Fuji Landscapes

Salish Dreams
Fuji X-T2, XF 56 f/1.2, 1/210 sec, f/2.2, ISO 200, hand held.

I got the Fuji X-T2 as a 2nd camera for events and travel, but I'm keen to try it out on my favorite subject, landscapes. In the past I have used Fuji x-cameras for landscapes, but there has never been enough resolution. Now with 24mp, I should have plenty.  

The Black and White images I get from Fuji cameras are especially nice, and I'm looking forward to doing a lot of landscapes in this style. The X-T2 also gives me the ability to shoot low to the ground with the tilting LCD. The combination of this with the high quality Fujinon lenses, great Black and White files and the 24mp sensor should produce some fantastic images.

Another plus for the Fuji system is its auto ISO settings, I don't fear bumping my ISO up, its nice to not worry about ISO. While on a tripod, I'll still shoot at ISO 200, but I have no problem shooting Black and White landscapes at ISO 800.

Fuji X-T2, XF 56 f/1.2, 1/680 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200, hand held.

Of course I do love Fuji colors too : )

Ross

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The Fuji X System

 XT-2 XF 56 f/1.2, 1/280, f/1.2 ISO 200, Acros 

Lake Tahoe Storm

5D Mk IV, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II, Lee 10 stop ND filter, f/11, 24mm, 1.6 sec.

A quick trip up to Tahoe this weekend. Trying to decide last minute where we wanted to go, we ended up going to Lake Tahoe. This was my first photographic trip to Tahoe, almost all the images I've seen from there are of a calm beautiful lake with azure waters and boulders strewn about as if thrown in to a swimming pool. With a winter storm on its way in we ended up with just one morning shoot ahead of the storm.

5D Mk IV, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II, Lee 10 stop ND filter, f/10, 47mm, 1.3 sec.

With winds blowing and gusting to 15mp or so it was a Challenge just to keep a tripod upright, never mind getting a sharp image with a long exposure, so I had to hold the tripod down against the rocks and try to keep it still while I took my images.

Ross

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Exposing for the Mid Tones

 5D Mk IV, EF 16-35 f/4 L IS, 1.6 sec, 19mm at f/13
Lee 6 Stop ND filter
Convict Lake, Eastern Sierra

I am always trying to expose for the mid tones, while holding back the histogram from clipping the highlights. This was a pretty bright scene late morning at Convict lake, also very windy. I used the Lee six stop ND filter here to hold back some of the light and allow for the longer exposure on the waves, giving a little motion effect and allowing for some blur on the wave caps.  I used the mid tones on the mountain to expose the image in live view, then pressed AE lock and refocused on the foreground. At f/13, this gave me enough depth of field to make this image work. 

 

 final histogram

I still needed to pull shadows and highlights in lightroom, but by keeping my histogram in check I was able to pull the needed detail in post and get the most dynamic range out of this scene as I could. Finally I cropped it to a 4:3 aspect ratio, that I like for portrait orientation landscapes.

Ross

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Using a ND filter for long exposure

 5D Mk IV, EF24-70 f/2.8 L  II, f11, 53mm, 30 sec

Processed  in Lightroom for monochrome and split toned.

When imaging a scene with lenticular clouds like this one, I like to use a long exposure to exaggerate their circular rotation. Here I used a Lee 6 stop ND filter to extend the exposure time to 30 sec. Instead of the wispy clouds, I got more of the circular motion of the whole storm system.

This was predawn light, so my original exposure would have been a couple of seconds at f/11, not long enough to get the full range of motion. The below image was a similar exposure taken after the sun came up and the exposure time difference with the same setup was 27.5 seconds, for a 2.5 sec exposure.

5D Mk IV, EF24-70 f/2.8 L  II, f11, 70mm, 2.5 sec

Of course its all a matter of personal taste, I happen to like both, I also have a shot at normal exposure speeds without an ND filter and like those as well. This is just one example of the use of an ND filter and why they should be in every landscape photographers bag.

Ross

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Nikon D810 and AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

Nikon D810 and  AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

170mm, f/5, 1/100 sec, ISO 64

Fall Sierra Nevada Trip

5D Mk IV, EF16-35 f/4 L IS, f/16, 24mm, 1 sec, 6 stop ND filter, ISO 100.

Windy day at Convict Lake 

5D Mk IV, EF16-35 f/4 L IS, 1/40 sec, f/16, 16mm, ISO 100.

Aspen near BishopCreek

Fleet Week San Francisco

Number 5 and 6 - 5D Mk IV, 300 f/2.8 L IS, 1/800, f/5

F-22 Raptor - 5D Mk IV, 300 f/2.8 L IS, 1/800, f/5

Patriots - 5D Mk IV, 300 f/2.8 L IS, 1/800, f/5

Fleet Week in San Francisco, when a million people descend on the water front to see the Navy bring its ships in, in general a big party, the culmination being the Blue Angles. It really is a pretty good air show, with multiple acrobatic teams and flybys, a PR show for the military and other sponsers like United Airlines, they did a low and slow 747-400 flyby over the Bay.

Its been a while since I shot an air show and with a new camera, I was pretty clumsy, when setting up a new custom setting I forgot to set RAW and shot the first third of the show in jpg, I thought wow, that was a big mistake. However the the 5D Mk IV jpg's are quit nice, the F-22 Raptor and Patriot shot above where shot jpg only and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the new camera produces jpg's out of camera. 

                           

Angles Race - 5D Mk IV, 300 f/2.8 L IS, 1/1000, f/5.6

 As usual the Blue Angles put on an incredible show, the sound of their jet engines right over your head is unforgettable. This was my first time shooting the Blue Angles and in the crowd I had to make sure I didn't knock someone out with my big lens as the jets went screaming by and I pivoted to track them.

More Fleet Week images here

More aviation here

Ross

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New Gitzo Systematic Tripods

New Systematic tripods from Gitzo.

New design for my favorite light weight tripod, the Mountaineer series 1, 3 section, this is the one I use for backpacking, It is tall enough, light weight and sturdy, I use a medium ball head by Acratech, although the new heads by Gitzo are now Arca Swiss compatible and may be a good solution at last.

The GT1542 offers a good light weight yet sturdy solution for those times you need a little less weight, this system will work for a DSLR or ILC with up to a 70-200 f/2.8 lens. I use it without the center column, by utilizing the ground kit.

I use the Series 3 here for day use and studio with a Kirk BH-1 ball head. The new 3 series now offer the 3/8-16 accessory link system, great for adding a lighting system, video monitor or other accessory. This tripod will hold any lens/camera combination you want.

Mountaineer spec sheet here 

Series 3 here

Buy it here at B and H GT1542

Buy it here at B and H GT3533S

Gitzo site here

Ross

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Canon 5D Mk IV field trip

Canon 5D Mk IV, EF 70-200 f/4 L IS, f/7.1, 135mm, 1/5 sec 

So far so good with the 5D Mk IV, finally got to take it out for a shoot, even though the conditions weren't ideal, I made the trip down to Mt Rainier. Though the Mountain wasn't in full view I was treated to some nice views of Little Tahoma, clouds swirled around its peak and I tried out the built in intervoltometer, its nice to have that feature built in now, instead of having to dig in to my bag for my remote. The 30 mp is ideal for the extra room to crop and the dynamic range is really exceptional. It renders black and white very nicely, less artifacts in the sky when you push the blue channel. Clouds are rendered especially well with the new sensor, a great subject to test a camera on.

Canon 5D Mk IV, EF 70-200 f/4 L IS, f/11, 121mm, 1/80 sec

The shot from Kerry park is one of my favorite places to shoot a cityscape and an excellent place to test a camera, I know it so well I can easily judge a cameras IQ when shooting here. Colors are the same Canon colors I've come to love. The detail in these images is quit amazing.

Lightroom 6.7 was released last week which supports the 5D Mk IV, quick work by Adobe. File sizes are quite large and it does take a bit more time to download from my CF card. However that's not a big issue compared to the whole process.

For both of these images I used Live View with the touch screen controle. Live view is something Canon is very good with and implementing the touch screen feature makes it almost seamless. Metering is as usual, excellent, especially with live view.

Shadow noise is what every one wants to know about, so far I'm very pleased, no more color noise or banding in shadows, noise that does appear after pushing shadows is very fine grained and un-obtrusive. Canon  has done a great job on this new sensor and I'm very pleased with the results so far. Further review of the 5D Mk IV will be upcoming. Stay tuned.

Ross

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Sony A99 II

SLR Lounge hands on here

Sony keeps pushing the technological boundaries in the camera world and the A99 II is next. Will they be able to maintain two lines of full frame cameras? only if they both sell well, that would be my only fear with this system. The camera looks very nice, well specked and will make Sony fans very happy. They are leading the technology race, which is great for all of us, it pushes the other camera makers to make improvements. I don't know what we'd do without the likes of Sony and Fuji, my money is on Fuji though, I prefer their lens line up and ergonomics, something Sony is still lacking.

Key Specs:

• 42.4 mp full frame Exmor R CMOS Sensor
• 79 hybrid cross AF points
• 12 fps
• 4D Focus
• 5 axis stabilization 

DPReview here

Ross

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Fuji Medium Format GFX 50S

Hotshoe view finder

With Grip

Today Fuji announce the development of their medium format entry, the GFX 50S a 51.4mp, 43.8mm x 32.8mm. Compared to the 36 x 24 of a full frame 35mm camera.

Along with the camera they are dropping 3 lenses: The GF 63mm F2.8 R WR, the GF32-64mm F4R LM WR and the GF 120mm F4 Macro. And later in 2017 the GF23mm F4 R LM WR, the GF110mm F2  and the GF45mm F2.8 R WR.

 GF32-64 f/4R LM WR

Fuji has been in medium format for decades, but this will be their first digital body, they built film bodies and design and build digital lenses for Hasselblad, this is what they are good at and this is what a lot of high end photographers have been waiting for, its rumored to come in well under $10000, thats a lot, but, its a lot less than Phase One and Hasselblad sell for and less the the Pentax 645Z.

Fuji says its an all new sensor, but I think that means its a modified Sony sensor as in the Pentax 645z and the Hasselblad X1D, we'll see soon enough, but it will still be six months until this camera reaches anyone.  And no it's not XTrans, its a standard Bayer sensor.

All of a sudden medium format looks competitive and very interesting. Stay tuned, I will be following this one closely.

Fuji site here 

Fuji interview with DPReview here

DPReview hands on here

More Fuji news here

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Canon EOS M5 announced

 Canon announce the EOS M5, their next iteration of the M series.

Key Specs:

• 24MP  Sensor
• 2.36M-dot OLED EVF
• 1.62M-dot tilting touchscreen
• Electronic video stabilization combines with in-lens IS to give 5-axis IS
• 7 fps
• Wi-Fi with always-connected Bluetooth
• ISO 100-25600

Big issue for me here is the lack of fast native lenses, if Canon would add those I would get this in a second, it will be a great camera for enthusiasts, I'm sure the images will be great. I can only assume Canon is waiting for the market.

I can't help but be disappointed with this announcement because of the lack of good native lenses, even a third party lens would be helpful here. 

This is where Fuji took the chance and designed a fast Lens lineup and great full featured cameras to go along with them, my money will be invested in an XT-2 and a few of their fast lenses. 



DPReview here

Ross

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Fall color this year

 Find out where and when to photograph fall color in your part of the country at Smokymountain.com
They have put together a very interesting interactive map for the whole of the US.

Ross

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Recent Black and White Conversions

The Old Man of Storr
converted with Capture One Pro

Horse Tail Falls, Yosemite National Park

converted with Lightroom

 The Alabama Hills, Eastern Sierra

converted with Lightroom

I am currently trying to asses Capture One Pro to determine if it can replace Lightroom 6, pretty soon Lightroom will be a cloud based subscription model only and I don't want to go that route. I don't want another monthly bill and then end up with nothing to show for it if I stop. Thats where the difference is with Lightroom CC. So far I am liking what I see with Capture one Pro. It may even work better in some ways, I need a little more time with it to see if it would really work with my post flow.

Ross

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