CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Race day at a FIA World Endurance Championship event is always lots of work and pressure but also extremely enjoyable, especially when we visit a new country for the first time.   On Saturday 3 September the first running of the 6 Hours of Mexico saw drama and excitement, with the enthusiasm of the Mexican fans really adding to the party atmosphere despite two periods of rain during the race. The day started early with the traditional pitwalk, where the fans have the opportunity to get close to the drivers, get an autograph and a selfie, followed by the gridwalk before the race.   The race itself is a six hour sprint with no let up in the action. It was won by the no1 Porsche 919 of  reigning world champions Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard ahead of Audi and Toyota.  The Mexicans had a home win when the no43 RGR Sport by Morand Ligier-Nissan of Ricardo Gonzalez, Bruno Senna and Filipe Albuquerque took the chequered flag in LMP2.  The a...

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...

The second 90-minute Free Practice session of the FIA World Endurance Championship event in Mexico gave me another opportunity to test the AF functions of the X-T2 and I continue to be impressed by the capabilities of this new camera and the XF100-400mm lens. Most of the circuit in Mexico City is surrounded by high debris fences and photographers use the photo windows cut for the purpose of shooting the action.  However these locations are limiting and I saw another opportunity late in the evening.  The shot of the Gulf Racing Porsche and the Alpine-Nissan LMP2 car below were shot through the links in the fence using the 100-400mm at f5.6 to throw the fence out of focus.  The AF on the X-T2 follow focused on the cars and didn't once attempt to focus on the fence in front of the camera. The rest of the time was spent at the photo holes at the stadium section of the  Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, trying to find some alternative shots.  I fitted t...