NEW! Hands-on with the X-Pro2

A slew of big announcements from Fujifilm marks this day! A Fujifilm rep was kind enough to lend me a preproduction X-Pro2, an X70 and the new 100-400 zoom a short while ago, just so I could prepare a bit of a hands-on preview in time for the official announcement. Please note that the camera I tested definitely had beta firmware, and I did notice the occasional typo. I also cannot be sure how the camera's performance will change, or what features might still be added, once the final firmware is out. I will publish some more hands-on impressions of how it is to shoot with, once I get my hands on a production camera for a while.

So, now to the X-Pro2… finally! Many have been waiting for an upgrade to Fujifilm's first interchangeable lens X-system camera, and soon the wait will be over. The X-Pro2 improves on its predecessor in pretty much every way. First off, rest assured that Fujifilm's superb Hybrid-VF is still present, and it has been upgraded to offer an optional zoomed EVF focus preview in its lower right corner, even when in OVF mode, just like its cousin, the X00T.

NEW! Fujifilm XF100-400mm zoom, X-E2s and X70...

Along with the X-Pro2 announcement, Fujifilm has announced a slew of other products, including the highly anticipated XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6R LM OIS WR zoom. Above is a photo of the preproduction X-Pro2 on the new zoom and as you can tell, it isn't exactly a svelte lens! Thankfully, it isn't quite as heavy as it looks, but you sure wouldn't be lugging this around for casual shooting. Carrying this lens will mean you are going to be wielding it with purpose, motor-sports, wildlife, birding etc.

Since the lens was preproduction and I had very little time with it, I am unable to comment on its image quality. That said, I did do a few indoor handheld shots at between 1/10 and 1/15 second, and even wide open at 400mm (a 600mm equivalent), they were mostly tack sharp. The 5-stops of image stabilization that Fujifilm is claiming certainly does not seem exaggerated. It features a weather-resistant design, has fast focusing, a lens hood with a built-in, sliding polarizer adjusting door, a tripod foot and apart from all the usual controls, also has a focus limiter switch. Here is a comparison, hoods off, to the largest of Fujifilm's other tele zooms, with the new big gun on the left, the the XF 40-150mm f/2.8 zoom in the middle, and on the right, the XF 55-200mm…

Happy New Year! Last photos of 2015...

Gallery (20 images): Happy New Year! Last photos of 2015...

Happy New Year to all! The shots in the above gallery are my last photos of 2015, taken while walking home from work along False Creek. All the best for 2016!

Gallery: Joshua Tree National Park, CA - Day 4 / 2010

Gallery (40 images): California 2010 / Day 4

After leaving Anza-Borrego in the morning, on the way north to Twentynine Palms I stopped at the side of the road a few times to photograph some nice patches of wildflowers. After a bit of grocery shopping, and a much needed shower, it was back into Joshua Tree National Park for an afternoon and evening of hiking around the park. Compared to Anza-Borrego, there was virtually nothing blooming in Joshua Tree yet, probably a bit too early in the year or perhaps there hadn't been enough rains further north? The last two photos in the gallery, one of which is the above image, really shows some of the park's vistas nicely, with the piles of huge weathered boulders and vast numbers of Joshua trees visible when you open the larger version of the images. There's something almost otherworldly to those views...

All posts from this trip: California 2010

Gallery: A Beautiful Sunday

Gallery (30 images): A Beautiful Sunday...

A week ago, we had a gorgeous weekend and I took advantage of what might have been the last nice weekend in a long while to go out and hike around near Alouette Lake and then later on, closer to sunset, by Pitt Lake. No lens tests, no reviews, just some photos on a beautiful, crisp, sunny fall day...

Tested! Fujinon XF 35mm f/2R WR

Gallery (40 images): Tested! Fujinon XF 35mm f/2R WR

I recently received my own personal, brand new Fujinon XF 35mm f/2 lens, in silver of course, to match my silver X-E2. Actually, the combination looks rather retro and very nice to me, like an old Leica lens or even an old silver Hasselblad lens in miniature! The WR designation means it is resistant against moisture and dust ingress, joining the 16mm f/1.4 and 90mm f/2 lenses as the only primes with WR. How does it perform optically, you might be wondering? Well firstly, have a look at gallery of sample images by clicking on the above image, then continue reading below…

Suitably retro: the new silver Fujinon XF 35mm f/2R WR on my Fujifilm X-E2 body

with a wonderful Burke Mountain Leather custom strap and Fujifilm hand grip

Gallery: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, CA

Gallery (100 images): Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, CA

More catching up on photo processing! This is the first gallery from my March 2010 trip to southern California. It encompasses some photos from my drive down through California and then two days of shooting in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

It was an amazing year for blooming wildflowers and cacti, so I made the long run down to SoCal for a quick eight day road-trip. The above photo shows one of the abundant ocotillo shrubs in Anza-Borrego, with clusters of red/orange blooms at the ends of long spiny stems with lush green leaves. The park was exploding in bloom and the local papers were giving tips on the best places to see all the wildflowers. Well, it turns out I had to avoid those places, since the ones mentioned were packed with people (see photo 86!), many of whom were just lounging in the fields of desert wildflowers, off to the side of the road with folding patio chairs and coolers of beverages! Then there were all the other photographers in those spots too, zigzagging through the fields of blooms. Well, after visiting a few areas like that, I decided to explore the backroads myself, well away from the spots mentioned in the papers, and had a much more pleasant and fruitful time photographing away from the crowds...

All posts from this trip: California 2010

Gallery: Rhyolite and Mojave National Preserve

Gallery (45 images): Rhyolite and Mojave National Preserve

These are the first shots from my May trip to southern California, with my blog postings moving backwards from last to first. You can see all the galleries from this trip in order by clicking the following...

Link: All galleries from this trip...

The drive south from BC was mostly rainy and stormy and things didn't really clear up until I hit southern Nevada and the ghost town of Rhyolite. After Rhyolite, I bombed through Death Valley, deciding I should make time and get to Joshua Tree National Park to have a few days before the Memorial Day Weekend crowds hit. It was somewhat hazy through Death Valley, so I didn't take any shots until I got to the Mojave Desert National Preserve further south. I wanted to head over to the huge Kelso Dunes, but even there, the skies were very hazy and mostly gray. A little further south in the Mojave National Preserve, the skies started to improve and I finally took some photos. A lonely red Fishhook Barrel Cactus, with heavy and vicious spines, served to add some colour to five of the photos from one spot. The following morning was once again overcast and gray, not really clearing until I got to Joshua Tree National Park.

NOTE: Apologies, but I have noted that some of the "Back to post" links at the top of each image gallery are not returning you to the proper originating blog post as intended, rather back to the main page of the blog. I have not been able to figure out if this is a glitch due to the redirects from my mikemander.com domain host or something to do with Google Blogger. It was working fine for the longest time but within the last week, I noticed this glitch. Will be trying to fix this...

Gallery: Joshua Tree National Park - Day 1

Gallery (40 photos): Joshua Tree National Park - Day 1

I was camped a ways north of Joshua Tree National Park, in the Mojave Desert National Preserve, and in the morning I had gray, overcast skies. I did take some photos near the Sweeney Desert Research Centre, but due to the dull light, none of them made it into this gallery. By the time I got to Joshua Tree National Park, drove around to decide on a campground and secured a site at "Jumbo Rocks", it was already later in the day, so I didn't get a whole lot of shooting in. Thankfully, the skies there was much nicer than what I had in the morning!

For a brief, 1920x1080 time-lapse movie (a 10.4MB download) of the sunset shown in the first photo, click the image above to open in a new window. For this 5 second time-lapse movie, 138 frames were taken over about 34 minutes but unlike my regular photos, they were just processed in Lightroom and not in PhotoNinja.

Link: All galleries from this trip...

Gallery: Joshua Tree National Park - Day 2

Gallery (65 photos): Joshua Tree National Park - Day 2

How time flies! It's now been well over a month already since my last posting of a gallery from my California trip, earlier this year. This is day two in Joshua Tree National Park, with more shots of amazing eroded boulders and rock formations. I shot quite a bit near the Jumbo Rocks campground, where I had stayed two nights. I did a morning hike from where I was camping, then traveled around Joshua Tree park for the day, coming back in the evening to shoot until sunset at Jumbo Rocks again. There are some great rock formations and views a mere 10 to 15 minutes of hiking from where I had set up my tent, a very cool campsite to stay at for sure!

Link: All galleries from this trip...