Hello all,
This website was originally intended to be my blog about my photography. So with that, let’s get started with a bit of a review:
I’m a fairly long term photographer, starting in college many years ago with an Olympus OM-1n. In those days I primarily shot Tri-x and have a plethora of negatives that I now need to digitize, but that’s a story for another blog entry.
Dabbling with P & S digital cameras, about 15 years ago received a Nikon D-70 as a gift from a friend in exchange for some design work I had done for him. The D-70 is still in the family, with my daughter now having it, although it doesn’t get used much nowadays. The D-70 was supplanted by a D200 and an 18-200 zoom. Until some 6 years ago I was a dedicated Nikonista when I bought my first Fuji, a X100s. The Nikon lessons were a bit difficult to forget, as I’m sure most here realize the x100s is a far different imaging/use philosophy.
Coming to grips with the new philosophy was a bit of a struggle. Lot’s of mis-focus, wrong mode, and other mostly operator error types of issues were evident in my work.
While in San Diego one day about 5 years ago I found myself at Point Loma State Park south of town. A major storm was brewing and the light was amazing.
The contrast was spectacular, and I was trepidatious about getting the right exposure. So the camera was set to bracketing and I went blazing away. Getting home, I picked out a good sequence, did a quick combination in NIK hdr efex and this is what emerged:
At that juncture, I realized that I could dispense of all the Nikon gear, as I had found my nirvana.
That X100s has followed me around the world a bit since then. The small size and the amazing imagery just made it second nature to have constantly at hand.
The thing that I missed with the X100s was different lens focal lengths. My wife and I did a UK/Ireland tour in 2016 and there were numerous times that wider view angle and/or more reach would have been a real benefit. Yea, I know about the add-on lenses for the X100’s, but honestly they never appealed to me.
We had a family trip scheduled for March of 2018 to Scotland, so I went looking around to see what my options were. I’ve alway liked the X-Pro1 so that was the natural direction of inquiry.
A dealer not too far from me was selling new in box X-Pro1’s for $500. Grabbing one, the next choice was lens. The initial reaction was the XF 18-55 and I found one, again, on the cheap, this time on the ‘bay.
Amusingly enough, the first thing I managed to do was lose the screw in diopter on my first photo walk.
It’s alright though, because I needed a different power anyway. They aren’t the easiest thing in the world to find nowadays, but these folks have them:
Voigtlander Bessa Accessory – Diopter Eyepiece
Since then, I’ve been walking around a bit grabbing shots and spelunking through the menus, which thankfully are fairly similar to the x100s.
A couple of things have become evident in the first couple of months:
- The close focusing capability of the 18-55 is nothing near what I’m used to with the x100s. No surprise there, I guess.
- The 18-55 hasn’t come off of 18mm much 😐 That has been something of a surprise.
Item 2 has me wondering if the zoom was a good idea. Time will tell. The plus is I got it for a good price so If I have to sell it, I’ll prolly still be whole. If the zoom doesn’t work out, I’ll then have to work out what FL to go for.
I’ve already tested a 35mm f1.4 which I liked a lot, but that’s a lot longer than the 18mm I’ve been predominantly shooting at. A 23mm might make sense, except for I already have the x100s which is 23mm, so I’m thinking 18mm. Dunno, time will tell.
That’s all for this segment, I’ve got two more coming, so stay tuned as they say.