Travel and the Fuji X Series, a match made in Heaven!
1 camera, 3 lenses and a good filter system and we are good to go!
Voigtlander Heliar 75mm f/1.8
I spent last Sunday in Georgetown, SC. I had a gallery change out in a gallery that I am a member of (Co-Op). The change out only took about an hour so I decided to take the rest of the day to scout new locations and just shoot!
There are several places there that I love to visit. As you drive North on Front Street out of the Down Town area you start passing several side streets on the right. Each of these leads to a marina with several Shrimp Boats (and in 1 case many!). I like walking around the docks and working each group of boats then moving in closer and doing detail images. These vessels are not long to be with us so if you have the chance to visit and photograph them you should youmake it a priority to do so!
The 3 Shrimpers!
The choice between Color and B&W is a tough one for most photographers. For me, I like B&W much better but I will porcess both for each and every image that I take. So I will have the choice as to what I eventually use readily on hand!
Sun in the rigging…
I do not normally shoot intentional lens flair but for this image I composed the image with it in mind! This generated such a perfect series of light beams that they were visible in front of the boats cabin door! Again, the choice between Color and B&W was a no brainer for me!
The 3 Bows…
Voigtlander Heliar Ultra Wide-Angle 12mm f/5.6 Lens
In the end I will still offer you a Color Shrimp Boat selection. These boats are old, and full of color! Rust, bright paints, bottom paint, lines and life rings can make for a bright and eye catching display if you present it properly with a composition that is pleasing.
At the very end of Front Street you will find several parks along the edge of Winyah Bay with pilings in the fore ground which make idle compositions for long exposures. Plus there is a boat launch that you should walk out on and look north across a long line of pilings!
Lee Seven5 Filter System
What fun I had! I found some really great Shrimp Boat compositions and did some long exposures with the Fuji and the Voigtlander Heliar 75mm f/1.8 Lens with the new Lee Seven 5 filter system! Consider, that the Lee system is a bulky but light system (look at the image to the left), when you add in the camera and lens the entire combination can become bulky and heavy making it difficult to use. I also used the Voigtlander Ultra Wide-Heliar 12mm f/5.6 Aspherical and the Fuji M to X adapter for several of these Shrimp Boat images.
This is the main reason that I switched to the Fuji X system (aside from the fact that it generates stunning images!
Ok, as the day go away from me I went further North to the parks looking at long exposure locations for sunset. After looking at all of the locations there I decided to set up at the boat launch and setup looking to the North across the pilings there. The sun was setting fast and I setup using the 75mm f/1.8 and the Lee Seven 5 system with a solid 3 stop ND and a soft Graduated ND to darken the sky. The result was this 90 second exposure:
Boat Launch Pilings, Deep Twilight, 90 second exposure
With the sun totally gone and deep into twilight, I simply turned the camera 90 degrees to the right and looked at the industrial complex across the bay with great columns of smoke spewing into the sky! I removed the 3 stop solid ND and kept the soft Graduated ND in place to further darken the sky. So the resulting image was a 240 second exposure and full of color, smooth water and blowing smoke:
240 second exposure, deep twilight.
Do you see how a light weight high quality camera/lens system like the Fuji works to our benefit when traveling and needing the ability to shoot in all conditions? With the X-E1 system there is no limit to my shooting styles including Lightning, Water Drops and Long Exposures.
Mark Hilliard Atelier's Blog 
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Beautiful as always Mark. Love the sun burst!!! Those Voigtlanders seem to be treating you well. Have my eye on the 75.
Yes, I really like the 75 and use it all of the time. Once in a while I will get out the 12mm but even though I like it and it is a great lens I rarely use it! Thanks for the kind words!
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Another great writeup Mark. I really enjoy the detail in your articles. Looks like a great location to shoot. You’ve inspired me to persist with the X-Pro1 for long exposure although I find the mechanical shutter release slightly annoying as I tend to bump the tripod or camera every 3rd or 4th shot when I grab it to finish the bulb exposure.
Ian, why dont you pick up a longer release? I have several and one of them is 40 inches!
Ian, I just revisited your web site and was totally blown away with the 12 shot stack of the pier! Well worth the effort. You my friend need some more ND filters! I just invested in the new Lee Seven5 system for smaller cameras. I picked up a 10, 3 and 2 stop solid ND set plus a 2 and 3 stop soft grad set. I am waiting for the 3 filters in the hard grad set. If I lived in England I could have them today!!
Hi Mark,
appreciate the kind words. I’ll definitely track down a longer cable release. I have been to three shops here in Australia though and not found one 😦 I’m googling the Lee Seven5 now. Looks ideal. Great to hear some positive feedback. I look forward to reading more about it in future posts.
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Beautiful images! I was wondering whether the Lee seven5 system works with the 12mm lens as well? Or does the filter holder become visible with that wide a lens? Thank you.
Thanks! No the 12mm has built in metal lens hood petals so the only filters which will work are 67mm screw on.
According to Ken Rockwell the Fuji Xs are biased for skin tones, (Caucasians) and don’t get the colors of landscapes/things right. So whern they are ‘cranked up’, the colors lose their natural ‘look’.
Before any call Ken moron etc. as they do on other sites, be aware that he conceived the world’s first dedicated digital colorspace converter chip, the TMC2272, back in 1990 when he worked at TRW LSI Products. He’s been working with the matrix math, hardware and software that does that for decades. He also coined the word “gigacolors,” for use with 36-bit and 48-bit color data.TRW LSI was a small, ultra-creative division of TRW. He is also a photogarpher. His 4X5 Velvias are stunning.
OK, well thanks for the history lesson, but what EXACTLY was your point here? It seems like you are simply trolling for trouble, but I could be wrong. I will leave it up to you to tell us why you made this comment….
Ken Rockwell is a hack, his work is bland and uninspired. And yes, I shoot 4×5’s also. From what I have seen, the Fuji’s perform very well.
I am not familiar with Rockwell, but can tell you that the overall tone of the previous comment was very iffy…
I too shoot with a 4×5.
My point is that as I now e my first foray into digital to replace velvia, living in Phuket, Thailand which makes it difficult to obtain film, and the long waits for processing, Withdigitals catch-up color-wise, I was much hoping that reviewers would agree on the ‘closest to velvia’ camera, (sensors, software), ignoring the optics for this exercise.
I felt KR has a good grip on the color part, having had a hand in its development and also being a photographer., (howver bland his own velvia)s. I am just an amateur enjoying tyring to create photographs, that give me a wow, with lighting ,color and composition, efefcts such as the great painters have produced, , ie Old Man and Turban by Rembrandt. etc.
That is why, when reading your comments, you praised the Fujis for other than skin tones, wheras KR criticised them, in that they failed to give decent color saturation. Fuji admits their software has not yet completely figured out their advanced color censor.
I guess I was looking for/ hoping for comments to be more precise, truthful, and calling a spade a spade if it is a spade, ,instead of an oveall.’.great’ comment.
If this comment gets me kicked off of this site, then so be it. (I have been kicked off many sites, ie The London Guardian, etc for my comments ie food groups and pyramids, the fraud medications, ie statins, vax, vioxx etc., after having been in the alternate health industry for over half a century).
OK, great! You should have provided a little insight into your quest rather than just a negative camera comment based on some reviewer out there in net land, but that is ok.
As a new convert to digital from film you need to understand one MAJOR basic difference. Images generated from film are/were dependent upon the film emulsion and glass quality/coatings for colors, saturation and white temperature which in combination gave each film its distinctive look.
Now, along comes digital, where the only real adjustment into the film
“look”
is with a built in simulation or the selection of White Balance and the filters on the sensor plus the glass and its coatings. Some digitals give a more saturated look, some less. Some pump up the reds to the point of problems.
The Fuji’s typically give a more saturated image with a bluish feel. But, good photographers who understand these issues and the capability of shooting in RAW understand that ALL of the films/sensor character is really defined in post processing! Looking for a Velvia look and feel out of the camera is foolishness and very short sited. You take your pictures, making sure that the WB is correct for the scene and day, you shoot in RAW, then when you get home you do your color/saturation/tint adjustments in the RAW conversion. Then in Photoshop you do your real work where you can move your image into the film looks as you like with simple adjustments like, saturation, levels, color shifts and so on. With the addition of the NIK filter set you then get total control over these adjustments in an easy and fast way.
If you are looking for Fuji (or any camera) to give you a film look right out of the camera then you should just quit now before you have a nervous break down.
My Fuji’s are an incredible tool. But they are just tools, the creative work happens on the computer. I have used dozens of cameras from simple point and shoots, micro 4/3s, fuji X systems, Leica’s, Nikons and many many others including lots of film systems including (and still in use) a very nice 4×5. NONE of the digitals will give a good film simulation, period. Don’t look for them for that or simply stay with film.
Please, no more posts about reviewers thoughts on cameras. This is simply not the place for that. Every one of them is only putting forth their opinion.
Go out and try different cameras yourself. When with friends try a memory card in their camera. Take the images home and work them over on the computer. Make your own decision and move forward.
My decision path was simple…
1. I dumped ALL of my canon system including top pro line bodies and $30,000 in L glass due to medical problems where I lost 80% use of both arms and hands.
2. I experimented with ALL of the various Micro 4/3 systems. Kept a GH2 as an Infrared system and the OMD as a high speed replacement for my Canon 1DSMK3 and lenses.
3. I tried and decided against the Leica system because of lack of longer lenses.
4. I Tried the Fuji X100, Cool, nice small camera with great images, but no interchangeable lenses, bummer
5. I found out that Fuji came out with the X Pro 1, rushed out and got one with EVERY Fuji lens plus 3 CV M mount lenses for the Leica. Fell in love with the camera and the images. But it had no electronic shutter release so it would not work with my lightning trigger and water drop system. Bummer…
6. I found out that Fuji introduced the X-E1 with this functionality built in. Purchased it and have been happy ever since. The Fuji E-X1 is an amazing system for landscapes, long exposures (REALLY GOOD), water drops and lightning photography. Does it look like velvia when that is enabled? Not really, a little close BUT WHO CARES!!!! I can make it look like ANY FILM TYPE in post processing! It creates amazing low noise images at high ISO’s but I rarely use high ISO’s. It is light, easy to use and had GREAT lenses. I love the Leica and Voightlander lenses when used with the Fuji M to X adapter with its corrections built in!
You can read about ALL of these things here on the blog. You can ask questions on the various forums on the net but they are filled with camera lover/haters/bashers rather than people who are trying to learn and improve with their equipment (even though they are there but due to the noise of the others are just un-heard!).
Good luck in your search. Please keep in touch and let me know how it goes as you progress!
Mark,
Thanks for your insights into the day’s shooting. I also frequent the are and find it a delight to shoot.
Where is your gallery situated. I’d like to visit next time I go thru.
Jim Hasapis
Yes, a very good place to shoot. I am very lucky to be able to shoot there anytime I wish. There are always more interesting locations to find!
The gallery is at 10744 Ocean Hwy, Unit H1, Pawleys Island. It is in the Village Shops right next to the Hammock Shops.
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Hello Mark
Sorry when I wrote this before. But my only complain about the XE-1 is the function Long Exposure. Pictures taken with 4 min. exposure time and after that wait until the image is saved and the camera can be used again for the next picture. So waiting for the next 4 minutes before you can take the next picture is horrible. Today I spoke a salesmen from Fuji here and he has never heard of it. My memory card has a speed from 30 Mb
Regards, Peter
Peter, This is as it should be!! There is no problem with your camera other than an uneducated Fuji Rep who does not know his own product! There are 2 setups in the camera:
1. Noise Reduction which is to remove JPG noise.
2. Lone Exposure Noise Reduction which is to remove Sensor Heat and Hot Pixel noise caused during long exposures.
If you take an 8 minute exposure then the shutter is open for 8 minutes, THEN the processor in the camera does image cleaning/noise reduction for ANOTHER 8 minutes. This is supposed to happen. I believe that there is a way to disable this via the menu system but you REALLY DO NOT WANT TO! Whatever the long exposure shutter speed is the noise reduction will be the same length!
This is not the time it takes to write to the memory card…. Find a new Fuji rep!
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Hi Mark, love the photos! Can I ask what lightning trigger you are using with the X-E1? I have just purchased an X-E1 and would like to get a lightning trigger but I can’t seem to find one that says it works with this camera! Thanks!
Thanks Sarah! I am using the Canon Rebel version (Canon RS60 style plug) of the unit from LightningTrigger.com I have the Lightning Bug also but it just doesn’t work well…. The microphone plug on your X-E1 is also a remote shutter release plug that uses the RS60-E3 Canon remote release. So this means that any canon RS60 style remote device will work fine. I am hooking my Fuji up to all sorts of devices!