

 

I’m working on a new set of classes for a program I’m doing in Corbin next month, and I’m discovering some interesting things!  I was attempting to find some of my favorite images and use them to emphasis the importance of image quality.  After assembling 30 images that I felt were the best both aesthetically and technically.  I checked the file info in Photoshop and was floored when I discovered that 28 of the 30 images were all shot with one camera and 20 of the 30 with one lens!

 

The X-T1 and the 18-135 zoom!!!!

 

 

What is going on.  I’ve owned X-T1’s, X-T2’s, X-T3’s, X-T4’s and the current X-T5 and of course lots of other X-Pro models, X100 models and the X-H1!  For years we’ve been told that the more mega pixels, the better!  Well…….. I’m rethinking that!  What do you gain with higher mega pixel sensors?  For a start more resolution, more pixels more detail, no question.  But how much more detail?  That is your call but in some serious pixel peeping, I found the difference is not as great as I thought it would be.  The X-T5 sure has a lot of resolution (40 mega pixels)  The 16 megapixel X-T1 still has a ton of sharpness and detail!  How about noise at higher ISO?  The image below is shot at ISO 6400 with the X-T1, if I  had shot it on the X-T5 the background out of focus green area would have shown more noise f or sure.  High ISO winner:  X-T1!

 

 

 

So, is the X-T1 the best Fujifilm camera?  I can’t say that, I can say that if today I was required to shoot only the X-T1 as my main body, I’m not sure the I would be disadvantaged!  Considering that the X-T1 is a 10 year old camera body with 16 mega pixels and they can be bought for $500. or less………  It’s a great time to be a shooter in the Fujifilm system!

 

Blessings,

 

 

the pilgrim