Fujifilm X-T5 and XF 18-120mm F4 LM PZ WR

My first shoot with the Fujifilm X-T5 and XF 18-120mm F4 LM PZ WR lens.

I have been looking forward to getting hold of Fuji's latest X-T camera and I have to say I am quite impressed with the X-T5. The level of detail you can get from it's 40MP sensor as well as the IBIS is fantastic, I just wish it had a better (as in larger) EVF because like many of the other camera manufacturers the EVF isn't designed for people who wear glasses. Also, I have small hands but I kept tripping the front dial with my finger which meant on occasion I changed the aperture without meaning to so I am going to invest in a grip to prevent this from happening in the future.

The XF 18-120mm F4 LM PZ WR lens did take a little getting used to, the fly-by-wire zoom control was a little strange at first but once I got used to it I was fine. However, I did keep knocking the zoom when I put my hand on the lens to stabilise the camera when taking a shot which was a little frustrating. I can see why they call it a video lens as it is the first that can be fully controlled remotely which you wouldn't be able to do with a conventional zoom lens. I think photography wise this lens is more of an "all rounder" for holidays & when you can only take one lens, it's nice and sharp in the centre but no so at the edges which you would expect from a lens with such a large zoom range. I am probably going to keep this lens primarily for its reach and that it is more designed for video, but I will be investing in more prime lenses as they are much lighter & have the aperture control dials on them which this lens does not.

This is just my first impressions of the X-T5, I will be shooting more images with my 23mm F2 & some of my vintage lenses so stay tuned.

Better Late Than Never

Well the title says it all, I’ve not posted since December 2021 so 4 months.

I have been keeping myself busy, I’ve got a day job which takes up a lot of my time, I’ve been shooting vintage lenses on my Fuji X-T4 & newly acquired Sony A7R III, I’ve been exploring mobile phone photography, some casual photography using a premium Point-And-Shoot camera, and reacquainting myself with 35mm film photography.

So instead of me waffling on I have put some of this work into some slideshows below, enjoy.

Vintage Lenses

Mobile Phone

Compact Camera

35mm Film

2020 Update

So 2020 has so far not quite gone to plan, I have gotten into Brighton University to study for my Masters degree but apart from that things have been rather stale.

I switched to the Panasonic G9 only to switch back to the Fujifilm X-T3 a few months later, I am now waiting for the X-T4 to be shipped before I upgrade to that though I will wait a few months so I can get one cheaper on the second hand market.

The two week trip I had been planning to Wales in the last two weeks of May has had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 health emergency, I was planning to make several hikes up Snowdonia as well as the Brecon Beacons. I will hopefully be able to make some kind of trip there either at the end of September this year or sometime in 2021. The whole of spring as well as most likely the summer has been wiped out, I can only hope that I will be able to get out there sometime in the autumn before winter comes.

With regards to my Masters degree I am hopeful that the start won’t be delayed, I am due to begin the course at the end of September this year. After graduating I plan to go onto a PhD hopefully at the same university but you never know there might be somewhere better I’ll just have to wait and see.

Sunrise & The Seashore

Ok so last Saturday (the 13th) I got up before dawn and went up to the South Downs above Woodingdean (on the road Brighton & Hove Albion’s stadium is on) as a friend had told me that it’s a great place to take photos from.

As I was driving along the A27 I could see the wonderful golden colours of the dawn coming as the light bounced off the clouds over Brighton so I was really excited about what I would see when I got to the spot I had picked out.

As you can see from the video below it didn’t quite work out as I had planned, all the wonderful colours were on the wrong side of the hill which mean I had to shoot into the coming sunrise.

To mitigate this, I used a Cokin P Series Gradual ND 8 square filter. Now this was the first time I had ever used a square filter before so I was learning on the fly but I did get a few good results. I found a mobile phone tower right where I was shooting which was great as it gave a sense of scale as well as a subject to photograph with the sunrise light.

After I had finished shooting the sunrise (around 8am) I decided to go to Shoreham-By-Sea Harbour & see what I could get there as I knew the tide had turned & was coming back in but would still be quite low.

There were some interesting shapes in the sea defences as well as the seaweed which was cool.

Anyway, enjoy the video below, you can check out my Youtube channel for more videos.

FIA WEC Silverstone 2018

FIA WEC (World Endurance Championship) Silverstone 2018. This year they moved the event from it’s usual April slot to a much warmer slot. In the past I have turned up to the track to find it snowing or chucking down with rain so it was refreshing to not be freezing my butt off this year.

I took with me an X-H1, 16-55 XF f/2 & 55-200 XF f3.5-4.8 lens’s as well as 5 batteries.

I have in the past taken a Nikon D800, a Canon 5DS & a Nikon D7100 – all very good cameras but not really suited for sports shooting.

I was really interested so see the X-H1’s IBIS (In Body Image Stabilisation) at work in the field, there has been so much hype & comparisons on YouTube so it was good to see for myself.

I have to say the X-H1 doesn’t disappoint, the focus tracking was good (well better than some of my previous cameras) and the fps (frames per second) shoot rate was fantastic. I had it set to 11fps as I didn’t want to fill up all my memory cards on the first day.

Here are a few examples using the 55-200 lens.

I really wanted to check out the video features though to be honest I was only really interested in the 120fps @1080p. I have to say I was very impressed with the image stabilisation, some of the video I shot I used the 16-55 f/2 lens which isn’t a stabilised lens yet you’d be hard pressed to see any real camera shake.

Here is a short video I cobbled together made up of some of the clips I shot over the weekend.

Fuji’s 16-55mm f2.8 R LM WR lens is a monster! The image quality is just amazing, so sharp you could cut yourself.

Here are a few examples.

This was my first real opportunity to use Fuji’s X-H1 in the field and overall, I was pleased with the results though there were a few problems.

• My nose kept moving the focus point on the touch screen so I had to deactivate it

• The Q button is in a different position to the X-T2, quite close to where I place my thumb when I am shooting the camera which lead to me accidentally pressing it several times

• When shooting through the wire fencing quite often I had to pre-focus manually because the camera kept locking onto the fence wire in the foreground rather than the track & cars

• Weight, the X-H1 isn’t a light camera especially when I added the 16-55mm lens

• Battery power, I have to admit I did run through my batteries though to keep them going longer I did take advantage of the X-H1’s fast start-up speed by turning the camera off between shooting

So to sum things up the X-H1 is an excellent camera with some quirks. I would say that if you are a DSLR user wanting to go mirrorless without breaking the bank but still want that DSLR feel then X-H1 is something to consider. Image quality is fantastic & the video functions are far better than any DSLR’s in it’s price range.

Up date time

Hello folks.

So it's been a while since I've updated my blog.

I got that Australian flu that knocked me off my feet for most of January & have been quite busy with my day job which has left me with not that much free time to myself.

I have two trips planned so far this year, the World Endurance Motor racing at Silverstone in August & the GB WRC (World Rally Championship) in October in Wales.

I decided (before I got the flu) that this year I would start posting videos on YouTube. The idea behind this is that it will make me more proactive in getting out there & taking more photos & experimenting more. For too long I have relied on just a few trips a year as the majority of my output which I want to change. This is all part of my strategy to become a full-time photographer, with this in mind below are the first two videos I have posted.

The plan is that everytime I post a video in Youtube I will also put it up here.