CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Nearly six years ago in May 2014 I visited Park Cameras in London and purchased my first zoom lens for the Fujifilm X-Series, a XF10-24mm f4 wide angle.  This lens has been my constant companion when working on various projects over the years and I cannot fault the results that I get with this superb piece of glass.   In 2019 Fujifilm launched the XF8-16mm f2.8 and as an X Photographer I have been asked on numerous occasions why I haven't bought the wider and faster zoom and sold the 10-24mm.  Well, in this feature I will explain my reasons. Arctic Tern Attack, Isle of May, Scotland Fujifilm X-T1 + XF10-24mm f4 - 1/1600s @ f5.6 ISO200 - focal length 10mm BACKGROUND In April 2014 I bought the Fujifilm X-T1 to go alongside my X-Pro1 and X100 that I had been using since 2012.  It was then I decided to move completely to Fujifilm, selling all of my full frame Nikon gear by August of that year.   There were two lenses in the Nikon range t...

One of the headline features of the new Fujinon XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6R LM OIS WR super telephoto lens is the 5 Stop Optical Stabilisation System (OIS) that Fujifilm have fitted to this lens.   I was asked by Fujifilm to demonstrate this capability by shooting a sequence of video clips with the OIS switched off and then switching the system on to do a direct comparison. I decided to shoot the short clips trackside during the World Endurance Championship test session on Sunday 22 November at the Bahrain International Circuit.  Two of the clips of the Aston Martin Vantage were used during the Fujifilm Press Conference for the launch of the lens in Tokyo on Friday 15th January 2016. ( CLICK HERE to see the  Fujifilm press conference video - this link is timestamped to start at the correct point) The videos were shot on a Fujifilm X-T1 with the XF100-400mm lens at 400mm and handheld.  With the OIS off the lens is difficult to keep steady as any little movement ...

On Friday I went out with the XF50-140mm f2.8 lens attached to the X-T1 to carry out some more test shots to report on this blog how this lens is performing for my landscape work. The 50-140mm performed extremely well at Le Mans a couple of weeks ago and this lens with its fast f2.8 aperture and balanced weight on the X-T1 (with the VG-XT1 battery grip fitted) is suited to working at a sporting event.  My other consideration for this lens is for my landscape work.  I was worried that it would be a 'big beast' to lug around but so far I haven't found this to be a problem. On Friday morning I went for a short walk on the clifftop path here in Dunbar with the X-T1 and 50-140mm slung over my shoulder.   My first tip when carrying this lens is to change the anchoring points for the camera strap.  I have used the anchor point on the bottom of the battery grip instead of the top of the camera (see image above).  The reason for this is the camera and...