POV: And Off I Go....

This ought to be the last blog post written in New York City as I'm flying to London, and on to Delhi to begin my two weeks Sufi Saints of Rajasthan & Kashmir Photo Expedition-Workshop. During this photo expedition, I shall keep my readers in the loop as much as I can.

I'll spend a few days in London where I have to look after some business, and I'm delighted to learn that The Natural History Museum is featuring the world premiere of Sebastião Salgado: Genesis, and which I'm planning to visit no matter whether it rains or the sun shines. He's one of my favorite photographers, not only for the beauty of his work but also because of his photographic philosophy.

Then it's a direct flight to Delhi where I arrive at 11:00 am on Friday May 3rd, and plan to meet with friends. I have much to do for the first few days prior to the arrival of the group of photographers who joined this workshop, and hope all will pan out as planned.

As is frequently the norm with my photo trips, the group members come from various corners of the world; the USA, the UK, Ireland, Bahrain, Denmark and Canada. 

Nine photographers all told...who, with their photographic and audio gear will work in Srinagar for 4-5 days in this unique Kashmiri city known as the land of Sufis Saints,  then to Ajmer in Rajasthan; the holiest of cities for Sufis, and where the shrine of the Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, equally revered by Hindus and Muslims, will witness the commemoration of the death anniversary of the saint in unparalleled manifestations of Sufi fervor and devotion.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I can't wait to photograph incredible people such as the Sufi punkhawallah above, and start producing audio-visual stories at these locations. My gear has been cleaned, lenses polished, CF and SD cards checked, and hard drives spun and re-spun.

India, here I come.

RØDE i16: 360º Surround Recording

I'm fascinated at how the iPhone is (and continues to be) an essential component in most photographers' arsenal of tools with new accessories and apps.

I was recently tempted by RØDE’s iXY microphone for the iPhone, but now the company has produced  the RØDE i16 which consists of sixteen individual gold-sputtered cardioid condenser capsules, allowing the user a high amount of freedom to record in either surround, stereo, mono, or anywhere in between.

The company claims that the software inside the RØDE i16 will allow the cancellation of background noise through phase manipulation of the other channels, working much in the same way as noise-canceling headphones, and may be more effective at recording dialogue than a traditional shotgun microphone.

The i16 is available with both Apple Lightning (iPhone 5, iPad mini) and 30-pin connections. Both are shipping now, with a MSRP of US$399.

For more technical details, take a look at RØDE i16  home page.

Have a good look at the picture above. This looks like the most unwieldy device I've ever seen. So it sounds like an April 1 Fools joke. We'll see.

POV: Creation Of A Tintype Photograph

Readers of this blog know of my current flirtation with the wet plate look, so I'm glad to have found this short movie describing the rather finicky process of creating a tintype photograph. Bob Shimmin is the photographer describing this process, and he makes it look simple...and it isn't. It's slow and deliberate, part science, part alchemy and art. He has been working in the little used photographic process of wet plate collodion for a number of years.

This video is part of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum special exhibit - Remember Me: Civil War Portraits. You can also watch how Shimmin got involved in tintype photography on this documentary.

I learned from scouring the web that tintypes were introduced in 1856 as an alternative to the daguerreotype and the albumen print, the tintype was widely marketed from the 1860s through the first decades of the twentieth century as the cheapest and most popular photographic medium. It differs from the wet plate because the light sensitive material is coated onto a piece of iron rather than glass...but the process is similar.

I've also found Penumbra Foundation Center, which is a New York City organization dedicated to preserving historical and emulsion based photography, and which offers tintype (and other alternative processes) workshops.

Of course, if that is too cumbersome or complex, there's always the Hipstamatic Tinto 1884 App or the Alt Photo App for the iPhone! My gallery of portraits made using desktop version of the latter app is The Digital Wet Plates.

RODE iXY Microphone For The iPhone

It certainly appears the iPhone is becoming the all-in platform for multimedia photographers with the newly announced RODE iXY microphone by the Australian company. The press release claims that this stereo microphone for the iPhone (and iPad) with  the 30- pin connector allows high quality recording at sampling rates up to 24-bit/96kHz,  and that it's the only microphone on the market to do so.

The iXY is supplied with a foam windshield for outdoor recording as well as a reinforced protective zip case, and is sold for $199 on the RODE Store. The initial launch stock has sold out at the time of writing this post, but the company is expecting further shipments soon.

There are two apps available from Apple's iTunes for the RODE iXY microphone. The free version and the $5.99 pro version. The latter allows audio recording features such as gain, input, boost levels, high/low-pass filter options, equalization effects and much more.

I'm not sure how this device will fare against the stiff competition from the TASCAM PCM iPhone app and much cheaper Tascam iM2 microphone ($30), or against the portable audio recorder TASCAM DR-40 ($135) or the ultra cheap Zoom H1 ($90). Perhaps the fact that users won't have to carry two devices (iPhone and audio recorder) and its high sampling rates will be determining factors.

That said, I view the iXY more as a microphone for DSLR videographers than as a handheld audio recorder.

Note: I have no relationship with TASCAM (nor with RODE for that matter) other than being a consumer.

POV: Is It Time For The Mamiya 645 (Again?)

I've been thinking about my Mamiya 645 film camera and its 80mm f2.8 Sekkor for some time. It's been stored in my closet for some 20 years...virtually untouched. I had bought it at the start of my photography hobby (which it was then), and used it to learn the craft, thinking that I would continue using it...but with the technological advances in the SLRs and later on, the DSLRs...it was forgotten and sat forlornly in the closet ever since.

I believe cameras are tools; nothing more and nothing less. And I just couldn't think of a specific use for this tool. Although some photographers use it very successfully while traveling, travel photography generally doesn't lend itself to medium format cameras, whether digital or film. They're bulky, heavy and impractical in non-studio settings (or so I think).

However, the quality of its images is superlative.

It needs a bit of a professional cleaning, but before I do that, I'll try it out for a while on local mini personal projects. So I looked around and found that B&H stocks Kodak Tri-X 120 and other brands, and The Darkroom, an outfit in California processes film, and can also digitally scan the film on a CD.

We'll see if this impulse survives the coming few weeks, especially as I've embarked on a minimalistic panoply of tools, or is it just a flash in the pan.

PerPower EZBoost

With lower Manhattan losing power, most of its residents had to walk north for at least 20 blocks from to recharge cell phones and laptops at mid-town bank branches, hotel lobbies and cafes, I thought I'd feature the availability of the PerfPower EZBoost.

The PerfPower EZBoost claims that it's "the most powerful portable mobile charger" small enough to fit in one's pocket, but powerful enough to charge a mobile device nearly 4 times from fully drained to completely charged. It's powered by standard alkaline batteries or rechargeable batteries, and can be used anywhere and anytime.

It's very inexpensive, and available from Adorama. I have no idea if it lives up to its claims, but it might be a useful option to have around.

By the way, both B&H (420 9th Ave. at 34th St. ) and Adorama (42 W 18 St) have set up charging stations for cell phones et al in front of their respective stores. These are free of charge.

TASCAM PCM iPhone App

I've just discovered this lovely app by browsing the web, and it's the TASCAM PCM Recorder, which is free and turns your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad into a portable stereo recorder.

It has input and output level faders with an “on-screen” meter to check levels, and includes high and low EQ and a limiter to prevent overload. Pretty neat, isn't it? I tested it very briefly at home, and intend to test when Hurricane Sandy is out of the way...perhaps with the musicians in Washington Square Park.

It records in WAV format, and these audio files can be uploaded to Soundcloud as well. It seems it's only for iPhone (iPad and iTouch as well) for the time being. TASCAM also produces the iM2W, a small microphone designed specially for the PCM, which effectively turns the iPhone into a field recorder. It retails for $59, and might provide better audio quality than the built-in iPhone mic.

This is certainly worthwhile to consider, especially for those who are interested in joining my photo expeditions-workshops and/or my class at the annual Foundry Photojournalism Workshop...especially the latter who often are on budgets.

I shall recommend this alternative to buying an entry-level recorder, provided those interested already have iPhones. I expect the quality won't be much different between the two devices.

Disclaimer: I have no relationship with TASCAM other than being a consumer.

POV: New Stuff

Oaxaca-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
(Click To Enlarge)

Hanoi-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
(Click To Enlarge)

I've mentioned the evolution of style over time in yesterday's post, and I thought I'd add my experience in that one's style evolves with one's exposure to, and the availability of, new imaging software...as well as to improved photographic gear.

I was always a sort of purist (if that's the right word) when post processing my digital images; resisting almost any modification in them except for some sharpening and exposure changes...and seldom, if ever, cropping my photographs (except when street photographing and shooting from the hip).

Having a phobia of spending more than a few minutes on Photoshop, I welcomed Lightroom's preset filters (that I still use) which allowed me with a click of a button to obtain the "look" I wanted for my images. I relied on simple and plain vanilla presets, eschewing the funkier ones that were, in my opinion, too extreme.

With the advent of Instagram and Hipstamtic filters on my iPhone, my limited tolerance for these funky filters turned into an embrace of sorts, which eventually widened my willingness to experiment with other software.

So it was with undisguised eagerness that I started using Alien Skin's Exposure 4 on my return from Vietnam. I had heard of it, but given my allergy of "manipulation", I never thought of trying it out before.

I used it to give a pseudo-Daguerreotype look to some of my photographs from Sapa and Bac Ha, and I was hooked ever since.  I now happily toy with its various options, especially the classic films, like Kodachrome, Polaroid, and Panatomic-X.  A click...a few nudges here and there, and I have the look I want.

The two photographs above; the top made in Oaxaca of a street festival in 2010, and the lower one made in Hanoi last month, were processed in Exposure 4, using the Polaroid 669 film simulation preset...one of my current favorites...enhanced with vignetting. Another milestone in my evolution.

Something else to report is that I recently got two Bip soft shutter buttons manufactured by matchTechnical Services. They're the outfit that manufactures the Thumbs Up for the Leica, which I have on my M9, and -as I previously posted a few times- like very much.

You can see them on my two cameras; one on my M9 (right) and the other on my X Pro-1. It's very smooth on the M9, but as I mostly shoot from the hip with the X Pro-1, I am finding that I have to get used to the different "travel" time of the shutter with the Bip on it.

In retrospect, I ought to have chosen red Bip for the M9.

Disclaimer: I have no relationship with matchTechnical Services or with Alien Skin other than being a consumer.

In Brief: The Fuji X Pro-1 In Vietnam

© Yep, Mine Alright.

There's no question in my mind that I am very fond of my Fuji X Pro-1 and satisfied with its performance, as I've used it quite a lot during my just completed Vietnam Photo Expedition-Workshop, especially in situations which warranted candid photography (aka shooting from the hip, for me) such as during the crowded Sunday market in Bac Ha.

Many photographs on my recently completed audio slideshow Hill Tribes In The Mist and The Indigo People were made with the X Pro-1...and I'm quite happy at the results.

However, not all is rosy. While viewing some of my image files at the market, I noticed that perhaps 50 or so of my images (out of probably 1000) were really blurry. Since these images were consecutive on the "roll", it meant I made an error and it happened accidentally.

I can't recall now how I rectified this, but I think it was by reverting the focus mode lever to Single AF which had somehow slipped to Continuous. Being on the latter setting meant that the camera's focus was continually adjusted according to the scene, and with the constant movement of people in front of the lens, it may have been this that resulted in blurry images...remember, I shoot from the hip (or from the waist).

Not good that. And irritating.

The other issues I have with the X Pro-1 are these: the Exposure Compensation Dial and the lens aperture ring can easily and inadvertently be knocked off my preferred settings without me noticing it until I look at the LCD monitor and view my images. By that time, I've missed my shots.

My Preferred Settings (Aperture & Exp Comp Dial)

I suppose a piece of black tape would keep the focus mode lever and the Exposure Compensation dial where I like it. But I would've hoped that the Fuji engineers had made these less prone to inadvertent movement.

Another peeve: I carried three batteries, and inserting them the right way took some head scratching. Should they go in this way or that? An easy fix would be to use some nail polish to mark the batteries in a way that eliminates the guesswork.

This I can do.

New Fujifilm X-E1

Fujifilm has just announced the new X-E1 mirrorless camera, which is a smaller sibling to the successful X Pro-1. It features the same 16.3 mp CMOS sensor as the X-Pro1, but has a smaller and lighter body.

It features a 2.8-inch LCD, a pop-up flash, ISO of 200-6400 (expandable to 100-25600), and RAW and built-in RAW conversion, but doesn't have the hybrid viewfinder found on the X Pro-1. It only has a EVF. It's much lighter than its larger sibling, and in terms of size, it's 30% smaller.

I haven't used my X Pro-1's video mode (relying on the Canon 5D Mark 2 when I needed to) but the X-E1 can shoot 1920×1080 video at 24fps, and Fuji's Film Simulation option can be enabled during video recording...nice!

I leave it to you to decide if the X-E1 will be as successful as the X Pro-1. My initial reaction is that it might be too small...even for a second body. However, it's supposed to have a retail price of $1000...$700 cheaper than the X Pro-1.

POV: Finally! A Minimalist Gear....

I'll be in Chiang Mai in a few days for the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop which formally starts in a week from today. I wasn't keen to haul my usual gear with me, especially with my stops in London and Bangkok, so I have just what you see in the picture.

Depending on whether I have the time or not, I intend to shoot a couple of personal projects in Chiang Mai so I chose to take a Leica M9 with an Elmarit f2.4 28mm and a Voigtlander f1.4 40mm, a Fujifilm X Pro-1 with a Fujinon 18mm and the Tascam DR-40 to record audio. All of this fit in my small Domke F-3X (with room to spare); a small and tough shoulder bag I've been using almost incessantly for a couple of years. I shouldn't forget to mention my iPhone4S, which will be useful for ah hoc photography.

Heck...the Tascam audio recorder is larger than either of these two cameras!!!

I will post sporadically during the coming two weeks...with most of the posts from Chiang Mai and the Foundry Workshop.

Black Rapid: Lens Bling

I use BlackRapid Camera straps, and just noticed that the company announced the launch of LensBling, a series of rear lens caps that allow users to quickly and easily differentiate between lenses they own. The rear lens caps carry bold graphics and labeling so it's very easy to identify and quickly find the right lens in a camera bag.

Alternatively, one can do what I do...and that is to print labels with the focal length of the lens, and stick these to the lens' front and rear caps (and sometimes the hood as well).

Notwithstanding, the LensBling is much more elegant and only cost $8.50 each. Not bad.

Note: I am not sponsored by BlackRapid, nor associated with it in any fashion. As I said, I just like and use its straps, and I thought that this product may be of interest to my readers in the travel and documentary photography industry.

Fuji X Pro-1: Shooting From The Hip/Vivid vs B&W

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

With this month's credit card statement settled, I can now claim complete ownership of my Fujifilm X Pro-1 and the Fujinon 18mm lens that I bought last month, so feel I've earned the right to update my impressions having used it in the streets of New York as frequently as I could.

Let me start by saying that looks can be deceiving. Operating the Fujifilm X Pro-1's various options can be quite complex, and took longer than I expected, especially as I have the unfortunate habit of not reading manuals, preferring to learn on the fly.

Much has been written (and continues to be written) on the X Pro-1's performance, strong and weak points, quirks (some infuriating and others not so much) and superlative image quality...so I won't repeat them here, apart from saying this:

1. As I do much of my street photography in the streets of NYC by shooting from the hip, I rely on the X Pro-1's auto focus. Its auto focus is not infallible, but even my Canon 5D Mark II and 7D are not, so that's an issue I can easily live with. The main gripe I have with the X Pro-1 is that it occasionally goes to sleep, and it takes a few jabs at its shutter to wake it up. By that time of course, the subject of my attention has walked on by, or the moment I wanted to capture passed.

And to me, that's the main negative of the X Pro-1 insofar as shooting from the hip is concerned.

2. I tried a couple of color film settings, and I'm occasionally disappointed in the rendition of the Velvia (or vivid) setting. The color photograph above was made using the Vivid film simulation setting, and I just don't like it. While the whole scene is more or less fine, the color of the man's jeans (as an example) is unnatural, and seems too over-saturated.

3. The battery life of the X Pro-1 sucks. As I mentioned in previous posts, I manage to get about 300 images on one charge (that includes a bit of chimping). On the other hand, it recharges quite rapidly. So on my shopping list, is another battery. For an all day kind of shooting, 2 batteries (and perhaps 3) are the minimum.

That all said, I am quite satisfied with the performance of the X Pro-1 and I anticipate getting more comfortable with it during the next few weeks, and also expect that Fuji will come up with further firmware updates.

I added a monochrome version (processed via LR) which I much prefer to the color one. I suspect that if I claimed that it came from the new Leica MM, no one would guess otherwise.

Finally, for a website that aggregates all there is to know about the Fuji X Pro-1, drop by Thomas Menk's Scoop.it | Fuji X Pro 1 blog.

NYC's United We Dance Parade With The X Pro-1

All Photos ©2012 Tewfic El-Sawy (Click To Enlarge)

Serendipity was the reason I stumbled on New York City's 6th Annual Dance Parade yesterday.

Barricades and police presence around St. Marks Place can portend a lot of things these days, but when I was handed an announcement for United We Dance, I suspected I'd have a good time. This was corroborated by a woman standing besides me who predicted I'd also get fantastic photographs.

I only carried my Fuji X Pro-1 fitted with the Fujinon 18mm f2.0, and since the barricades had been erected along the route of the parade, I wasn't sure it'd work with such a short range lens. I was on the verge on hurrying back home and get my Canon 5D MarkII and the 70-200 f2.8 that serve me well in such events....but as the police seemed to not be in the mood to restrict photographers, press affiliated or not, I chose to stay and ignore the barricades.

 It worked.

Naturally, I had to compete with other photographers who had the "appropriate" gear,...DSRLS mostly with long zoom lenses, but I had reasonable access to the dancers as they performed. I chose a spot on 8th Street that was in the shade (the other side of the street was very sunny), took a reading off the asphalt, and kept my camera's setting at 1/500 sec and an aperture of f2.0 (for a shallow DOF).

In a way, it was both frustrating and liberating to shoot with the X Pro-1. I was frustrated in not having the 70-200 lens (or even a 24-70mm) with me for some close portraiture of the gorgeous dancers...and frustrated that the X Pro-1 seemed to 'oversleep' sometimes. I probably missed about 4-5 photographs because the X Pro-1 didn't respond as quickly as I wanted. Its AF also seemed to be confused  in some situations.

The liberating aspect of having the X Pro-1 is that it forced me to be close and personal with the dancers.   Its size makes it so much easier to be unobtrusive, although the dancers were eager to be photographed, so stealth was a little difficult.

The JPEG photographs were processed (minimally) in Photoshop.

Naked Eye: Leica M9 vs FujiFilm X Pro-1

JPEG #A STRAIGHT OUT OF CAMERA

 JPEG # B STRAIGHT OUT OF CAMERA

JPEG #A  (AUTO FIX IN PHOTOSHOP)

JPEG #B (AUTO FIX IN PHOTOSHOP)

Another poll for those who like playing the game.

Here are JPEG #A and JPEG #B; one is made with a Leica M9 at 200 iso with a Leica Elmarit 28mm at f2.8, while the other was made with a Fuji X Pro-1 at 200 iso with a Fujinon 18mm (equivalent of 27mm) at f2.0. The photographs were made within a few seconds from each other under the same lighting conditions, and using an automatic shutter speed.

The lower two are the same images after using Auto Fix in Photoshop. No other processing was done to either of them.

So what's your call? Which image was made with the M9, and which with the X Pro-1?




After having handled the M9 for about 15 months and the X Pro-1 for just over a week, I feel that both have a place in my tool box.  It took me a few hours to understand the ins and outs of the X Pro-1, and I haven't had frustrations to speak of once I ironed out its quirks. In contrast, the Leica M9 is a difficult camera with which I had considerable frustrations (and some pleasures) so far.

I am neither a Leica cheerleader nor a X Pro-1 groupie, and as I imply earlier, I consider them both to be useful tools for different jobs. That said, while the M9's build is better (more solid) than the X Pro-1, its many shortcomings (lack of AF, abysmal display, image quality issues at ISOs higher than 640, etc) are difficult to tolerate with the appearance of the X Pro-1 that is also well-built, has reasonable quality glass, has good image quality to 6400 iso, and a lovely display, apart from its many other technical advantages, such as its revolutionary hybrid viewfinder as one of numerous examples.

"Will the FujiFilm X Pro-1 dethrone the Leica M9? "

Sure, the Leica M9 not only has a mystique, but more tangibly, also provides a special 'feel' to the  photographs it produces...but the X Pro-1 image quality is excellent. Does it have the Leica "feel"? No it doesn't. The M9 is a full frame camera, and the X Pro-1 isn't. However, it has an APS-C sized sensor, which produces images that are said to be equal, if not superior, to those of full-frame cameras.

Will the FujiFilm X Pro-1 dethrone the Leica M9? I doubt it...but it's a very serious contender, and fills a niche for photographers who seek to add a digital rangefinder-like camera to their gear, and do not want to spend upwards of $7000 for a body to do it.

And for those who have voted in the previous poll in which I ask for the readers preference between photographs made with a Leica M9, a Fujifilm X Pro-1, a Canon 7D, a Canon 5D Mark II and a Panasonic GF1, the results favored the Leica M9 which got 38.5% of the votes, then the X Pro-1 which got about 33%.

Wotancraft's Camera Bags

Photo Courtesy Wotancraft Atelier

I'm more of a simple canvas Domke F-8 camera bag (and a cheap canvas shoulder bag from a US Army Surplus store) kind of person, but having chanced on Wotancraft Atelier's website, I have to admit that its camera bags are just gorgeous...and yes, quite expensive.

Its bags are constructed from top quality materials, and manufactured by experienced artisans, their bags are strong, reliable and beautiful. It appears that the Wotancraft products are handmade by only 4 artisans in Taiwan, and are rigorously inspected before they're shipped to buyers.

The smoky photographs on its website are just magnificent. Those that accompany the Urban Classic 005 Safari bag (shown above) feature Leicas, and another rangefinder to impart the sense of quality, Old World attention to details and high quality manufacturing. This is a well thought out pictorial layout; perhaps in the smilar vein as the ads for Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren products, but aimed at owners of Leicas and other high-end cameras.

The Scription blog has a full story on Wotancraft, which makes for interesting reading.

As a footnote, I have a Billingham camera bag which is equally well made, and resembles in some way the Safari bag, and is a classic for many photographers for its durability and functionality...but it also requires a long lead to be broken in, and I just didn't have the patience.

Note: I have no direct or indirect relationship with Wotancraft and/or its distributors.

FujiFilm X Pro-1: A Few More Quick Thoughts...

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy- Click To Enlarge

Well, I've shot a couple of hundred images with my newly acquired FujiFilm X Pro-1 so far, and I thought I'd post a few more of my brief impressions about its performance so far.

Firstly, FujiFilm updated the firmware of the X-Pro1 and the three X-mount lenses that accompany the camera. The updates reduce the aperture 'chattering' that was experienced when using the camera. I updated yesterday, and the "chatter" was eliminated.

My pet peeve with the X Pro-1 is this: when I shoot at the 6 frames per second mode, the resulting frames do not appear in sequence on the display. The first frame appears with a small thumbnail of the remaining frames. I consulted the manual and haven't found any mention of this, or how to cancel it so that I can review the frames on the display as in other cameras. From my reading of other reviews, it seems that frames shot in continous mode are numbered differently and won't be directly accessed on playback review. FujiFilm engineers ought to come up with a solution to this crazy irritant.

Note: Magnus H. Amundsen, based in Oslo, was kind enough to tweet me and guide me to page 64 of the X Pro-1. Viewing the frames shot in continuous mode can be seen in sequence by pressing the selector down, then either right or left depending of the order chosen. Problem solved. It's counter-intuitive, and in my opinion an unnecessary step...but it works.

The other possible issue with the camera seems to be the life of a single battery charge. I read that it's sufficient for 350 images, but it certainly hasn't been the case. However, I'll keep an eye on it in the coming weeks. Its auto focus is not infallible, especially when I use the camera to shoot from the hip. It missed on a few occasions but generally speaking, it nailed a lot more than it missed. The click of the shutter is virtually imperceptible.

Something else I didn't like is the placement of the exposure compensation dial. I found that I inadvertently move it with my thumb when I shoot from the hip. I'm thinking of taping it to the -2/3 mark. I am also thinking of ordering the Thumbs Up CSEP-2 for it instead of the Fuji hand grip. I have a Thumbs Up for my M9 and it makes a huge difference.

The Fuji RAW converter (SILKYPIX) that comes with the camera is clunky and sort of primitive. Fujifilm has another so called professional converter which can be downloaded free for a 30 days trial. It's also clunky. I can't wait for Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop to soon come up with an update for the X Pro-1.

I read that some photographers find that having the battery and the SD card at the bottom of the X Pro-1 is a design flaw. However, it's identical to a Leica in that respect. Exactly.

Having now looked at a couple of my good images from the X Pro-1, I believe their quality to be really stellar. I use the Fujinon 18mm f/2.0 XF R lens which I'm very comfortable with. It's the equivalent to a 27mm and fits my style of shooting, especially in the streets of New York City. But I would prefer a lens equivalent to a 24mm f2.0. I explored the various film simulation modes it offers, and was especially impressed by its Velvia-like mode...a vivid high saturation mode. The image accompanying this post was made using that film mode.

So far so good.

Poll: Which Do You Prefer M9, 7D, 5DMK2, XPro1, GF1?

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy (Canon 5D Mark II)

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy (Canon 7D )

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy (Panasonic GF1 -20mm)

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy (Leica M9)

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy (FujiFilm X Pro-1)

It's been raining in NYC for a couple of days, so I thought I'd have some fun with my photo gear and compare interior shots from the Canon 5D Mark II,  the Canon 7D, the Panasonic GF1, the Leica M9 and the FujiFilm X Pro-1. All of these images have not been processed in any way (except for being resized) and are jpegs out of the cameras.

While all of these have been shot at f2.8 and at an iso of 200 (the exception is the GF1), and at roughly the same time, there's obvious difference in many aspects between all of them. Another factor is that I had a 28-70mm f2.8 for the Canons, a 20mm for the GF1, a 28mm prime Leica lens for the M9, and a 18mm (equivalent to 27mm) on the X Pro-1.

This is hardly a scientific or a technical experiment, or an attempt to portray my preference...but just a quick look at what these different (in quality, price, type, etc)  cameras and lenses can produce, using an off-the-cuff methodology. In particular, take a good look at the images produced by the M9 and the X Pro-1.

So have some fun as well, and take the poll!!!

A Walk About With The FujiFilm X Pro-1

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy (Shooting From The Hip/Crop)

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy (Shot Thru The Viewfinder)

Well, I've had the FujiFilm X Pro-1 equipped with a Fuji 18mm f2.0 lens for about 48 hours, and I thought I'd jot my initial impressions down in a brief blog post. First off, I only skimmed the manual very quickly so don't expect any in-depth review. These are merely impressions from using it during a walk about on 14th Street in New York City, then a few moments in Washington Square. Some of the photographs were made shooting from the hip, while others were made by peering through the viewfinder.

Interestingly, I had a conversation with a photographer in Washington Square who asked me if it was a Leica. It certainly looks quite similar, but it's not a Leica in more ways than one.  Superficially-speaking, the Fuji X Pro-1 has much more to offer in terms of digital enhancements than the M9. Apart from its auto-focus, it has a plethora of options that purists may not particularly find useful...its shutter is softer and much more discreet than the M9...it's much lighter but is still a handful...its lenses are also much lighter than those made by Leica or Voigtlander.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy (Shot From The Hip)

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy (Cropped. Shot From The Hip)

I had no difficulty whatsoever in adapting the X Pro-1 to my style of shooting from the hip. It's as unobtrusive as the M9, and the success rate is much higher with it than with the M9 because of its auto focus, which I chose to keep on single shot mode.

It seems to have a number of (possibly irritating) quirks, but I'll have to work with it a few more days before deciding if these are really camera quirks or whether they are caused by my inexperience.

As for the quality of its images. There's no question the quality of images made with an M9 equipped with Leica glass is really stellar, and their "feel" is different...I guess that's the renowned "Leica feel". The images from the X-Pro 1 are excellent, but they're more akin to the images by the Canon 5D Mark II (as an example). The images I've captured so far are very impressive in terms of quality especially from a crop sensor APS-C camera, but they can't be mistaken for images made with an M9.

Once again, this is not a scientific analysis nor an in depth review at all...just an initial impression when using the X Pro-1 and looking at the images I got from using it for a couple of hours. I did not intentionally choose specific scenes, but did what I usually do when I have my M9 around my neck.

What I didn't particularly like is that the X Pro-1 has the tendency of overexposing, so I dialed down by as much as half a stop and sometimes by 3/4 of a stop. And, there's isn't Lightroom or Photoshop RAW support for it yet.

I have found that I am shooting more and more wide angle, so the 18mm f2.0 lens is just perfect. It's perhaps early to say, but so far I like that lens a lot....it's fast and accurate.

As I said, this blog post is only partially peeling away the first layer of the X-Pro 1 "onion".

I've been asked what will I do now with the M9.  Already! I'm not a Leica fan-boy nor a X Pro-1 fan-boy either, so my answer is simple...I wil continue to use it along with the X-Pro 1. I can easily see myself using both in Vietnam and Thailand in the coming few months.

As I'm fond of saying....cameras are nothing but tools for the photographer. Exactly like a claw and ball-peen hammers are tools for carpenters who use them for different jobs...the M9 and the X Pro-1 will be used for different styles of photography. When everything is spot on, the Leica excels. Otherwise, it's not a forgiving tool. In contrast, I think the X Pro-1 will be much more forgiving.

More to come next week.

645 For iPhone And A Boom Mic

I've had the iPhone 4S since late October, and despite my previous reluctance in having such a device, I'm head over heels with it. Well, this might be an exaggeration because some of my friends and peers have really gone "extreme" with its photographic apps, and I'm not.

 That said, I do like to use the various apps such as Instagram, Hipstamatic, Snapseed and the like that I have on mine. The lastest to appear is 646 Pro for iPhone whose claim sounds interesting. It claims that the app has been designed for professional and serious amateur photographers, and is the first and only iPhone camera app to give TIFF image files that have no in-app post-processing applied and no JPEG compression.

Its JPEGs are enhanced by 645 PRO's seven Film Modes, inspired by classic film stock as used by top photographers. It's still being considered for approval by Apple, but from the claims it makes, I'm sure many serious iPhone photographers will lap it up (subject to its meeting these claims and depending on a sensible price, of course).



 

As for multimedia photographers enamored with the iPhone, here's the iPhone Boom Mic, a small microphone that provides iPhone videos "professional" style sound. The microphone attaches to the iPhone's headphone jack. It's very lightweight, has a broad directional and a super-directional setting for more precisely focused recording.

Note: I have no direct or indirect relationship with either of these manufacturers and/or products.