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New Year – New Camera System (updated new info)

Sunrise at Good Harbor
The sun changes the sky into hues of orange, purple and blue before sunrise at Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester. Fuji X-T3 w/18-55

2018 was a rough year! My Canon gear started to weigh on me (literally) and I began shooting with a smaller aps-c camera, the Sony a6300. This was a very difficult transition for me so let me explain. Since 1979 I have been a hard core Canon disciple. When I started my career my gear of choice was Leica because that is what I owned. It became clear after about a year of use that it was to expensive and was not what I needed as a beginning photojournalist. While photographing the pre-Olympics at Lake Placid in 1979 for some skiing publications, I fell backwards on some ice and crushed the viewfinder on my Leica SL Mot rendering it unusable. This brought me to Eric Wang at the Canon Pro Services booth where he let me borrow a Canon F1 w/motor drive and a 300 f2.8. I was sold! If this was how they treated pros I was in. I traded all my Leica gear and went with Canon for the next 39 years. I was a proponent of Canon shunning anything else and I would tell you about it. That has all changed for me in the past year. I am older and the heavy gear has taken it’s toll. I have had one hip replacement and headed for another. Hence my questioning my photo gear needs. I no longer do daily assignments but I now teach, run workshops and tours, and occasionally do news and sports assignments. So I need gear that is smaller, lighter an costs less but is outstanding.

Don’t get me wrong I LOVE MY CANON GEAR but it simply is weighing me down. I started using the Sony aps-c system because I could adapt my Leica lenses to it. What a great solution to my problem. The gear was small and light but the menu was a nightmare. I bought two lenses a 10-18, and a 16-70. In 35mm terms a 15-27 and a 24-70. Both lenses are f4 very slow for a photojournalist. They worked and did the job and I finally got used to the menu system. Everything seemed on track for a slow move over to Sony. To me the quality of the lenses is sub par though and I have never been happy with them. The camera is too small! So I started to see if the full frame Sony A7 lll was the camera for me and I tried adapting my beloved Canon and Leica lenses to it. The results were good! But the camera, plus adapter, plus lens was rather large with the Canon lenses. Ugggh, so that turned out to be a bust.

I then decided to try out the Fujifilm system. I rented the Fuji X-T3 and the rather large 16-55 from Borrow Lenses. I wanted to see if this large lens was what I was looking for since it was the same size as my Canon 24-70 f4. Same size (77mm) but an f 2.8 and a little lighter. I contacted a friend of mine, Mark Gardner of Summer Sky Digital Media in Marshfield. I call Mark the Fuji Zen Master because he has been using Fuji for a number of years. To my amazement Mark let me borrow a complete system to try out. I got to try out a number of lenses that I would not normally have been able to test with. So after a week of using the X-T3 and a full stable of lenses from the 16 1.4 – 100-400 zoom I came away deciding that Fuji was the way to go. My reasoning was size, weight, and cost.

Over the course of the next week I jumped head first into the Fuji system and Mark was there to help me along the way. It was a great help to have the Zen Master help me through the menu system. So my learning curve was not as steep as if I had just jumped into it. It was great! I got to do some assignments with it and was excited by the ease of use and the quality of the images I was getting. I started out at Duxbury Beach shooting a sunrise.

Duxbury Sunrise
Sunrise at Duxbury Beach shot with the Fuji X-T3 and 50-140 f 2.8
Duxbury Bridge
Duxbury Bridge at sunrise shot with the Fuji X-T3 and 50-140 f 2.8

The first lens I tried was the 50-140 f 2.8 zoom basically the same thing as my Canon 70-200 f 2.8 L ll which is the best lens I own. I was amazed at how light it was and smaller than my Canon tele zoom. So far I was impressed! Then as I was walking back to my car the light started it’s amazing rise and lit up the snow fencing and dunes and I knew that I needed to try out the 16 f 1.4.

Dune grass at sunrise
Dune grass at sunrise shot with the Fuji 16 1.4 wide open. Beautiful out of focus rendering of the snow fence.

Incredible color and a 1.4 the depth of field added another dimension to it. But I knew that it would look different at a smaller f stop so I shot another at f8.

Dune grass at sunrise
Dune grass at sunrise with the Fuji 16 f 1.4 at f 8. A different look same lens.

I had some weekend assignments that were going to be in darkness and I could not wait to try out the X-T3 with the 16-55 and the 16 1.4 lenses. The results were amazing. It was a lobster trap tree lighting. Your basic very dark assignment. So I brought the 16-55 and the 16 1.4 with me to see how they would do. The 16-55 is only an f2.8, which is fast enough for most things but in pitch black I was not sure what would happen. Earlier in the day I shot a gingerbread house contest inside and wide open I could not believe how sharp the results were.

Gingerbread house viewing
A young boy looks over the winning gingerbread house. Shot with the Fuji X-T3 and the 16-55 f 2.8.

The next thing was outside in the dark. Not fun trying to get a good exposure. The Fuji X-T3 was up to the task and gave me some great images. The reddish faces came from a fire trucks tail lights.

Photographing the lobster trap tree
A father photographs the lobster trap tree with his son. Shot with the Fuji X-T3 and 16-55 ISO 3200 1/125 @ 2.8.

The image above was just as the sun was down and I had more light to work with but the light got much worse. The Fuji X-T3 came through again with the 16 1.4.

Lobster trap tree lighting
Musicians sing at the lighting of the Lobster Trap tree in Gloucester. Fuji X-T3 with 16 1.4
Lobster Trap tree ligiting
Musicians sing at the lighting of the Lobster Trap tree in Gloucester. Fuji X-T3 with 16 1.4

Both of these were shot at ISO 8000 1/80s @ 1.4! I was amazed! So the next thing I tried was inside the tree – dark as sin.

Inside the Lobster Trap tree
People wander inside the Lobster Trap tree to look at the lights.

This image was shot at ISO 8000 1/40s @ 1.4. Ok so I was sold right off the bat after seeing these images. The camera was easy to use and boy the 16mm lens (24 in 35mm terms) was the best lens I had shot with in a very long time. But I still had some experimenting to do. I had another assignment later in the week and brought the 16-55 along to see how it would do in tight and weird lighting conditions. It turned out that the light was not real bad and was actually kind of nice. The lens performed flawlessly as did the camera.

Bobbie Gibb
Bobbi Gibb looks over the final clay bust of the female runner statue she has sculpted for The 26.2 Foundation at her studio in Rockport Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. [Wicked Local Photo / Kirk R. Williamson]
Bobbie Gibb
Bobbi Gibb talks about the female runner statue she has sculpted for The 26.2 Foundation at her studio in Rockport Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. [Wicked Local Photo / Kirk R. Williamson]
One of the things I like about mirrorless cameras is the ability to see in the EVF and in Live View what your exposure will look like. Fuji has T mode which is kind of like TV mode on a Canon except that when used in conjunction with the manual aperture the camera is in your total control. It’s fully manual at this point if you are controlling the ISO. All you have to do is turn the wheel by your thumb and you get to see what your image will look like. I love this feature!

Even though the 16-55 is rather large, used in conjunction with the battery grip on the X-T3 it is an exceptional rig. I loved it. Well at this point I’m starting to think that I need this Fuji system bad. It’s small, light and easy on the pocket book.

So what was holding me back. Well to be honest nothing beats my Canon gear for shooting sports. So I had to try the 50-140 to shoot some hockey because I know what my Canon 7D MK2 and the 70-200 f2.8 L ll can do and it’s exceptional. So I brought it to a hockey game not knowing anything about how to set it up and just started shooting. The results were not impressive. But I was not set up properly.

Shooting sports w the Fuji X-T3
Hockey with the Fuji X-T3 and the 50-140. ISO 6400 1/1000s @ f2.8

The results were ok but not what my Canon can produce.Since then I have seen a whole new light when using the X-T3 to shoot sports. There will be a whole new blog post on shooting sports with the X-T3. I’m excited by what I have discovered and I know you will be too. I wanted to try the 90mm f 2 out and I did for a bit but where I was shooting from was not ideal and I was not setup like I should have been. Now on to the 23 f 1.4 (new info left out of the original post).

I was really excited to try out my all time favorite focal length the 35 mm. So the Fuji 23 f 1.4 was a treat to shoot. My father used to say to me get used to that 50 mm first before we get you into a 35. When I finally did get a 35mm for my 16th birthday it rarely came off my camera. When I started my career the Leica 35mm Summicron was my lens of choice for just about everything. Excited was an understatement. I had the perfect opportunity to test it out, my mother-in-laws 90th birthday party which was held in a rather dark restaurant. Of course I barely knew how to run the camera which meant I had no idea how to use face detection. These next images were taken with the 23 wide open at f1.4. I used the camera the same as before setting the ISO myself and shooting in manual.

90th birthday party
90th birthday party – ISO 1600 1/80 @1.4

This lens is one of Fuji’s first fast primes so it is noisy and a little slow focusing but man is it sharp! Beautiful colors – just wonderful. I never really noticed any of that as I roamed around looking for moments.

Blowing out the candles
Blowing out the candles. My wife moved a little fast so I got some motion in this one. ISO 1600 1/100s @1.4

I felt so at home with this lens. The fast aperture of 1.4 gave me the freedom of shooting at a relatively low ISO and a pretty fast shutter speed. No flash in this type of situation is a great bonus. This was a fun shoot with a well balanced camera with no battery grip. This lens needs to be updated just like the 35 1.4 and the 56 1.2 when that happens I will likely be purchasing it. This last image I was trying to see what the close focus abilities of the lens would be so I practiced on my nieces son.

Baby photos
Baby photos ISO 1600 1/100s @1.4

For an older lens this lens was crazy nice. The color and bokeh were wonderful and it just felt comfortable. It will be in quiver of lenses at some point.

Lets move on to the 90 (137 in 35mm terms). This is a beautiful lens and is on my list for purchase. I did not get to use it that much but boy is it something. It focuses really fast and is a WR lens. The only thing I shot with it was at Duxbury beach and I loved the compression it gave me with an 5.6 aperture setting. I tried some hockey with it as well but I was to far away from the action to make it worthwhile.

Snow fencing at sunrise
Snow fencing at Duxbury beach at sunrise. 1/320s @ 5.6 ISO 200

A lovely lens that I did not get to play with that much. But I know what I need it for and it’s a must purchase.

The last lens I tried out was the 100-400. It’s big, (read; long extended) no doubt about it! But it’s also a huge range in 35mm terms a 152-609 f 4.5 at the low end and 5.6 at the high end. Wow what a range and it has OIS and is WR. You can’t beat that. I’ll be shooting baseball and soccer with this puppy. It is destined to be a favorite in my stable of lenses. The compression is unbelievable and you can handhold this thing which I did because even though the size is quite large (only 77mm, what?) it’s not really that heavy. Sadly I was only able to get a couple of shots with it. One I made while I was chasing a fox that ran by my car as I was putting gear away. He got away – darn it.

Duxbury bridge sunrise
A truck crosses the Duxbury bridge at sunrise, handheld. 1/800s f5 ISO 800 392mm
Thacher Island sunrise
The sun comes up behind some clouds at Thacher Island in Rockport. Tripod, 1/3s @ 5.6 ISO 320,  521mm (35 terms)

It’s been quite a journey over the last month or so and it has resulted in my purchase of a Fuji X-T3 with battery grip, kit lens (18-55) and a like new used 16mm f 1.4.

Now I need to sell all my Canon gear and the little Sony kit I have accumulated. That being said this is what is available for Canon gear if anyone is so inclined.

Canon 5D MK3 and the battery grip, Canon 16-35 f2.8, Canon 24-70 f4, Canon 300 f2.8 and Canon 1.4 ext. The Canon 7D MK2, Canon 70-200 f2.8 L ll, and the Canon 100 f2 will become available later when I have purchased the Fuji gear to replace it.

Stay tuned for the journey to continue. Monthly reports and video’s with Mark Gardner and myself.

 

 

 

 

Finding the Photo Nuggets

Traveling to a new location can be exciting and overwhelming at the same time. Recently I had a client in from New Jersey and she was very excited for her photographic adventure. Cape Ann is not new to her but she was still a bit overwhelmed by the beauty this location offers. This was a three day excursion but she had some things in mind that she wanted to capture.

This was a key to making her tour work as well as it did. I wanted to start off with something fun and easy so sunrise was a great choice and Good Harbor Beach came through like it usually does with a beautiful sunrise. A photographic nugget if there ever was one.

sunrise_good_harbor_beach
Sunrise Good Harbor Beach

The rest of the morning on our first day came easily as we moved over to Rockport and ran into Gussy the lobsterman. A great character who explained his bait and how the lobstering would go for the day. My client did a great job of photographing him and telling a little story (another post on story telling while traveling will feature her photos). Gussy was an incredible nugget!

lobsterman_gussy
Gussy heads out to his lobster boat.

I felt it was important to look for different things so we started trying out different compositions of interesting subjects. Shooting through this window while shading the camera made for an interesting image.

refections_shadows
Long early morning shadows play on a floor shot through a window.

Looking at things differently can be fun! You just need to think differently when looking for interesting subjects. Another nugget!

lobster_shack
This lobster shack has an interesting window.

I love this lobster shack as it has a great sign in it along with buoy’s on the outside and traps next to it. The entrance is even more interesting but we have shot it before. A nugget for sure!

One of the things my client was hoping for was some fog. On the second day we found some and I made this photo while I was waiting for her.

foggy_fishing
A fisherman watches the fog clearing off Atlantic Rd. in Gloucester.

An unexpected nugget.

The next day we headed over to Rocky Neck to see what we could find and came across this old rusty bike against a green background. Wow, what a find!

Rusty_bike
Old rusty bike up against an outside wall at Sailor Stan’s on Rocky Neck.

Photographic nuggets seem to jump out at you when you slow down and walk about! We shot every angle of this bike – close, far way, you name it every angle.

Day three was rainy with thunder storms here and there.

We headed over to the Essex Shipbuilding Museum and looking for more nuggets! The rain had stopped and the sun was peaking through here and there so the contrast with everything wet was awesome! Nuggets everywhere!

Oars_shack
Oars lean up against a shack at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum in Essex, MA.

These dories all lined up created an interesting composition with the Burnham shipyard in the background!

Rowing_dories
Rowing dories wait to be used at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum.

On the last day in the afternoon we dodged some rain drops again and looked for some great compositions at Granite Pier in Rockport. I knew that traps, buoy’s and other assorted fishing gear is in abundance there so we headed over for more nuggets.

Lobster_buoy's_and_skiff
Lobster buoy’s and a skiff wait to be used at Granite Pier in Rockport.

The use of a ultra wide 15mm was the key to making this shot work. Very cool!

Then we ended our three day adventure with an appropriate sunset at Cambridge Beach in Annisquam. It was a little disappointing but certainly not bad and still a nugget.

Cambridge_Beach_sunset
Sun sets as a fishing boat slides into Ipswich Bay.

Finding the photographic nuggets is what makes any photographic trip worthwhile. Make time to explore and they will show themselves to you. Don’t rush about trying to fit everything in. Concentrate on a few areas and really work them in the best light possible. Nuggets don’t appear at 12 noon!

 

Canon G15 for Travel

So you think you can’t make great travel photos with a point and shoot! You are dead wrong. I have an older Canon P&S the G15. I love it. Yes the sensor is small and it’s only 12 mp but it sure does a great job. Here is the story behind this photo. I was having my car worked on in Ipswich so I decided to go for a little hike down to the Ipswich River to see if there was any water in it. Along the way I made some shots with the G15 and a circular polarizer that I have for it. Instead of using the Canon filter adapter for the G15 I use the Mag Filter adapter which allows me to easily attach the polarizer. When I got to the river and discovered the gorgeous morning light cast the waterfall area in complete shadow, I was a little disappointed. But being a photographer, I know I must be able to solve problems. The EBSCO building was in beautiful sunlight and was throwing a great reflection on the river with some nice warm light. I wanted to capture that but I also wanted the foreground and the small waterfall. A nice blue sky would help but it was kind of a weak blue.

ebsco-1

The difference between the foreground and the background was at least four stops. So I had to compromise. I overexposed the background by about a half a stop without blowing out the highlights. This would make the file workable in Lightroom. The next problem was the waterfall. I wanted it to have a more silky look to it than the exposure was calling for. At 1/25th of a sec it looks kind of weird. I really wanted something around 5 sec. but I didn’t have an ND filter with me. Lucky that the camera has one built in! So I was able to slow the water down to 1/4 sec which is much better. Then I needed to make the sky nice and dark blue so I put the polarizer on which also takes a stop worth of light away. So the exposure is now down to 1/4 sec @ f 8 @ ISO 80. This is workable – well kind of. The problem now is that it’s a slow shutter speed that I can’t hand hold even resting it on something. I brought my little Gorilla Pod with me to steady it up just a bit by wrapping it around the top of the safety fence on the bridge. Oops I forgot my cable release, now what do I do. I searched for a bit in the function set menu and found the timer function and set it to 10 sec. This was to account for the vibrations of me pushing the shutter button. With all the problems solved I was able to get a nice image I can work with since it was made in raw format in adobe rgb. When I pulled it into Lightroom I had a nice easy file to work with. I used the gradient tool to lighten the foreground and warm it up a little and that was about it. Another successful photo with the Canon G15!