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 the 15 February 2018 Fujifilm launched the new X-H1 compact system camera.  As an X Photographer I was asked to be part of the test team for the new camera and Fujifilm sent a film crew to Bahrain to film an interview with myself and fellow X Photographers John Rourke and Andrew Hall. Over the past few weeks Fujifilm have been posting a series of videos entitled 'Proud of... celebrating their X Photographers and the video featuring me has been published today (4 March 2018).   Here is that interview - My Fujifilm X Series journey began with the X100 in November 2012, with the X-Pro1 and four prime lenses traveling in my camera bag in 2013 alongside my Nikon gear.  In April 2014 I bought the X-T1 and my Nikon gear was sold the following July.   After following my journey online, Fujifilm invited me to become a Fujifilm X Photographer in May 2015 and since then I have been involved in the launches of the X-Pro2, X-T2 and now the X-H1 as well as the...

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 ...

The Kingdom of Bahrain is starting to attract more tourists and one of the attractions on the island is the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life (Shajarat-al-Hayaf) is a 400-year-old 10 metre / 35 ft high tree that is growing out in the desert.  It is the only large tree in the area and there are no water sources nearby and with little to no rain throughout the year the Tree of Life attracts a lot of attention, including tourists with 50,000 people traveling to the site on the south side of the island. The trip down from Manama takes you through the gas and oil fields, with workers campsites all around the site of the Tree of Life.   We decided to travel down at sunset before heading back to Manama to catch our flights back to Europe after the 6 Hours of Bahrain weekend. I captured these images on the Fujifilm X-T2 as the sun went down behind the tree.  Sunsets in the Middle East are pretty quick, lasting several minutes at best.   -...

2016 FIA World Endurance Championship - 6 Hours of Bahrain Fujifilm X-T2 + XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6 - 1/4000 @f4.5 ISO400 The 6 Hours of Bahrain is now over, bringing to a close the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship.  The race saw the no8 Audi of Lucas Di Grassi, Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis take an emotional victory for Audi in the manufacturers last endurance race after 18 years at the top of the sport. The race was also the last for Mark Webber who finished third on the podium alongside teammates Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley in the no1 Porsche while they handed over their 2015 FIA World Endurance Drivers' Championship title to teh teammates in the no2 Porsche Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb. Lucas Di Grassi, Oliver Jarvis, Loic Duval - no8 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 Fujifilm X-Pro2 + XF50-140mm f2.8 - 1/100 @f2.8 ISO1000 While out shooting during the first couple of hours of the 6 Hours of Bahrain I decided to shoot several images...