Have I already taken my best ever photograph?

My brother recently asked me if I thought whether I might have already taken my best ever photograph - Food for thought!

I have been taking photographs on various camera systems for over 10 years and I am not planning on stopping any time soon. I like to think that I am growing as a photographer and that therefore my best work should lie ahead. That said there are many elements that go into making a good photograph and they don’t all come with experience.

What if I have already clicked a shutter button at the optimal time and place?

Light and Location

Every once in a while, light and location combine to produce the wonderful. It has been my pleasure to be standing there with a camera ready to record some of those moments.

My Favourite Photographs

I may or may not have already taken my best ever photograph. The joy of photography is that I can continue with my ‘mission’ to try and shoot a better shot and hopefully get some good shots on the way.

While I am waiting for my best ever shot to come along I have decided to write a series of articles featuring a small selection of my favourite images from the last ten years. In this case, and in no particular order, starting with an image that I captured on the Isle of Skye in Scotland in 2007

The Old Man of Storr, Isle of Skye Scotland

The Old Man of Storr
Isle of Skye, Scotland

I was visiting the Isle of Skye in May 2007 and got up at around 4:30am to catch dawn. I decided to drive along the A855 looking for locations and found this scene. Loch Leathan is located on the shoulder of the road and I was able to park and walk down to the waters edge.

I like the photograph of the three boats for a number of reasons but mostly the morning light and because the boats are so nicely lined up. The boats were drifting freely in the morning breeze and it was luck that they lined up as they are at the same moment that light broke across them and the distant hills. There were a host of midges down by the waters edge not to mention getting soaked by a shower that passed moments later, but it was worth it to capture the shot of this iconic view

Luminar AI Sky Enhancer

Skylum just released a free update for their excellent Luminar 2018 software that adds a Sky Enhancer Filter. The Filter uses AI to improve the sky in the photo and works pretty well in my experience.

Skylum have released a video demonstrating this filter in use

Lumina 2018 AI Sky Enhancer Examples

The examples below show an example of Luminar 2018 AI Sky Enhancer applied to a Fuji X-T2 Landscape of a Castle in Northumberland at dawn. The AI has done a good job of isolating the sky in the scene and the enhancements are natural. In this case dialled back to 60% worked better for the image.

Landscape Photograph before AI Sky Enhancer

Landscape Photograph after Luminar 2018 AI Sky Enhancer applied at 60% of full

Fuji X-T3 Tips and Tricks

One month with the Fuji X-T3

I’ve taken over 2000 photos in the one month that I’ve spent with the new Fuji X-T3. Here I’ve taken a few minutes to list some tips and tricks that I’ve picked up that might be of interest

Fuji X-T3 RAW Editing

I decided to trail Capture One Pro 11 while I waited for Adobe to update support for Fuji X-T3 RAW. I’d read the reviews and comparisons between various RAW converters and the many reports that Adobe just doesn’t manage X-Trans sensor processing very well and wanted to see for myself.

I can see the ‘wormy’ artefacts in my Fuji files processed in Lightroom if I look carefully enough (Zoom in to 200% or more) this never really bothered me too much (There are workarounds) but having taken the time to learn the interface of Capture One Pro and use it for 30 days I have switched!

I wrote a brief article with some details of my comparison of Adobe Lightroom and Capture One Pro 11 - The bottom line is I prefer the look of the files edited with Capture One Pro

Fuji X-T3
Peak Design Wrist Strap

Fuji X-T3 Wrist Strap

I prefer to utilise a simple wrist strap rather than a neck strap for my X-T3. I found the Peak Design Cuff Camera Wrist Strap to be a perfect choice.

Fitting the strap to the X-T3 is tight (I’d advise not fastening the strap to the triangles supplied by Fuji as this makes the strap attach awkwardly)

I chose to remove the inner sections from the metal lugs and thread the Peak Design strap through (using some fine thread to tug it through is easiest)

There is a handy YouTube video demonstrating the approach which I have linked to below. It does seem that the inner rings might cause wear on the strap if left in place.

Fuji X-T3 and 10 Stop ND

I noticed that the Fuji X-T3 had the ability to effectively see in the dark. I used a 10 Stop ND filter screwed on to the lens and with the X-T3 set in ‘B’ Bulb mode it was possible to view the composition and re-compose and even focus!

I’ve not seen this before and it saves having to remove the ND filter to allow for re-composition.

Fuji X-T3 and aftermarket batteries

The X-T3 will use aftermarket batteries but responds with an annoying alert message warning that some features will not function normally including boost. I’d recommend avoiding aftermarket batteries.

Fuji X-T3 L Bracket

I had the excellent Really Right Stuff BXT2 for my Fuji X-T2. Sadly these do not fit the X-T3 (although it is close so other X-T2 designed brands may be OK)

The RRS BXT2 will need to go to eBay while I wait for X-T3 options.

Fuji X-T3 Performance

Fuji X-T3 with Fuji 56mm f1.2 lens

The X-T3 is an amazing camera and significant upgrade to the X-T2. This is dependent on the type of Photography that you do but for ‘all round’ photography and videography there is a compelling reason to upgrade.

Autofocus has been significantly improved and it is easy to capture shots like this one as the camera easily locks on and focuses. The dog was in full flight (literally!) and the 56mm was at the widest aperture of f1.2

The rear LCD quickly shifts to a dim setting. This is disconcerting at first but once you are used to it it does not impact general usage. It can be avoided by using the camera in Boost performance mode.

Capture One Pro 11 Fujifilm VS Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC Ver 8

Apples Vs Oranges

I know what you’re thinking, how many more articles and videos do we need comparing Capture One Pro with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom?

The debate between which RAW converter does the better job has been running for years and there are many in-depth articles and comparisons available.

Why do another comparison?

I’m putting this article together as much about demonstrating to myself the merits (or not) of either switching entirely to Capture One Pro, incorporating it into my editing workflow or ignoring its existence.

Fuji X-T3 RAW Files

I decided to trial Capture One Pro Fujifilm while waiting for Adobe Lightroom to support the RAW files coming out of the new Fuji X-T3. I was intrigued by the recent partnership between Phase One and Fuji and wanted to see for myself just how good Capture One might be for processing Fuji RAWs

This article is not intended to be a scientific comparison but more of a real world test of RAW processing. I decided to take eight Fuji RAW Files (Fuji X-T2 and Fuji X-T3) and spend 15 minutes editing them in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC (ver 8) and later another 15 minutes (actually less!) editing the same eight RAW files in Capture One Pro Fujifilm

I have included galleries of the processed images at the end of the article for reference. In each case these were output as sRGB JPG’s with a longe edge resolution of 2048 pixels and sharpen for web applied (Defaults for both Lightroom and Capture One)

Fuji X-T3 RAW Processing in Adobe Lightroom - wormy artefacts

Click image for 400% crop

Fuji X-T3 ‘Worms’

I presume that if you are reading this article then you will be familiar with the Fuji ‘Worms’ effect.

Adobe Lightroom struggles to sharpen Fuji X Trans RAW files without introducing some wormy artefacts. Adobe has not addressed this issue and it looks likely that they may never do so. Sadly the issue persists in the latest release (Version 8) of the software

The simplest solution to avoid the worms is to disable sharpening completely in Lightroom and sharpen either when exporting the file e.g. sharpen for web sharing or sharpen in Adobe Photoshop using unsharp mask filter.

Fuji X-T3 RAW
Processed in Capture One Pro Fujifilm

Capture One Pro Fujifilm RAW Processing

I investigated using Capture One Pro a few times in the past but to be honest I never really got past the initial hurdle of the learning curve until now.

I got the Fuji X-T3 on day of release and the delay in support from Lightroom and the arrival of Capture One Pro Fujifilm on the scene was enough for me to invest the effort in learning if only to get to see the X-T3 RAW files appear!

I can recommend the excellent course ‘Capture One Pro 11 Essential Training’ by Derrick Story which is available through Lynda and gives a useful introduction to the application

Professional RAW Processing

Capture One Pro is quite different in use than Adobe Lightroom. It definitely has a learning curve to overcome and it will take you a day or two to get up and running. Overall it feels like a tool aimed at professionals which is not surprising given its origins.

It is easy to re-configure the layout to more closely mirror the feel of Lightroom, but I found that this was not necessary to help with my transition. I quite like the way it is laid out and once you learn the shortcut key (option + Command + v) to switch from thumbnail grid to image edit it works well.

The image below shows 100% crops of an image processed in Capture One Pro on the left and Lightroom Classic CC on the right using in application sharpening (Click on the image for a larger view) the Lightroom image has sharpened OK at this resolution but artefacts are present.

RAW Processing comparison 100% crop
Capture One Pro vs Adobe Lightroom CC

Capture One has more punch than Lightroom and overall is sharper using the application defaults. Sharpening can be increased but quickly introduces the unwanted ‘worm’ effect in Lightroom. The subsequent need to back away from sharpening too much (or at all) in Lightroom means that Capture One can give better results.

100% Crops with Adobe LR on the left and Capture One on the right.
In Application Sharpening has ben set to defaults

The output of the applications is of course subjective. I am sure that I could match the output in Lightroom with further editing but the point of the exercise was to compare how 15 minutes of processing delivered ‘blindly’ across the two applications

One RAW, two very different renders

I edited a Fuji X-T2 RAW file of a misty scene taken in late afternoon light. The processed images are quite different in how they look. I was surprised by the differences but again the rendering is subjective.

I think that the Capture One render more closely matches the original scene and also has more mood. It feels (subjectively) more ‘Fuji with punchy color and impact.

Fuji X-T2 - Capture One Pro

The Capture One Pro has a very different feel with more punchy color

Fuji X-T2 - Adobe Lightroom

The Lightroom edit is warmer and softer overall

Capture One Pro Vs Adobe Lightroom Classic CC - Conclusion

I found it a useful exercise spending some time editing the images in both applications. The renders are very similar in most cases but quite different in others.

Sharpeness

Capture One Pro produces sharper results out of the box. Sharpening does not result in the artefacts that are present in Lightroom and as such can be pushed further as required.

Speed

Lightroom is well known for being slow and Capture One was far quicker at importing and managing files. I understand that a number of these performance improvements have come with the recent version 11 release

Ease of Use

I was surprised how easy it was to achieve good results once I had picked up the basics of the application. I think it might be a case of 2 days to learn and a lifetime to master.

Features

Capture One Pro has features easily on par with Lightroom, in fact it spans the features of both Lightroom and Photoshop. The Layers feature has been well implemented and works extremely well (although I didn’t use it in the processing of the images in this article)

I found common standard editing such as cropping and straightening to be more cumbersome to use in Capture One and while exporting files was less intuitive initially it is full featured.

Switching

There are a few options available when considering switching from Lightroom to Capture One. I plan to incorporate Capture One into my existing workflow and will likely move processing of my Fuji photographs over entirely in the coming weeks.

NOTE: Phase One have made an express version of Capture One available for free which has reduced features but the fundamentals of the RAW processing of the Fuji files are included.

I would recommend anyone who shoots Fuji to at least give this solution a try. It is worth the time to learn the basics of the application to see the results on your photographs. It is likely that the collaboration between Fuji and Phase One will bring further Fuji tailored features and enhancement such as Fuji Film Simulation profiles.

Image Galleries

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC (ver 8) - Image Gallery

Capture One Pro Fujifilm - Image Gallery

Fuji X-T3 - Santorini, Greece - Photography Guide

This is a short article featuring a number of photographs taken with a Fuji X-T3 on the Island of Santorini in Greece. I have highlighted locations and maps for the images with additional information to help you discover these locations.

 

Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 18-135mm lens - Fuji Velvia Film Simulation
Bracketed Exposures merged to HDR in Aurora HDR 2019 and merged into a panorama in Adobe Lightroom CC

Fuji X-T3 RAW edited in Capture One Pro Fujifilm (ver 11.3)

Imerovigli

I stayed in the town of Imerovigli which is between Oia and Fira on the West side of the Island overlooking the Caldera. Santorini was once a fairly round shaped island until a huge volcanic eruption sank a high percentage of it below the sea.

The West side of Santorini is the location where the white walled houses and churches line the tops of 300m high volcanic cliffs connected by miles of narrow winding stairs.

I took around 2000 photographs with the Fuji X-T3 with a combination of JPG and RAW. I used the Fuji Velvia Film Simulation for the JPGs as this suits the bright whites and blues that Santorini is famous for.

At the time of writing Adobe Lightroom does not support Fuji X-T3 RAW files and I have been using a trial of Phase Ones Capture One Pro for RAW editing.

I’ll specify editing process and application used in the captions below each image in this article.

In all cases click on the image for a larger light-box version.

Fuji Velvia Film Simulation

Fuji are well known for their excellent Film Simulations and although I usually shoot pretty much 100% RAW, on this occasion I decided to shoot RAW+JPG Fine or in some cases only in JPG!

The shots below are examples of Fuji Velvia Film Simulation. In most cases these are straight from camera (via Adobe Lightroom for cataloguing)

Stray Cats

Santorini has it’s share of stray cats but the ones I found seemed well fed and healthy

Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 55-200mm lens
Fuji Velvia Film Simulation

100% crop

Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 55-200mm lens
Fuji Velvia Film Simulation - 100% crop

Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 18-135mm lens
Fuji Velvia Film Simulation

Anastasi Church, Imerovigili, Santorini

Do a Google Search for Santorini and you will be treated to a page of classic blue and white images. The many churches on the Island are pristine in their traditional white and blue colouring.

Anastasi Church, Imerovigli
Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 10-24mm lens
Fuji Velvia Film Simulation

This is a photograph of the Anastasi Church in Imerovigli which is very photogenic and typical of Santorini.

It catches the light from both sunrise and sunset and is easily reached from the pathway that runs almost un-interrupted from Oia to Fira (Head up the stairs that are opposite to the trail that leads to Skaros Rock)

It’s a busy spot (especially around sunset) and in the case of this shot I needed to blend a couple of exposures together to clone out tourists.

I think that Anastasi is one of the better located churches for photography and is of itself a reason to consider staying in Imerovigli. Imerovigli is an attractive location with a number of good hotels and fine restaurants and notably is a lot quieter than either Oia or Fira.

 

Anastasi Church from the path above. There are compositions to be made from this wall and potentially from the roof of a room to the left of where this is taken. Take care when accessing the roofs. There are few railings or barriers. The area is popular for Parkour and a google search will show many references to this sport in Santorini and you can see why.

Anastasi Church, Imerovigli
Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 10-24mm lens
Fuji Velvia Film Simulation

There is a handily located bougainvillea adjacent to the Church. I don’t think that it was at its peak at the time of my visit (mid October)

Anastasi Church, Imerovigli
Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 10-24mm lens
Fuji Velvia Film Simulation

Little Church, Imerovigli

Fuji X-T3 with Fuji 10-24mm
Processed in Capture One Pro Fujifilm Version 11.3

There is a small, hidden Church in Imerovigli that can be found down the path towards Skaros Rock. (It is just below the Grace Hotel)

This Church makes for interesting foreground interest and is perfectly well for sunsets throughout the year. It is not easy to avoid including the mass of Skaros Rock in a composition and you have a choice of how to approach the shot.

I’d recommend shooting bracketed and edit for a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image. Utilising HDR you can keep some detail in Skaros rock and the winding steps to it’s summit.

Without HDR the Rock will Silhouette against the setting sun and while this is an option it is hard to avoid the top of Skaros from cutting across Therasia Island in the distance which is not ideal. I used a wide-angle lens (Fuji 10-24mm) to capture this scene.

Oia and Fira

Three Bells of Fira Church, Fira, Greece
Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 18-135mm lens
Fuji Velvia Film Simulation

I used the village of Imerovigli as a base on my trip. It is a 20 minute walk to the village of Fira where there are many shops and restaurants. It is busy with cruise ships off-loading passengers at the port below the cliffs.

I recommend taking a walk there and be sure to stop off at the Three Bells of Fira church. This is a busy and popular spot especially with visitors from China who gather here for their traditional Pre-Wedding Photoshoots in there hundreds.

Three Bells of Fira Church, Fira, Greece
Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 18-135mm lens
Fuji Velvia Film Simulation

 

The Port of Fira

The steps up from the port at Fira are steep and there are a number of donkeys available to hire should you wish (I would not) the donkeys and the weather worn owners are a good potential for Photography.

Donkeys, Fira, Greece
Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 18-135mm lens
Fuji Velvia Film Simulation

Donkeys, Fira, Greece
Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 18-135mm lens
Fuji Velvia Film Simulation

Church Bell, Oia, Greece
Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 18-135mm lens
Fuji Velvia Film Simulation

The Town of Oia

Oia, pronounced Ia, is the most famous of all villages of Santorini. It is known throughout the world for its fantastic sunsets and is certainly the most beautiful and picturesque village of Santorini.

The village is situated on top of an impressive cliff and offers a spectacular views over the volcano of Palia and Nea Kameni and the island of Thirassia. Oia is situated on the north of the island, 11 km away from Fira.

Oia is a veritable mecca for photographers looking to bag a spectacular sunset and you can expect it to be elbow to elbow and tripod to tripod during golden hour. I didn’t visit Oia for sunset for that reason, preferring to locate in the far quieter Village of Imerovigli

Oia is very picturesque and there are photographs around every corner at any time of the day. Pristine White buildings, tourists browsing the local shops or models perched precariously on the roofs of Churches with long billowing dresses.

Windmills of Oia

These windmills will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen photographs of Santorini. They seem to appear in almost half of all photographs of Santorini. These can be photographed from Oia Castle with a standard lens. They are located perfectly for sunset which makes the relatively small area of the castle pretty busy at sunset so be aware.

Oia, Greece
Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 18-135mm lens
Fuji Velvia Film Simulation

 

Photography Guide to Santorini in summary

Santorini is a beautiful location where there are countless opportunities for memorable photography. It is justifiably famous for its sunsets but don’t forget about sunrise (especially as this is a quieter time of the day)

Be prepared for crowds around the classic view points especially at the ends of the day. I suggest planning your trip at the end of the season if possible. The weather in October remains warm and sunny and the crowds are thinning out. Look at staying in Imerovigli village where you will get the picturesque white houses and churches but with less crowding. I stayed in the Aqua Suites and the image below was taken from the balcony of the room!

Don’t be tempted to book a room with a view overlooking a classic scene... you will find that there is almost no place that photographers, models or Chinese Wedding Couples won’t clamber at all times of day and night :)

Balcony View - Aqua Suites, Imerovigli, Greece
Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 10-24mm lens
Fuji Velvia Film Simulation

Camera Drones

I own a camera drone (Parrot Anafi) and I was tempted to take this with me to Santorini. It is in fact it is not permitted to fly drones on the Island. That being said, there where a few drones buzzing around in Imerovigli. You should decide for yourself if you want to fly a drone but I’d ask you to try and avoid invading the privacy or spoiling the tranquility of the sunsets for your fellow visitors.

Santorini Photography Gallery

This is a gallery of the images featured. Please feel free to get in contact if you have any specific questions

Aurora HDR 2019 - Examples

Skylum Software

Aurora HDR 2019 has been three years in development and builds on the previous iterations released by the company in 2017 and 2018. The new Aurora HDR 2019 uses an AI engine to process images into a high fidelity HDR render. The software does a great job of making HDR creation painless and the many pre-sets included help to tailor a style to each image.

This article is intended to demonstrate some real-world implementation of Aurora HDR 2019 and I encourage you to check out this brief review by the folks at FStoppers and also visit Skylums dedicated Aurora HDR 2019 page for more information

Fuji X-T3 HDR Examples

I took a Fuji X-T3 on a recent trip to Imerovigli in Santorini, Greece. I got up early in the morning and took a number of bracketed shots of the sun rising above the white rooftops to test out the capabilities of Aurora HDR 2019

I shot JPGs in Fuji Velvia Film Simulation mode bracketing -3, 0, +3 stops. I decided to shoot a panorama and took three sets of three exposures in total moving the camera to capture the wider view.

I exported each set of images from Adobe Lightroom into Aurora HDR 2019. The Aurora software can be easily installed as a Plug-In to Adobe Lightroom. Aurora HDR 2019 opened the JPG’s quickly and presented a strong initial preview. There are a number of presets available to tailor the ‘look’ of the rendered HDR and significant editing controls to tailor the image. The examples shown below represent a result base on a natural landscape pre-set.

Santorini Sunset HDR

I shot three more JPGs at sunset and again set the X-T3 to bracket -3, 0, +3 stops. The subject of the classic blue and white church against a dramatic orange sky suits HDR and again Aurora HDR 2019 did a great job of rendering a pleasing, well balanced image without fuss.

Santorini Sunset
Fuji X-T3 HDR

Additional HDR Examples

Aurora HDR 2019 did a good job of handling these challenging sunset shots. In both cases I played around with the filters to fine tune the output to create the look that I was after.

Santorini Sunset
Fuji X-T3 HDR created with Aurora HDR 2019

Santorini Sunset
Fuji X-T3 HDR created with Aurora HDR 2019

The Photographers Ephemeris - TPE

Sometimes photography can be luck and sometimes photography can be planning but often both. There are a number of useful applications available for smart phones that can help increase the chances of getting the shot that you had in mind.

It is invaluable when planning for a photo to be able to identify the location of the sun, moon or stars at a given time of the day and location step up The Photographers Ephemeris.

The Photographers Ephemeris

The Photographers Ephemeris is often over looked by photographers. It has an old fashioned look to its logo and user interface and what the heck is an Ephemeris anyway?(pretty technical looking table of astronomical data!) but I recommend that you check it out.

There are a growing number of applications that will help you with astronomical information but I find that TPE does a solid job. Think of TPE as the razor sharp pen knife handed down to you by your grandad rather than the Swiss army knife with USB stick and tools for getting stones out of horses hooves that are the likes of PhotoPills

Santorini

I recently visited Santorini in Greece and used the Photographers Ephemeris to plan the location of the sun for a shot that I planned for dawn. I used the Augmented Reality feature of the application to scrub a timeline of the composition directly from the spot that I planned to take the picture from. You can see from the screen shot of TPE below that the sun will break above the top of the church at around 7:50 on the morning of the 7th October 2018.

The Photographers Ephemeris - TPE
Augmented Reality View showing position of sun just after dawn in Santorini, Greece

The sun does not rise in the East and set in the West - Its position varies significantly with the time of year. The TPE allows you to plan for the position of the astronomical bodies months and even years in advance. It includes a significant amount of data but the AR feature is perfect for a visualisation when you are able to visit the location ahead of the shot.

The Shots

I have included some shots taken on the morning of 7th October 2018 in Santorini, Greece to demonstrate advantages the application. You can see that the prediction made by The Photographers Ephemeris was accurate and was useful in pre-visualising the shot

Imerovigli, Santorini, Greece - 7th October 2018 - 07:35:03

An initial shot of the sun about to break over the church at Imerovigli in Santorini

Imerovigli, Santorini, Greece

Imerovigli, Santorini, Greece - 7th October 2018 - 07:48:34

The sun makes its appearance right on cue. This Panoramic capture of the sun rising over Imerovigli in Santorini is a composition of three HDR images created from Fuji X-T3 JPGs

I used Aurora HDR 2019 to generate the HDR images and Adobe Lightroom to create the Panorama.

Imerovigli, Santorini, Greece

X-T3 - Goodwood Spin and Slide

Goodwood Spin and Slide

I went to Goodwood this weekend to try my hand at the Spin and Slide experience. It was good fun and as my friends also had a go I took advantage and captured some stills and 4K video with the X-T3

Goodwood are pretty relaxed with regard to spectators and photography. They were happy for me to take photos from anywhere other than the tarmac itself..

X-T3 Autofocus - 17 image sequence

The X-T3 didn’t miss a beat with regards to focus. I set the camera to AF-C and Zone focus. Switching between CH and CL modes.

X-T3 Autofocus - 17 image sequence
Power slide

X-T3 Classic Chrome Simulation

I shot the day in JPG using the Fuji Classic Chrome Film Simulation. The lighting was challenging but the the X-T3 did a good job of nailing focus and exposure consistently.

Fuji X-T3 and 18-135mm
Slow shutter speed panning BMW power Slide

Fuji X-T3 and 18-135mm
Fuji Classic Chrome Film Simulation - BMW power Slide

Fuji X-T3 and 18-135mm
Fuji Classic Chrome Film Simulation - BMW power Slide

X-T3 4k 60fps Video

I switched between still images and short video sequences. These were shot hand-held with the 18-135mm in IS mode. I did not pay much attention to shutter-speed and I think the output might have been smoother if I had set shutter speed to 2 x FPS in this case 1/120 second.

Choosing a Tripod

Buy Cheap, buy twice

You may have heard the expression buy cheap, buy twice and this is seldom more true than in the case of camera tripods.

I would recommend looking at quality brands such as Manfrotto. Take your time and research carefully. Go to the store and try out the models taking into account weight and ease of set up. There is always a compromise to consider on size, weight and support. Consider the camera gear that you have and gear that you may purchase in the future and ensure that the tripod you select is rated to support the weight with some contingency.

A good option to consider is a system that has legs and tripod head separately as this gives you options to tailor the solution to your needs. I use a ball head but you might prefer pan and tilt option.

I can recommend Manfrotto, Gitzo and Really Right Stuff as brands that will deliver to the above criteria…

Fuji X-T3 - Pre-Shot Function

It is possible to set the Fuji X-T3 to perform a pre-shoot function. This means that effectively the camera takes a picture before you do!

X-T3 Pre-Shot

As you hold the shutter button half-way the X-T3 will start to take photos and store them in a buffer. Once you press the shutter all the way down to take a picture images before the shutter press are stored to card. This gives you a capture of the scene that you might have missed due to reaction time.

X-T3 Pre-Shot Function Settings

In the Shooting Setting menu, ensure that shutter type is set to Electronic Shutter - ES and enable pre-shot.

X-T3 Pre-Shot Examples

There were some butterflies darting about my garden this afternoon that made good subjects for the X-T3 Pre-Shot feature. Waiting for the butterfly to take-off and pressing the shutter button as soon as possible results in the X-T3 capturing the moment of take-off. This is something that I missed by some margin when pressing the shutter

Fuji X-T3 - Fuji 18-135mm
Pre-Shot Example

Fuji X-T3 - Fuji 18-135mm
Pre-Shot Example

This is a potentially useful feature for capturing that Cartier Bresson decisive moment

Fuji X-T3 - Fuji 56mm f1.2

I’ve been taking some test shots with the new Fuji X-T3 and 56mm f1.2 - Adobe haven’t pulled their finger out as yet with regard to RAW support so for now you will need to put up with JPGs

Fuji X-T3 with Fuji 56mm f1.2
ACROS Film Simulation (Red Filter)

Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 56mm f1.2
ACROS Film Simulation (Red Filter)

The 56mm f1.2 was not the fastest focusing lens in the Fuji Line up but it is noticeably faster on the X-T3. The camera finds focus easily and AF-C tracking works well. I focused on the eye of this wooden duck with AF-C mode and focus set to wide/tracking taking shots as I panned in a circular motion. Each shot came out tack sharp. I’ve shown this below in the form of an animated GIF sequence. Impressive.

Fuji X-T3 Wide/Tracking

Fuji X-T3 and Fuji 56mm f1.2
Animated GIF sequence of images captured with AF-C and Wide/Tracking enabled

Fuji X-T3 - Touch Screen

The X-T3 ‘finally’ comes with a touch screen. I’m not convinced how useful this will be to me but I found it useful to adjust focus when recording video. I’ve linked to a brief video below showing the effect of shifting focus with touch. X-T3 4k 60fps and 56mm f1.2

Fuji X-T3 Owners Manual (PDF)

Fujifilm just released the X-T3 Owners Manual. You can download the English PDF Here