Fujifilm X-T2 at Le Mans Classic

On Thursday and Friday last week I had the privilege of being part of the European launch of the brand new Fujifilm X-T2 in Paris and at the Le Mans Classic. Fujifilm invited 200 guests from all over Europe to travel to Paris for the official launch of the camera with a press conference and then a chance to have a 'hands on' session with the X-T2 over a buffet and a few drinks.

The press conference included a Q&A session with fellow X Photographer John Rourke with Fujifilm's Marketing Manager Andreas Georghiades.

It was also great to see a set of images on display in the room which included my shot of Danny Watts sitting in the Strakka Racing Gibson in the Le Mans Pitlane in the pouring rain. A good example of how good the weather proofing is on the camera.

After the formal part of the evening John, myself and several other X Photographers headed by bus to Le Mans so we were on site for the second day of the event where we would be hosting groups of 15 to 20 guests to show them how to get the best out of the new features of the X-T2 at the Le Mans Classic.

Fujifilm had asked me to provide some text and images for a special X-T2 guide to Le Mans Classic, which they then designed and printed to give to each of the guests. I was very pleased to see the result, which had a special introduction from yours truly.

On arrival at the circuit we X Photographers had a quick tour of the areas we would be taking the guests when they arrived at midday from Paris. Our vehicles were World War 2 era Wiley Jeeps, which must be the coolest media shuttles I have ever had the pleasure of travelling in!

Once the guests arrived we set off with our groups. My group was UK journalists from the specialist camera magazines and websites - no pressure then Jeff!

We headed into the paddock and the pre grid area for some close ups of the cars and this was a perfect opportunity for some street style photography.

After a couple of hours we headed back to the Fujifilm hospitality area for a break before we took the transports out to Tertre Rouge for our guests to try out their hand at a bit of action photography. Because we didn't want to ask for trackside access for so many guests, the areas we had chosen were suitable to shoot over the fence line. Fujifilm had also acquired the use of a hospitality area on the outside of Tertre Rouge which gave the guest the opportunity to shoot the cars head on as they came down the track.

After a couple of hours it was time to head back to catch the buses to the train station for the TGV back to Paris. However the fun wasn't yet over as our transport was an open top 1940s army truck of the French Foreign Legion and we had a police motorcycle escort on classic motorbikes out of the track.

All in all the event was absolutely brilliant! It was also very nice to cover an event at Le Mans and not have to be in the media centre. My thanks goes to Andreas Georghiades, Marc Horner, Jeannie Corby, Adrian Clarke, Theo Georghiades, Kunio Aoyama, Toshi Iida, Dale Young and everyone else at Fujifilm for inviting me to be a part of the launch of the X-T2.

All images on this blog were taken on the Fujifilm X-T2 with either the XF50-140mm f2.8, sometimes fitted with the 2x converter, XF16-55mm f2.8, XF10-24mm f4 and a Samyang 8mm f2.8.