I know it’s hard to believe, and it breaks my heart… But since I bought my XPro2, my XPro1 is simply getting dusty. Time to share the piece of gear that excited me so for near 4 years.
Here is the link to the camera on Ebay. The Auction ends February 5th at Noon EST.
Mention you saw it from Suspect Photography blog in the comments and I’ll send you a nice Day of the Dead Triptych.
Have fun!
Fujifilm XPro2, 35 mm 1.4 lens, Cub Leather Strap, John Varvatos T-Shirt.
I just took delivery of the Fujifilm XPro2 and it will surely be replacing my beloved XPro1 as my primary camera. I’m quite thrilled, and since I’m old school, I like to hang onto photo gear and not get caught up in the great gear race of the latest. I mean, great photographers have been taking great photographs for over a 170 years now, how bourgeois to think that only the latest camera will make you shoot better!
NYC High Line Rain. 18mm f 2.0 processed in Snapseed on iPhone.
On a rainy and cold Christmas Eve morning in NYC I took a stroll on the High Line with one of my favorite lenses, the 18mm f2.0. Before I left the warmth of my apartment, I did what I always recommend, take the manual along with cup of hot joe in one hand, and the camera in the other hand. Run page per page through the manual. There was a host of new features and a slight update on the menu system. I downloaded the Fujifilm Remote App and installed on my phone and tablet. The weather was totally miserable, and the normally very busy Highline empty. In a word, Perfect.
Close up wide open on the Highline.
First thoughts are hallelujah I finally have a camera with a dependable wifi so I can use my iPhone and post the hyper quality image I get from a “real” camera as opposed to the super ease of iPhoneagraphy (which I love but makes me feel cheap and dirty). I was never able to have any success with Sony’s Memory App but Fujifilm delivers a pretty intuitive and easy app for controlling the camera and managing files transmitted to mobile devices. Note that when you transfer a file via wife to a mobile device, it sends a 3 mp file. On your cards are the big files. This blog post is comprised of only images downloaded to my phone, then airdropped to my MacBook for creating the blog post.
Evidently New Yorkers are not ready to have Donald Trump as their next president. Wide open 18mm f2.0 and processed in Snapseed.
Down and Dirty on The Xpro2 from an Xpro1 User
if you are here just for the pix, you might want to scroll past this part.
I don’t want to cover what other camera bloggers have written, this camera has been out for a few months and admittedly, I’m late to the game. I’ll add that yes, the focus joystick is the absolute bomb. We all love to play with shallow depth of field, and this is an effortless way ensure that the focus point is exactly where you want it.
I noticed other things such as the now built in diopter and not the annoying Nikon style rubber eye cup. It’s hard to believe the XPro1 didn’t have a built in diopter now that I think about it. That’s a throwback to old school that I could live with out and a welcome feature on Xpro2.
I’m not sure how this is going to help, but when in OVF if you push the OVF/EVF arm towards the lens, a little magnified EVF window pops up in the lower right hand side of the viewfinder. I hit it by accident and had a devil of time figuring out how to remove the little pop up window (the lever now goes in both direcitons). I look forward to figuring out how to leverage that feature.
If you want your Xpro2 to be all it was born to be (LOTR reference) make sure you go into power setting and switch on “Performance Mode”. Thanks Big B Brandon for that tip. The factory default is a middle setting. Performance mode helps focusing by engaging phase detection. I have learned to live with the fact that the XPro platform is a battery hog and just roll with extra batteries. Seems that the XPro2 is the pig that the XPro1 was. Well what ever we are used to that, if you have a problem keeping batteries charged and on deck, then I suggest you go look at Leica M camera.
The Exposure Compensation Dial has more tension than the XPro1 did, so a casual brush up agains your gut doesn’t result in a +2 exposure mistake you notice later. My first thought was a locking button on the dial would be great, but the tension is just right and a lock is not necessary. Somebody at Fuji was listening.
More Buttons and dials! Yup, pretty much you gain joystick, dials and buttons to customize any which way. The dials push in, turn and simply add tons of customization. I’m fortunate have video game training so my fingers can dance across the camera and do exactly what I want. Well.. almost what I want. I’d love to be able to assign the Fn button to activate the wife transfer instead of going through the menu.
The Grip (which I feel is essential if your hands are larger than Trumps) now has a hole to be able to change the battery (yea we do that a lot) and not have to go through the rigamarole of removing the grip as with the XPro1. The grip also has a machined arca-style QR built into it. #lovethat. Memory card slots (yup, now two of them) are accessed in the side of the camera as opposed to next to the battery. Two slots may entice me to shoot raw when I shoot Jpeg. Pretty cool update and modernization.
In short, if you are a XPro1 user, run, don’t walk to B&H and buy this camera now. Click here for the goodness.
The next four years are going to be great for art, oppression has that effect. Glad I had the 18mm, to get this shot I was pressed agains the opposite wall. Wide Saves Lives.
I’m excited the focus system is now really snappy and accurate. I appreciate that, since I like to shoot wide open and have limited depth of field. I need to nail that focus! And the XPro2 delivers.
I did an unboxing video. It’s funny because Elvira (my dear mother in law) helps out. Check it and please, subscribe to my youtube channel)
Happy Holidays and let’s toast to no matter what camera you have, make some most excellent photographs!
~David
Yesterday I went on a motorcycle ride with my outlaw biker brothers (and fellow photographers) out of NYC and into Long Island. I brought along my trusty Fujifilm Xpro1 looking forward to shooting some portraits during the ride.
I wanted to shoot pretty wide open to get a blur going on the background, but it was mid-day and quite bright so f4.0 was about as open as I could go. I also wanted to show off the bikes, so I would be further back then my normal portrait shooting distance, thus increasing detail in the blur. The background would have to be considered and thought out as importantly as the subjects. As a matter of fact, I can’t emphasize enough a good background! I like to treat my photographs in three layers, a foreground (in this case the front of the bike), the middle layer (the subject) and the background. I place the emphasis in portraiture on the middle and the background; they are certainly the most critical of the composition, and finding a good foreground being a bonus.
18 f 2.0 2500 sec f 4.0
First consideration on the background is keeping the horizon in a third. Never ever cut the horizon in half! In this portrait of Joe Otto on his big 1100 V-Twin Cruiser I made sure I lowered myself to ensure the horizon was placed 1/3 to the top. Notice the pavement line that leads your eyes up to the center of the image, and also the blurry car in the far top left, centered between grip and mirror. These background details are tiny, but are elements that ensure the portrait is pulled off with a compositional perfection.Relationships of shapes in the image should also be identified and included, the shape of the headlight mimics Joe’s helmet, so the included that in the crop.
35 f 1.4 4000 second f 4.0
In this next photograph of the Kingpin I found a background that has strong elements such as the board walk planks and the sign. While composing the image I would use the Bayside Marina sign to frame Kingpin, while being very careful where the light fixture in the upper left would be placed. During the composure I then noticed the second light fixture and made sure it didn’t touch the subject. I was conscious of the horizon cutting the frame, but the framing overided that consideration and I placed the Kingpin and his Honda RC51 Sportbike in the bottom 2/3 of the frame. By placing the subject in harmony with the planks, all the lines in the image push your eye to image right. F4 ever so slightly blurs the signage, but the intent look on the Kingpin holds the viewer’s eyes around the center of the image.
35 f 1.4 shot at 2000 second f 4.0
Jason took off his leather and underneath he sported a plain whte T with a v-neck. I thought of Marlon Brando in the Wild Ones and liked his casual pose over the handlebars. His HD Sportster Roadster is a new acquisition, and he loves it, the gesture in his left hand shows that. I asked Jason pose in this spot, due to the shade the tree to camera left affords. I like the texture from the cucoloris effect as well, not too strong, not too light. The rocks in the background mimic the bad-ass attitude of the Harley Davidson while the line of the path draws you across the image nicely. Horizon neatly placed in the top third with a hint of clouds.
All the images were shot jpeg with the b&w style applied, then imported into Snapseed with my ipad workflow used. Ride on readers, and keep a sharp on the background (and potholes for NYC riders!)
~David
Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge…
Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware.
~Rush, Red Barchetta
A long time ago in a place far away (1990 and Rahway NJ) I walked into a Harley Davidson dealership with my childhood friend (and then roommate) Ed Fry. They had just gotten something very special in, the oddly named new model, Fat Boy motorcycle. It was huge, like a back streets brawler and had an attitude you could taste, smell, see, feel and hear. I’ll be honest, I have always harbored a fear of the motorcycle; it seemed too unsafe, too unprotected, and too easy to crash with my devil may care attitude towards speed. I couldn’t afford the bike back then, so I bought a pair of gloves.
Life and time passed. I took a road that would not include a Fat Boy. A Harley Davidson is not like any other motorcycle. Riding and owning a Harley says something about your attitude that is not easy to quantify at once, because it spans many aspects of personality, means, and commitments. It’s part Rock and Roll, part Rebel and very Bad Ass. You either get it or not, you either can handle this or are secretly intimidated by it.
Over the years I harbored the idea of riding a hog as they were called when I first spied that Fat Boy. One time coming out of late night speak easy in Seattle a ruffian/artist going by the name of Reuter offered me a ride across town to Pioneer Square on his bike. It wasn’t a Harley, but it was big and dark and fast. I rode bitch and hung on as we sped across a deserted 1st avenue. Damn what a way to cross-cities. In 2002 I got to spend 3 months studying Italian in Milan. During that time I secured the loan of a scooter and learned how to ride on the mean streets of Milan. Those Italians are daredevils I tell you. I actually love a scooter in the city, they are very nimble and make short work of hellish traffic. And you can park virtually anywhere once you Velcro your plate. As a wedding gift my in-laws gave Barbara and I a shiny red Vespa. Scooters might not be big motorcycles but in the city, where your top speed rarely exceeds 30 MPH and you close navigate the other cagers (enclosed cars), trucks, and taxi cabs you gain a skill that is akin to Olympic levels. We have ridden that little red jammer everywhere, but it was the long-range trips that begged to roll out on more powerful motorcycle.
This year we had a brutal winter. I longed for a motorcycle, a nice big roaring V-Twin beast of chrome, Iron and rubber that could take me further. Twenty Fourteen would be the time, and NYC would be the place. I hit up the local Triumph-Ducati on 6th and Spring in SoHo. Sitting on an American, the Triumph line of cruisers, I knew a cruiser would be my bike. The café racer style of the Bonneville T100 and the sprightly Thruxton were certainly rating high on the cool factor. While I can wave the American flag along with the best of them, I really have no issue with a British made bike. Triumph has bikes for all; adventure, hipster, brawler, classic, ultra-sporty and lets face it, Great Britain is the ultimate ally of the Allies. But… and you knew it was coming right? No V-Twin. Triumph engines are parallel twins. V is for Vendetta, V for Victory right? I digress… sorry.
A clean 1200 V-Twin
In the fall of 2013 I had a great visit to Harley Davidson NYC with my fellow bad ass photographer (notice as we get deeper in this post the badd-ass-ness just keeps getting louder) Jason Geller. He had the bug for a two-wheeler as well. The trip out to Queens was well worth it; the staff was excellent and they really helped me discover the Sportster 1200 Custom as the bike that was what I wanted deep down. A Fat Boy might be in the future, but I need a little less weight and nimbleness for the city. The XL1200C comes stock with key options that fit my needs really well. I would just have to add saddle bags and the bike would be pretty darn perfect. Over the brutal winter I was reading everything I could about Harleys and checking out Ebay. I found Staten Island’s Lombardi Brothers, a dealership that has been in the same family since 1905! The showroom is tiny and packed with bikes. They listed a 2008 1200 Custom in vivid black. The price was half that a 2014 would be, and it was perfect at 3400 miles. Over a snowy day I took the Staten Island ferry across to check out this bike.
The dealership is one of Harley’s oldest. Family owned since 1905! Same location too!
Lombardi Harley is a 15-minute brisk walk from the Ferry. When I got there, they were a good bunch of guys and they showed me out back, in a little snow, my soon to be new ride. Right off the bat, the Skeleton Skull looked me in the eye and the bonding occurred. I knew it, the bike knew it, the dealer knew it, and the Carthaginians knew it: this was the one.
Mechanical creations of such beauty need a name, and this would be the Raven Wing, named after the fast attack mounted Space Marines of the Dark Angles Chapter. The Raven Wing is fast- the fuel injected 1200 CC V-Twin 5 speed can hit a ¼ mile in 4.3 seconds.
I added a set of cool bags from Viking Leather. The Raven Wing needs to hold stuff for the paintball and photography journeys. The mounting hardware provided by Viking isn’t the best and easy to mount, but the bags are super cool and not overpriced like the Harley saddle bags. Barbara and I had a big fight over the chrome studs. I won.
The Raven Wing at the West Point Spring Combat Classic, I rode up to the Point at 4 am in the fog on the Pallisades Parkway. I couldn’t see a thing and the pot holes were like lunar craters. Notice the Planet Eclipse Ego 11 with SOD sticker… yea SOD paintball for life!
I’ll be the first to admit it and Barbara the next, but riding the bike obsesses me. It’s thrilling, exhilarating, and just plain fun. The throttle is very heavy, and the Raven Wing gives throaty roars when it revs up through second and third gear. The front suspension rises up and you get pulled back into the saddle while hanging on. The Raven Wing is like a wild horse you have tamed, it is heroic to ride but still a little scary.
The Cloisters make an excellent back drop for such a noble steed.
Funny thing about riding a red Vespa and a black Harley-Davidson, the women check you out and smile when on the vespa, but on the hog the dudes check you out and give you thumbs up and nods. Dudes always hating on the Vespa, saying it’s pussy. Nah, the Vespa is confidence and intelligence for an urban explorer. The big Sportster is something entirely else, but not any more masculine, it’s an attitude thing. And hey, the chicks dig the Vespa and the guys dig the Harley… so what’s it going to be those who would say the Vespa is pussy?
Bleecker Street, NYC and home of Magnolia Bakery.
Now if you’re a rider, this part is something you are familiar with, and if you’re not a rider, let me elaborate on riding which is both cathartic and tactile. It takes all extremities to ride, your left hand is on the clutch, left foot on the gearshift, right hand on throttle and front brake and lastly your right foot is on rear brake. All your visual senses are on overdrive looking for road debris, potholes and shitty drivers. Your brain is firing off instructions to your arms and legs and processing data at alarming speeds. You simply are in sense over-drive. Shifting gears is evaluated with your ears and feeling the engine (whine and vibration) while a moment of laxity and it’s the curb for you. It is wonderful to ride, and if you are bothered by the daily grind, when you ride, the grind is gone. It’s magic. It’s called the thrill of riding a motorcycle.
So one last story, this past weekend I was at a red light, and a young African man was crossing by and admired the bike, I gave him a wave and he really took a close look at the bike, smiled big and held his hand over his heart and became revenant. The Raven Wing, a HD Sportster moved this man, his emotion was tangible. What is it that can spur such a response? I don’t know exactly, but I look forward into riding into conclusions.
Self Portrait at my dream castle, the Cloisters.
This post is dedicated to Ed Fry, my mechanic and blood brother. Rest In Peace Brother, a piece of you will always be riding alongside of me down the Highway to Hell.
Two Icons, a V-Twin and the Worlds Fair Jump Towers in Queens.
~David
Looking Up into the Globe at Flushing Meadows Park
Yes, Game of Thrones inspires the title of this post. But worry not, I wont be blogging any spoilers. Actually this post has nothing to do with Game of Thrones at all, well except maybe a little regarding Winterfell, the northern kingdom that swears fealty to the Starks. In as much as Winterfell has long cold winters, they are similar to what we have gotten this year in NYC. This winter took me by a stranglehold, usually I deal with the cold pretty well, but this year I suffered creative frostbite. I was looking for a thaw, and some insight as well as further work on my style book, and I got none. Just the long winter nights.
it snowed and snowed for 22 instances this winter. 22!
Not that I didn’t try, I kept a camera always on the shoulder and walked with my eyes open, receiving, seeking. So as I sat back, edited and looked what the winter gave me, I was able to find a few images that I worked very hard for and I think bore some winter fruit.
James McFarley Post Office, NYC.
Pure Street Shooting for me, I could not resist shooting him.
Puzzle with a healthy dose of Fujifilm 35 1.4 bokeh.
More street people.. this one staying warm with a cool panda ski mask.
The lesson here is one I preach all the time, keep shooting. It can be hard and uninspiring often, but you must push on and find the shot.
In Game of Thrones there is a valerian saying, “Valor Morgulis” and it translates to “All Men Must Die”. It is the tag line for the 4th season; I dedicate these winter images to the modified sentiment, “All Men Must Photograph”.
~David
Seattle Sea Hawk Fans rampage in NYC. Zeiss 12mm 2.8
Attention Suspect Photography Fans- Finding Photographic Style and Composition in NYC 4 Day Intensive Workshop April 17th to April 20th 2014. Early Registration Discount By March 1st.
I’m not a jock. More of an anti-jock actually. So when the Super Bowl in 2014 invades my town I’m not excited. However there is no denying that it will have an impact on my city, and it’s my job as New York artist to document this occasion, especially when 7 blocks of Broadway is closed and turned into a Super Bowl conflagration. The Super Bowl is part sport, part commercial and all American. Broadway was transformed into a huge commercial sponsor fest for few days leading up to the big game. I figured I’d go and stroll down “Super Bowl Blvd” and see if I could find some images.
Helmets in Herald Square. Fujifilm 35 mm f1.4
In case you wanted to see exactly where the sponsorship was street signs were modified. Fujifilm 35mm f1.4
The morning of my plans to do this I posted on my Facebook my intentions and got into some lengthy discourses and what struck me the most, a number of my Facebook friends said they did the stroll and had trouble finding images. A challenge! The glove was down, can one fringe artists walk among massive commercialism and come back with a decent image or two? You be the judge.
Kids could be overwhelmed, I wonder if he will remember these days when he is grown up. Fujifilm 35mm f1.4
It’s New York after all, you have to one true fan of real NY in the mix. Long Live The Ramones!
I chose to bring the Fujifilm Xpro1 with my three favorite lenses, the 12mm Zeiss, the 18mm F 2.0 (which I didn’t end up using) and the 35mm f1.4. I set the camera to B&W mode and shot away.
It’s sports.. you have to have ESPN. Fujifilm 35 mm f1.4
The crowds were daunting. Movement was a crawl. So many fans, so many New Yorkers. But we are used to crowds are we not? Zeiss 12mm f2.8
Later I opened everything up in Photoshop and burned the edges and did some cropping where needed. Pretty minimal, I was using the +/- exp comp due to some back lighting. I believe you getting it right in the camera and conducting minimal post process.
I don’t know much about Football, but I think this position is called “The Tight End”. Shot inside the NYgard store. They had models gogo sports dancing their tights. Fujifilm 35m f1.4
In the back of my head were the comments from the nay sayers saying they couldn’t find and image. Well it was crowded. Really crowded and I thought how the hell couldn’t you find an image in this crowd?
The Hulk and Bane showed up. After I shot them, they demanded a buck for the pose. I didn’t want to piss them off, so I figured it would be best to cough up a buck before Hulk smashed. Zeiss 12mm f2.8
I was looking forward to the Toboggan and how to shoot it. I settled on a slow shutter speed and “hail mary shot” holding still. The image was shot at 1/5th of a second at F16. The 1/5th gave me just enough blur to make it count for more than a snap shot. A tripod would have helped, but this is street shooting, no tripods allowed.
Slow shutter speed to give the subjects movement. Fujifilm 35mm f1.4
Yup, this is on Broadway. So weird, such a production.
The lesson here is to just keep shooting and look for that image. I’m sure in 10 or 20 years looking back to when they brought a Super Bowl to NYC these images will age well. So when its something out of the ordinary, grab your gear and shoot.
the fans, the football… the hashtag. It’s 2014 all right.
~David
Attention Suspect Photography Fans- Finding Photographic Style and Composition in NYC 4 Day Intensive Workshop April 17th to April 20th 2014. Early Registration Discount By March 1st.
The mouse that roared in the photo world of gear is certainly Fujifilm’s X system. Not sitting on the laurels of their acclaimed XE and XPro cameras the short giants have released a sneak peak of their new flagship camera, the XT-1.
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UPDATE January 31st.
The smoke has cleared, the Fujifilm XT-1 was officially announced and you can now pre-order this gem of a camera at B&H.
A few clarifications, we did not get a double card slot. What we did get is an amazing and groundbreaking viewfinder. The viewfinder is larger than the Canon EOS 5D MKIII’s and has unique features never before seen such as a vertical view with info off to the side, not blocking the frame. A focus assist “box” in the viewfinder while still giving you the full view beside it. 3 new weatherproof lenses down the road.
I’m debating on pre-ordering one. I think it’s vastly worth it, but I’m just afraid that when I go to shoot, will I grab my XPRO1 or the XT-1, you can only shoot with one camera at a time.
Ohh heck, who am I kidding, of course I’m going to grab one.
—
Several websites have released info and speculated such as Petapixel, Fuji Rumors, and the great Fujix Forum regarding the new camera. The date that an official announcement from Fujifilm will be is January 28th it seems. Lets look at this dream camera a little further based on what we know now.
First off, head over to Fuji Rumors and look at the post. Andrej was first to break the story. I have included some leaked pics that I can only imagine how they were obtained. Looked like a dude had a about 3o seconds with the camera and shot some iphone images. But what a tease!
Hump and Dial:
I think what is most interesting is that they went for the HUMP, the look of having a pentaprism mirror on the camera which is a departure form their other Mirrorless offerings which mimic a traditional rangefinder. We also see an additional dial for ISO, bringing the total analog dial count to three. I can’t think of any other camera that has that many dials on the top deck! Not too sure why the emphasis is for a dedicated ISO dial, I always recommend to just set your auto ISO parameters and that’s just one thing to not worry about. Regardless, the dials look super cool.
Weather Sealed:
YES! A great feature that I wish my Xpro-1 had. I was taking a class one year up at Maine Media Workshop and a classmate and I went to shoot in the Camden cemetery with some light painting techniques. It was raining and I had a Canon EOS 1 DS III that was weather sealed, I loved it, I put the camera on the tripod and just kept water drops off the front elements and shot away in the rain. My fellow student couldn’t really shoot since her 60D was susceptible to the rain.
Fast- Like kittens with jet packs:
Coming in at 8fps continuous shooting with AF tracking this jammer is going to keep up with the big boys. One thing with Fujifilm is certain, their AF gets better with each generation.
I can see the light:
With a hi-performance EVF that is. OK, Sony has been doing a great job on great EVF’s so I expect that. Better be at this point anyway.
Twice is Nice:
Double SD slot is a new feature for Fujfilm. I would have liked to see CF and SD but why not? Slap an extra card in, say two 128GB SD cards and shoot till the XT-2 comes out. Since I love to shoot RAW+Jpeg I hope I can assign files to card 1 and card 2. That would be something I’d dig.
That’s all the compelling rumors that are out now that I care to mention. The price at $1800 with a lens is inline for a camera of this heft and specs. But what about Nikon and Canon?
What surprises me most about this upcoming announcement is how the big two have completely missed the boat on Mirrorless. Last week I was on a Linblad Expeditions trip with Nat Geo shooters to Baja and was helping a guest with a Nikon V1 camera. Oy Vey what dog! And the Canon guy who came up with their Mirrorless should be thrown off a cliff. Fujifilm was silent for the late 2000’s and Early part of this decade, but man have they hit the ground running.
It looks like we wont see an Xpro-1 replacement soon, and I bet we can expect them to offer two lines, a SLR style and Rangefinder type bodies. Regardless I’m excited and can’t wait to get my hands on this camera. Will I buy it? Well I have to say I do love my Xpro1 to death, and I don’t know if I could cheat on the Xpro with a XT.
Lets keep our eyes and ears open and see where this goes. Long live Fujifilm!
Update 1/22 More pictures of camera leaded on Fuji Rumors- and man does it look good! Click Here for Goodness!
Suspect Photography 