Continued from Part 2

A hundred more shots, a thousand more miles and a big smile; I’m very happy with the Fuji X-Pro1. Shooting with this camera has me more excited about my personal photography projects than I’ve been in years. Quirky? You bet! Capable of professional results? No sweat! I love shooting weddings, there are few things more satisfying than creating images I know people will hang on their wall and cherish for a lifetime. But my personal work, the landscapes, conceptual model shoots and documentation that make me a better photographer, can get a bit tedious. Photography starts to feel like a chore not the privilege it really is. The X-Pro1 has brought back that passion.

I spent last weekend camping with Stephanie and the kids giving me a chance to test the Fuji X-Pro1 out as a travel camera. I’m happy to report it did not disappoint as the more I use this camera, the more I like it. There were some rough spots at first but by the end of the trip I felt really connected. Connected? What is this, some sort of “new age” my-camera-is-connected-to-my-emotions thing? No, it’s just a tool that’s so good and so purposeful that it becomes an medium for art. It forces you to make decisions, not just blast away like a DSLR, resulting in a more connected feel.

When I used to shoot film, I would shoot in full manual mode. When shooting the latest DSLR I find myself shooting in Aperture priority mode most of the time then basing my exposure off compensation from what I know the camera is trying to do. Shooting a person backlit by the sun? Throw in +1.5. Even when I’m shooting with all my lighting gear I know to just set my camera to a certain exposure, set the lights to a certain output, put the model a certain distance from the main light and shoot away. The X-Pro1 encourages you to put those manual dials to use and start thinking more about your scene; I love that! Thankfully, it has about 1 stop more latitude than my Canon 5D Mark II so it’s pretty forgiving if I’m a little off. I find myself taking 10 seconds when I walk into new scene to really evaluate exposure and in the process I find things to shoot I might have otherwise overlooked. After a day of doing that I was able to quickly calculate my exposure like the old days; now that’s satisfying. There’s nothing like slowing down and shooting purposefully to make a personal shoot become a joy rather than a chore. Connection with a digital camera at last!

Every camera I have ever loved shares the trait of making me slow down. Not so much I loose a shot but just enough that I take an active roll in every part of the process. Photographic decisions change from being purely visual to cerebral in nature. My 5DII and 1 Series cameras are the best photographic tools available to the wedding photographer but I have no love for them, they are just tools. The Fuji X-Pro1 begs me to slow down just enough to enjoy the process and is just different enough to challenge me. Is it capable of shooting at “Wedding Pace?” I think so but I’m a guy who typically only shoots 1,000 frames in a 10 hour coverage so I may be biased. So far, I’d call it a great 2nd camera and possibly the best camera for candid shots I’ve ever used.

Next up will be using it as a nature camera for stitching together 85 Megapixel panoramic images…this ought to be fun!

An Aside: X-Pro1 vs. X100 AF continued…
This past week Really Right Stuff borrowed the X-Pro1 to make a tripod plate so I took out my X100. For the record, I love the X100. When I first picked up the X-Pro1 I thought the AF is maybe just a little faster but not by much. Trying to shoot my friends ride their bikes through the woods showed me just how much faster the X-Pro1 really is. It’s no Canon 1d Series but it’s certainly an improvement on the X100 and generally more reliable. Maybe it’s the increased magnification of the 35mm lens or the additional stop of light? I’m sure some tech site will elaborate but from a user’s perspective the X-Pro1 is fast enough for just about anything. Interestingly, using a slow constant press all the way to exposure, rather than a half press then full press, seems to increase the number of in focus shots especially on moving subjects. I have no idea why, but when I do that, 5 of 6 shots of the bride and groom walking toward me were in focus.

For anyone who wondered if the X-Pro1 could capture that amazing X100 look, here you go!

In the dark undergrowth of the redwoods the lack of a mirror was wonderful! Even with a slow shutter speed the image is sharp. 1/40th f/2.8 ISO 1600

Unlike my big work cameras, I can turn on the LCD, hand this to a non-photographer and have them get a nice picture of me and my kids.

ISO 5000 anyone? This is straight from the camera, I’m impressed!

ISO 5000 f/1.4 1/60 Lit with only firelight. I used the light of the headlight to focus and the assist light didn’t even come on. Jpeg colors aren’t the best with odd color temperature light sources but the detail in the image is great.

f/1.4 1/30 ISO 5000 At this level of darkness the AF assist light comes on and is pretty slow. Not sure why Fuji chose to do a white light rather than a red pattern (like a flash AF assist uses) as the white light just isn’t that bright and doesn’t guarantee there will be any edges for the AF points to detect. Not terrible to use but not quick at all.

Read part 1 of my Fuji X-Pro1 Review here

Really Right Stuff is just about finished with their L Plate for the Fuji X-Pro1. The internet is abuzz with people wanting this plate so rest assured it is soon to be finished! This is the final prototype and only lacks the attachment for the right hand grip.

A quick note on the most boring part of photography: Tripods!
Most photographers use cheaper camera support and I, like everyone else, have tried using inferior equipment for years. As a wedding photographer I don’t need a tripod most of the time but when I do I need it to setup fast, be stable and extremely durable. My old tripod worked fine but it’s the sort of thing where you don’t know what you have been missing until you try it then you can’t believe you waited so long splurge! As I’ve been toying with shooting panoramics their gear makes the complicated process of aligning photos a breeze. So much so that I’ve started to incorporate panoramic photography into my wedding work. Everything lines up perfectly and is so much more intuitive it leads to less time with my clients waiting and better images. Only gear that meets the criteria of making me money ends up in my kit and RRS delievers.

You can link directly to Really Right Stuff here (and no, I don’t get paid by them)

Ryan and Carissa’s wedding at Paso Robles wedding venue Croad Vineyards was a
beautiful evening with great friends. I have known Ryan since our time together studying for Viticulture exams at Cal Poly and been great friends ever since. We were all so happy for him when Carissa came into his life and the addition of another Render to the world in their daughter Lilly has been amazing! I was honored to have them ask me to shoot their wedding. While I don’t often shoot friends weddings I knew theirs would be awesome and I wasn’t disappointed.
I have to point out the image below of Carissa holding the little yellow bird as it’s probably the most amazing thing I have had happen at a wedding! I was just getting Carissa so she and Ryan could do their “first look” when I turned around and noticed a little bird sitting on the ground. I bent down and put my hand out only to have it jump right in my hand! Carissa stuck out her hand and the bird happily sat in her hand while I got a few images and then flew off. Pretty amazing!
Also have to thank Kim of Flowers By Kim the awesome Paso Robles Florist who jumped in at the last minute to save the day then helped a ton behind the scenes to pull off an amazing day!

Continued from Part 1

First run with the Fujifilm X-Pro1 last night at a wedding so I have a much better idea of how this camera works as a tool for a wedding photographer. Again, my full review will come later but here’s a few random thoughts:

Likes:
-Quiet and stealthy
-Awesome handling and ergonomics
-MUCH better AF than I was expecting (a sequence of photos of the bride and groom walking up the aisle were all in focus!)
-Macro function with the XF 35 1.4 is totally useable though not the 1:1 I’m used to with my Canon 100L. It’s fine for shooting shoes and purses but for rings you still need a macro lens.

Dislikes:
-BATTERY LIFE! Oh wow, this is a problem. My 5DII can shoot 1500 images in 10 hours on 1 battery. The X Pro-1 was dead in 1.5 hours with only 186 images taken. I have review turned off and don’t do much chimping. Ouch.
-The aperture constantly varies making noise and killing battery life. As I shoot in aperture priority mode 90% of the time, I have no idea why Fuji thought this was necessary. It’s part of the Powersave mode but if you turn powersave “on,” focus slows way down. This is something that needs to be addressed immediately as I suspect it has a great effect on battery life.
-The tab for the On/Off switch is easy to hit as it sticks off the front of the camera
-Lightroom does not yet support RAW so you have to shoot jpeg. Auto white balance isn’t very good so I’ll be spending a lot of time fixing skin tones!
-View finder crop lines are not even close to accurate. Of course you can frame tighter but why didn’t Fuji just make the lines setup a bit wider so it’s accurate? I’d say coverage is more like 85% at best.

Overall I found it a joy to use but I’ve got to figure out a way to conserve the battery as that’s ridiculous. As I I’m not a photographer who uses the LCD very often I’m guessing the constantly changing aperture is the issue so I sure hope Fuji addresses that quickly. Not to mention Lightroom as I’d love to see RAW files that fit into my wedding workflow. I got a few images but was really planning on putting it through it’s paces during the bridal portraits but the battery died before then. My backup battery won’t be here until Monday so I didn’t get to use it as much as I hoped for. I have a few other shoots in the next couple weeks so will have plenty of samples from those.
Stay tuned for my complete review after I’ve got a few shoots through it.

Click here for Fuji X-Pro1 Review Part 3

A couple sample images from the Fuji X-Pro1:

This was one of a 6 images series of image where I shot, refocused and shot again. 5 of 6 are in perfect focus. 1/640 at f/2.0 ISO 200 so I wasn’t cheating by stopping down. Set to “Provia” -1 sharpeness. Added in a little saturation in Lightroom.

The Fuji X Pro-1 does a great job with detail shots. Hit the “Macro” button to close focus and the camera switches to the EVF. Focus is quick and bokeh looks nice. 1/4000 at f/1.4 ISO 1000 with a bit of punch added back in Lightroom.

It’s not often I get excited about camera gear as I’m a “it’s-not-about-the-camera” kind of photographer. However, the new Fuji X Pro1 has me giddy like a 7 year old on a third slice of cake! I’m not going to bore you with all the technical details that you can read on the camera geek websites; I’ll talk about why this camera is (or is not) suitable as a camera for professional wedding photographer use, image quality and overall feel. This definitely isn’t the kind of blog post that I normally do but there’s so little information and few quality reviews by working pros about this camera so I thought I’d share. I’ll post a more comprehensive review with sample images later. Note that at this time Lightroom does not support the RAW files from the X Pro-1 so I will be shooting jpeg and thus heavily relying on the in-camera processing. Also note I’m writing this between editing shoots so please excuse my poor grammar!

In a quest for higher pixels and easy use, camera manufacturers stopped including optical viewfinders on their small cameras in favor of choppy and delayed electronic viewfinders (EVF’s). This completely eliminates them from being practical for the working wedding pro as we need to see the action and capture that perfect moment. Camera controls were buried deep in menus and sensors were made smaller and smaller but Mega Pixels went up and up degrading quality. The only choice for wedding photographers became Canon or Nikon SLR’s that are bulky, heavy and just not that fun to use. I’d describe the best of them as a Porsche SUV in that they do everything really well but you better be ready for their size and weight. They are not subtle but they are sure to impress. Everyone knows when they are being photographed and everyone knows I’m the “wedding photographer” when I’m shooting it. Want to get beautiful images while backpacking, traveling or at your kids birthday? Better be ready to carry 10lbs of extra gear and a big “HEY-LOOK-AT-ME-I’M-A-PHOTOGRAPHER” bag! Image quality is superb but size, weight and subtlety all pay for that quality.

“Way back in the film days” (said in my best old man voice), Mamiya and Fuji made brilliant medium format rangefinders. Manual focus, but with fully manual controls, they were perfect travel camera’s as they gave professional results from small packages. Unfortunately, digital killed them off as users now want super fast auto focus and ISO 25,000 as a matter of course. For the past 8 years, the only alternative to the digital SLR for a pro has been Leica. As an owner of an M8 and a huge fan of rangefinder cameras in general, I can honestly say that they just aren’t good enough for heavy wedding use. I know; huge gasp from the Leica fanboys (who mostly are not pro’s), how could such blasphemy be said out loud?! Here’s my personal experience. My first time using the Leica M8 at a wedding the camera errored out because the file names rolled over at 100 shots from 9999 back to 9901 which locked up the camera as there was already a file named 9901! Yes, there’s a workaround (that required a computer) but the camera had been out for 2 years at that point and Leica hadn’t addressed that with a firmware update? On top of sensor quality that is years behind full size SLR’s and prices that are triple what a 5DMkIII cost, they haven’t been reliable enough for me. I loved the old film M6 but Leica really “lost it” in my eyes when converting to digital.

Enter the Fujifilm X100.

What a brilliant little camera! Retro rangefinder design, a real viewfinder, awesome f/2 lens and a great sensor. It was everything I wanted in a little camera except one: wedding usability. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the X100, one of my favorite cameras all time for me right along with the Mamiya 7, M6 and Contax 645 but the buttons are hard to use, menus are a bit odd and the AF is marginal at best. I’ve shot it at weddings plenty but it never once felt like it could replace my backup camera little alone be my primary camera. It’s my go-to everyday life camera but it is not a professional wedding photographer’s camera. Call it the girl next door; cute but no supermodel. I credit the X100 for saving the small professional camera as it proved that there is demand for small manually controllable high quality cameras (Fuji is said to have sold 1 million units in the past year) and lead to the release of the X-Pro1. I expect the X-Pro1 to be a game changer and anticipate Canon to respond with a similar system soon.

As I hardly pay any attention to the “Camera Games,” I was happily shooting weddings and commercial shoots while people argued on the internet about why the X100 isn’t any good vs. others who said it’s the second coming of the Leica. Sure, it’s quirky, but aren’t most revolutionary 1st generation products? There was plenty of speculation that there would be a removable lens version and news was leaked in January of the X Pro 1. Of course I had no idea until a wedding photographer friend mentioned it to me about 3 weeks ago so I promptly started reading technical camera-geek reviews and thought “Hmm, sounds ok.” Then I read what Zack Arias wrote about it and knew it was for me: flawed but genius. For the record, I’m only flawed, not genius.

My X-Pro1 arrived last week. I put it through its paces then took it to a rehearsal dinner. I’m certainly not ready to draw full conclusions after only 300 images but my biggest concern with the X100, usability, has been addressed. This feels like a professional camera! It is a joy to use; menus are easy to navigate, buttons are where they should be and are easy to press, AF is improved, a PC port for studio flash was added and the balance of the camera is superb. If you hand the X100 to a seasoned pro, they will fumble around with it for the first week of using it. Give them the X Pro-1 and the camera just gets out of the way and allows you to shoot. Add in the brilliant Fujinon XF 35 1.4 lens with amazing color rendition and gorgeous flare characteristics and I’m already 80% sold on this camera.

Of course one of the primary reasons to use this camera is its subtlety. With so little use I can’t draw any final conclusions but I can say this is a very stealthy camera, more so even than the Leica M8/9 or the X100. With the Leica, most people never noticed me (great) but then a Doctor/Lawyer/Inventment Banker Uncle who is an amateur photographer would take notice and ask me 100 questions about the camera taking me away from working. I’m happy to answer questions but not when I’m working; I’m getting paid to do a job. The X100 would draw even more comments. Everyone would ask about it, “Is that some old camera?” they asked skeptically; never good to have clients question if you know what you are doing! Others comment on how cute or cool it is. That’s all fine and good but at the end of the day, the point of a small camera is to not be noticed so you can get those great candid moments that brides (and prospective clients) gush over! The Fuji X Pro-1 is the most satisfying camera in this sense I have ever used. It’s very stealthy but on closer inspection it looks pro. Most people didn’t even notice me shooting them and the only comment was from a guy I know who said “I have not idea what that camera is but it looks cool!”

I know many of you who have found this review are scouring the internet with one question on your mind “Is the autofocus better than the X100?!” So far, I can say yes, very improved. I’ll get into my focus technique in my full review of the Fujifilm X Pro-1 but here’s the best evidence I have so far. With my 5DMkII of 100 shots, 95 are in focus. Generally it’s 100 of 100 in daylight with 90/100 in dark receptions. With the X100 I’m lucky if 70/100 are in focus even in daylight. With the X Pro-1 I’m so far averaging 90/100 in bright conditions and 60/100 in low light conditions. Perhaps I will get better with practice as focusing a shifting point because of parallax is a bit of an art in itself!

I’m going to put the camera through a couple weddings as a second camera to my Canon 5DmkII so I can really get the feel for how it works and if it’s truly as good as I hope it is. I will post my full review on it after I have enough use to draw definitive conclusions. So far I’m quite pleased though I expect to find a bunch of quirks as I go along. Expect and update later this week with plenty of example pics.

See Fuji X-Pro1 Review Part 2 Here

So I was digging out the first image that you can see in this post when I stumbled on a bunch of old images from 5-10 years ago. While my processing was a bit heavier back then you can see my wedding photography has stayed consistent (I’m happy about that!). These days I’m looking more for the emotional shots whereas back then I was always trying to find the most dramatic shots. Here’s a mix of wedding photos that really bring back some memories!
The first picture above I just adore not only because it’s dramatic and a bit hot, but also because this couple was so into it they’d do anything! Here they are laying in the wet sand at Moro Bay on a freezing and stormy January evening! I love it when my wedding clients really go all out to get the best images possible. These guys were so good we actually brought them back to model for a workshop I helped put on later that spring.

I love the above picture not just because it’s a pretty picture and an awesome moment but also because it is one of my best lighting setups ever! The wedding venue was the enormous San Francisco City Hall. I have 3 off camera flashes (2 are actually high powered strobes). The first is just to camera right to light the brides back, the second is on a second floor balcony pointed at the bride to make her wedding gown glow, the third is pointed down at the guys so the groom really stands out. One of my favorite images I’ve ever taken.

I’m often asked what my favorite wedding is that I’ve shot and why. Most people assume it was one of the pre-”Great-Recession” weddings I shot with a $300k budget. Truth is, I love very small and intimate weddings. Add in this was also a destination wedding and I’m stoked! This intimate wedding was one of the more memorable ones from the beach in Carmel. A gorgeous day with lots of emotion as the couple had been through hell and back but their love overcame it all.

I just love the color and fun of this image. Throw in some excellent champagne and a great couple and you’ve got some good times!

The groom flew to the UK to have these kilts custom made. I’ve shot several weddings with kilts but I’ve never had a groom go that far! They rocked the look and had a great time only to change into their tux’s later for the reception.

I do a lot of off camera lighting as many wedding venues are very dark and drab. Straight in lighting is just boring. This image is from the first wedding I shot using extensive off camera lighting. I remember taking this image and knowing that I had to always use lighting in these situations as even a fairly straight forward image becomes beautiful with the right light.

Ah, the days of the $200,000 budgets! I sort of miss shooting this kind of wedding but reality is it’s all about the couple, not the money! I love to see beauty but a couple that is truly in love is the most beautiful thing of all and that’s all I really need!

I’ll put up another post of some of my favorite San Luis Obispo wedding photography later this week. I have tons but I want to post just the images that bring back memories for me. They aren’t necessarily the ones that are the portfolio shots but they have a lot of meaning to me as a professional wedding photographer.

Had to share an image from my bike ride with Jesse and Garrett this morning. The view is from the top of Shooters, a trail above San Luis Obispo. You might remember Jesse and Garrett from Jesse’s Lago Giuseppe Wedding, good times!

You can probably tell by my lack of activity that I’ve really taken to the off season and I’ve been relaxing and enjoying myself! Truth is I’ve been really busy with album design, side projects, kids and other family stuff so I’ve barely had time for the extras like keeping up on my blogging!
For Michelle and Tim’s engagement session we decided that seeing as they love Justin Winery and are even members there that we should head up there. It’s a gorgeous venue and a great place for engagement photography as the light is beautiful, the vineyards pristine and the buildings have tons of great angles to work with. We had a great time and I can’t wait to photograph their wedding!

We headed up from San Luis Obispo to my Aunt Renee’s 50th Birthday party at Seascape Resort in Aptos (near Santa Cruz). It’s not all that often we all get a chance to see each other as there is just so much going on in everyone’s lives and we have spread out all over the place so it was a great afternoon. Everyone was about to head home after a fun day of visiting and taking the kids to play on the beach when I saw this gorgeous light filtering through the trees and knew I had to get everyone in for a family portrait. I didn’t have all my fancy wedding photography cameras, just my trusty little X100 so I set things up as best I could, locked in my settings, handed the camera to someone and had them take the picture. Came out really well considering it was a spur of the moment shot! Happy Birthday Renee!

Emily and Matt really wanted to shoot out in the field of Paso Robles. I’m all about beautiful natural light out in the fields but this year the weather, while beautiful, has not been very good to the fields. I love a nice 80 degree day but in November when we haven’t gotten any rain in San Luis Obispo it’s not the best for the fields as it was pretty much all dirt! That’s okay though because Emily and Matt had awesome attitudes so they could have taken pictures in a parking lot and they would look great. We did end up finding a good field and also had a great time shooting in the candy shop and around Paso after dark. Many thanks to Emily and Matt for being awesome!