CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

  Regular readers of my ramblings will know that the Fujinon XF10-24mm f4 has been a workhorse for my style of photography since I purchased the lens back in May 2014.  In May I wrote a feature on my first six years with this lens using it for landscape, sport and wildlife. Recently Fujifilm announced a Mark 2 version of this lens, with a marked aperture ring and, most importantly for my work, weather resistance.  As an X Photographer I contacted Fujifilm UK and they sent me a test lens to try out in Bahrain where I was working on the final round of the 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship. What's The Difference? Size wise the lens are very similar, as can be seen in the image above where the new lens is on the left and the older version on the right. The newer lens is slightly less 'chunky' but the overall height is unchanged. On the side of the MK2 the two switches that control OIS and Auto/Manual aperture have gone and the aperture ring is now marked with F4 to F2...

  On Thursday evening in the European Le Mans Series paddock at the Autodromo Internacionale do Algarve in Portugal we conducted an interview with Hollywood star Michael Fassbender, who has been racing in the five round series this year with Porsche team Proton Competition.  We wanted to catch up with him at the end of his first season of endurance racing and get his take on racing in a top European championship. As the ELMS press officer I wrote the questions and did the filming, while with my colleague Sophie Liger asked Michael the questions. The interview was filmed on two Fujifilm X-T4s.  The main interview camera was fitted with the XF16-55mm f2.8 lens and this was fixed to a 3 Legged Thing 'Jay' video tripod.  The second X-T4 was used by me handheld and was fitted with the XF90mm f2 lens.  I also used a GoPro Hero 8 Black to give a rear view of the interview (see still image below). All three cameras were set to record in 4K25 with the final video produce...

A couple of weeks ago I recorded a webinar for Clifton Cameras on using the Fujifilm X Series for Sports Photography.  In the video I talk about how I started, the different genres of photography I shoot, how I travel with my camera gear and also how to take sports images with a 'wow' factor in motorsport, canoe slalom, water skiing, eventing, cricket and rugby. The video was published yesterday and here it is. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeff Carter is a Haida Filters Co-Photographer -  CLICK HERE  to see his profile MacLean Photographic runs Photography Workshops in East Lothian and the Borders of Scotland.   CLICK HERE  for more ...

  It's been a busy few weeks and I must apologise for not writing a feature last week. This weekend I was in Switzerland for the Alpine Challenge, which was the final of the 2020 FIA Trophy for Historic Regularity Rallies.  This is the first time I have worked on a regularity rally and it is very different from the other type of rallies I have worked on.   In the FIA European Historic Sporting Rally Championship the cars compete against the clock, trying to be the fastest through a stage, with the fastest over the two or three days of stages being declared the winner.   In regularity the cars have to complete a stage in a set time, to the nearest minute. They mustn't be quicker or slower or they receive penalty points.  The further away they are from the set time, the more penalty points they receive.  The crew with the least number of points at the end of the rally are declared the winners. The events are held on public roads, with the average speed being ...

I was able to borrow a pre production sample of the Fujinon XF50mm f1 telephoto prime lens for the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans for a quick review of Fujifilm's fastest prime lens. I am going to be honest but for the way I work in the pitlane I find the 50mm focal length a bit short, I much prefer the 90mm f2 or 200mm f2, if using a prime, or the 50-140mm f2.8 if I need a bit of flexibility.  With a 50mm you need to get in close and this can cause problems with the pit crews, you don't want to get in their way, or if the subject is at the back of the garage, we've not allowed to cross into the garage due to the Covid-19 protocols - breaking a bubble is the technical term! With that said I wanted to give it go as I was intrigued to see how the 50mm f1 operated, how shallow the depth of field was and how fast the AF was on the X-T4.  I did have a 56mm f1.2 but sold it for the reasons stated above but also because the AF was a bit slow - admittedly this was when I had an X-T2. I f...