Using Shallow Depth of Field in Bright Sunshine

One of the few problems I have with the Fujifilm X-Series cameras is the fact that it is difficult to take pictures using the brilliant fast prime lenses at the maximum aperture in bright sunshine.  There are two reasons for this; one - the fastest shutter speed is 1/4000s and the lowest ISO setting to record RAW files is 200.

Using the 'Sunny 16' rules where in bright sunshine the shutter speed equals the ISO setting with the aperture at f16.  The lowest iso setting on the Fuji is 200, so the shutter speed in bright sunlight would be 1/200s at f16. So to use f1.4 on the 35mm Fujinon, a shutter speed of 1/32000 is needed, which isn't feasible.  

So to get round this problem I bought a 52mm Hoya PRO ND filter, a three stop neutral density filter, which fits the Fujinon 35mm f1.4 and 18mm f2.

With the Pro ND filter fitted the 1/32000 @ f1.4  becomes 1/4000 @ f1.4 or 1/2000 @ f2, which is achievable on the X-Pro1 and X-T1.

During the autograph session at the European Le Mans Series at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, I used the Pro ND filter to allow me to use f1.4 without over exposing the image. An aperture of f1.4 gives a wonderful shallow depth of field concentrating the viewers attention on the subject.

Images taken on a Fujifilm X-T1 and Fujinon XF35mm f1.4R fitted with a Hoya ProND8 3 stop neutral density filter

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