CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

This morning saw another sunny start in the Ardennes forest as we prepare for the opening day of track action for the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Round 5 of the 2017 European Le Mans Series. As usual at this time of year there was a low lying mist on the fields and in the trees surrounding the 7km Spa-Francorchamps circuits.  As the sun rose above the tree line the warm sunlight streamed through the tops of the trees creating a stunning display. Standing on the top of the pit building I shot across the valley with the Fujifilm X-T2 and the XF50-150mm f2.8 + 2x converter.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

2016 was certainly a great year to be a Fujifilm X-Photographer.  I was involved in two major camera launches for the Japanese camera manufacturer, including being invited to be part of the press conference in Tokyo for the 5th Anniversary celebrations and the launch of some new products including the X-Pro2 and XF100-400mm which I been involved in testing. The second launch was in July for the Fujifilm X-T2 and while fellow X-Photographer John Rourke was invited to to do a Q&A in the Paris press conference, I was involved in organising the second day of the event at the Le Mans Classic, writing a handy guide for Fujifilm to give out their guests from the media and from the retailers. I have tested the following cameras and lenses in 2016 Fujinon XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6R LM OIS WR Fujifilm X-Pro2 Fujinon 2x teleconverter Fujifilm X-T2 Fujinon XF23mm f2R WR Here is a round up of my reviews - Fujinon XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6R LM OIS WR This is the lens that fina...

no30 ESM Ligier-Nissan (Giedo Van der Garde) - Fujifilm X-T2 + XF100-400mm + 1.4x conv (560mm) - 1/250s @ f8 ISO400 The Fujinon XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6 (150-600mm equivalent) is the longest focal length lens in the Fujifilm X-Series arsenal and is more than adequate for most purposes when shooting sport and wildlife.   When shooting motor sport I am able to get 90% of my images using the standard lens but most of the circuits the FIA World Endurance Championship visits have the latest safety standards, which means the run off areas are quite large and the trackside locations can be a fair distance away.  This is the case at the Bahrain International Circuit, which hosted the season finale last Saturday. Luckily Fujifilm have produced two high quality teleconverters which increase the focal length of the 100-400mm at the expense of making the effective maximum aperture smaller.  The 1.4x converter increases the focal length range from 100-400mm ...

Fujifilm X-T2 + XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6 + 2x Converter - 1/500s @ f11 ISO1600 - Focal length 800mm Last May I did a review of the Fujinon 2x converter that I had been testing for Fujifilm.  My conclusions were that while the converter was a good fit with the XF50-140mm f2.8, the combination of the 2x and the XF100-400mm lens was a bit more of a considered purchase because of the limitations in use.   CLICK HERE to read the review.  Fast forward to day two of the 6 Hours of Mexico and I found myself trackside with the 100-400mm attached to the X-T2.  One of the corners needed some extra reach on the lens and I reached into the camera bag for the 1.4x converter which works very well on the long Fujinon.  However I had left the smaller converter back in my office by mistake so I had to fit the 2x to the 100-400mm to fill the frame with the fast moving race cars. The camera's AF was set to AF-C and the combination worked adequately in trackin...

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 ...