CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Last December I upgraded my Samsung Galaxy S3 mobile phone to the new Galaxy S5.  I have been an advocate of mobile phone cameras and have noticed how casual photographers have been shunning traditional compact cameras and other offerings at the low end of the camera market because the quality of the images from phone cameras have improved so much over the past few years. I have done some blogs on this subject (Galaxy S3 HERE and Apple iPhone 4S HERE ) and today I decided to try out the camera on the S5 during a walk on Tyninghame beach this afternoon.  I took along the Fujifilm X100 as a quality comparison. The camera on the S5 produces an image that is 5212 x 2988 pixels (16mp) in 16:9 format or 3984 x 2988 (12mp) in the more traditional 4:3 format.  This compares to the 16mp Fujifilm X-T1, with its much larger APS-C sensor, file size of 4896 x 3264 and the 12mp X100s (also APS-C sensor) 4288 x 2848. The Galaxy S5 has plenty of functions for the user to choose f...

Why do certain cameras get 'pigeon holed' as good for one type of photography? I don't know either! Regular readers of this blog will have noticed a lot of posts using the new Fujifilm X-T1 over the past month and I have to say I am enjoying using this superb X-Series camera alongside the X-Pro1.  So what about the camera that started my Fujifilm journey back in October 2012, the X100 black limited edition?  The small, but perfectly formed, X100 is usually in my coat pocket and is still being used on a daily basis. This is a camera (along with the newer X100S) that has been pigeon holed by some 'experts' as a 'Street Photography' camera. While it does perform extremely well in this environment, the X100 is suited to a lot more photographic situations, in fact I would go as far as saying this is my perfect travel / people / landscape camera.   It does make me wonder who makes these sweeping generalisations.  Are these the same people who say you c...

Contrary to what you see on this blog, the weather in this part of Scotland is not always sunny, but Dunbar is statistically one of the sunniest places in the UK.   However we live near the sea and that means the occasional bout of sea fog.  Now some people put down their cameras on days like this and I think they are missing out on the opportunity to capture something different. Landscapes look so different when shrouded in fog or mist as these two shots taken on the Dunbar coastal path show.  Taking them as dramatic mono images, adding a bit of grain to give that gritty edge to the images in post production, has given me a completely different view than when taking images from the same spots on a sunny day. Cloudy or foggy days are also great for macro and close up images because of the diffused light.  Also on a misty or foggy day the plants are usually covered in water drops, such as this ivy growing on the wall on the coastal path. So next t...

When Fujifilm announced the X-T1 in February I wasn't sure if it was the camera I wanted to complement my existing X-Pro1 and X100 because of it's DSLR layout.  Yes, this is a full on X-Series Compact System Camera, but it is the first with a central EVF (Electronic View Finder) and a DSLR, rather than Rangefinder, design.  Fast forward and on Tuesday 15 April  I purchased the X-T1 and VG-XT1 grip and now here is my first thoughts on owning and using the latest pro level camera from Fujifilm. Ever since getting the X-Pro1 in October 2013 I have been struggling with the reasons to keep the full frame Nikon D800 and four lenses (I sold the D700 and two lenses to pay for the X-Pro1 and four primes).   Don't get me wrong, the D800 is a stunning camera and it's 36mp full frame sensor produces the goods when I can be bothered to pack it into the camera bag.  And that's the rub, the weight of the Nikon and its associated lenses, are not worth the hassle when I...

Last Sunday I wrote about the Fujinon XF 18mm f2R lens which I felt was the underrated gem of the Fuji X-Series system.   Since I got my X-Pro1 and five lenses, including the 18mm f2, I have still used the Fujifilm X100 with its superb fixed Fujinon 23mm f2 lens but have rarely used the WCL-X100 adapter, which turns the 23mm f2 into a 19mm f2, over the past few months.   I decided to go out to Ravensheugh Sands with both the X-Pro1 + 18mm f2 and the X100 fitted with the WCL-X100 to do a direct comparison between the two set ups. XF18mm f2R 23mm f2 with WCL-X100 adapter Obviously there is a slight difference in focal lengths of 1mm but the reality is there is little difference in the field of view.  It is also easy to see that the quality of the WCL-X100 adapter is on a par with the 18mm f2 lens, I certainly don't have any complaints with the quality of the images from either camera / lens. XF18mm f2R 23mm f2 with WCL-X100 adapter The bigges...

I have posted several shots of the Bridge to No Where at Belhaven Bay since we moved to Dunbar at the end of 2013.  This is the view from the top of the bridge looking down Biel Water to the sea at Belhaven Bay. The sky earlier today was a myriad of different grey tones and this panaoramic image was converted to mono in Silver Efex Pro2 to give you an idea of the scene at Belhaven this lunchtime. Image taken on a Fujifilm X100 and 23mm f2 lens - four shot panoramic -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY CLICKING THE GOOGLE ADVERTS It doesn't cost you anything to click on an advert but we get a small fee for every click thru from Google and this helps support this blog - thank you for helping ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRA...

At the top of the hill by the car park above the harbour at Cove is a bronze memorial by Jill Watson depicting the wives and children left behind after the East Coast Fishing Disaster of 1881 looking forlornly looking out to sea for their lost husbands, sons and fathers .  The memorial was unveiled in October 2008   The inscription on the memorial reads:  'Commemorating the widows and children of Cove left by the fishing disaster of 14th October 1881 when 189 fishermen were lost off this coast. Cove lost 11 out of 21 fishermen.' The disaster hit every fishing community on the South East Scottish coast with the Eyemouth fleet losing 129 men and one third of it's fleet (19 out of the 46 boats were lost).  Proportionally Cove was harder hit with over 11 out of the 21 fishermen lost and three of the four boats working out of the small harbour.   More on the history of the Disaster of 1881 can be found HERE For more on this memorial and...