What!? You bought the very same camera you so vehemently put down just a coupla years ago? I did- and didn't, at least, not quite; that is, I didn't put it down completely. The problem on initial purchase was that I went into it desperately hoping that the Fujifilm XT-1 would be my be all/do all camera. And no, it is not! Far as I'm concerned, B&W remains the sovereign terrain of analog film (with exceptions for B&W digital taken in shade)- digital still retains that unnatural/washed out look in direct sunlight. And my GR remains my everyday camera w/o question.
So what need/hole/purpose does the XT-1 then fill? Well, at the current $800 price tag (down from the original $1,300), it is significantly more alluring- period. And that said- the XT-1 is one of the best looking cameras... ever! I'll never afford the Leica mystique, but the XT-1 is one little gem of a beauty, and something I can currently afford, now that I have a few extra bucks in my pocket- something that has not occurred in a long, long (long) while...
And while all EVF's are basically shit in direct sunlight, my eyes ain't doing all that great with an OVF either, under any light these days- so autofocus compensates. The XT-1's gonna be my official camera covfefe,* my special event/project camera when B&W is not of primary consideration- and even then, I'll still pack my FM. Fujinon glass is topnotch, and even with only 16 megapixels, it renders some really crisp 16in prints (as does the GR), the size of which I've really become enamored of- just big enough, and still hand friendly.
And while all EVF's are basically shit in direct sunlight, my eyes ain't doing all that great with an OVF either, under any light these days- so autofocus compensates. The XT-1's gonna be my official camera covfefe,* my special event/project camera when B&W is not of primary consideration- and even then, I'll still pack my FM. Fujinon glass is topnotch, and even with only 16 megapixels, it renders some really crisp 16in prints (as does the GR), the size of which I've really become enamored of- just big enough, and still hand friendly.
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| Fujifilm XT-1, 14mm The Batman: © S. Banos |
So I should have just stayed with the XT-1 since the get go, right? Well, I couldn't afford to keep a camera I didn't see a real purpose for, and if I had, I would've never discovered the GR- a camera I continue to have a daily need for...
Bottom line: B&W analog/digital post- hours/days, B&W restorations- days/weeks, color post- 1hr... tops! And right now, I have enough B&W files to edit right into eternity. If I can get viable images in digital color- so be it; one has only so much time.
* as of this writing, this top secret Trumpism has yet to be officially deciphered/declassified
Hi Stan,
ReplyDeleteMaybe others have tried this recommendation... I have been a fan of what Fuji has been doing with their digital cameras for a while. I think the key thing you have to experiment with is tweaking their in camera jpg film flavors. You can set these up as custom settings and continue to dial them in. Some of what I show is straight out of camera, mostly the black and white, you are right color is a bit harder to feel right. But sometimes it is close to what I want just as a preview I suppose. Then I go and do something closer to what I want in Lightroom.
I am currently shooting with the X Pro2, and a previous owner of the X Pro1 I know the newer generation cameras menu tweaks (shadow, highlights, color, grain, etc...) are a little different, and I am not sure if the firmware updates have made it the same for you and the XT-1.
Take care.
www.greggevanwhite.com
Hey Gregg- Thanks for writing. To be honest, right now, all I got is Elements 9 and their Raw Converter 6.1 (which actually came with my Dell)- and still manages pretty decent results w/o camera or lens profiles, etc. I'll eventually get Lightroom at some point- and enough people complain about how that deals with X-Trans files. My main issue is with how digital renders B&W, particularly in direct sunlight. I had hoped that Fujifilm had transcended that issue, but... for now, the universal axiom still applies- different tools for different applications.
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