Old Camera

Photo info: OLYMPUS E-PL9, 9mm, f/4, 2.5 sec, ISO100
“Fujifilm Film Camera” Cedar Park, 2023

While on Maui, my mom asked if I wanted this camera that she found at the house. It’s my grandpa’s old Fujifilm TW-300 point & shoot camera, dating back to ~1986. I said sure! The camera is in pristine condition, and is the Japanese version, with hiragana printed on the back. I actually don’t know if I will ever run a roll of film thru it, but the possibility is there. The challenge might be finding some lithium batteries that fit into it.

Evening Bicycle Rides

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/100 sec, ISO250
“Uphill” Cedar Park, 2020

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Many of you know, but I have been doing a 365 project for a while now, and it kind of connects to this blog in that my daily photo becomes the subject matter. Sometimes, it’s the reverse, where I make a daily blog post and then take a photo. But usually the photos will just be the literal snapshot of something that happened that day, and I’ll add a few words.

Because of this process, my posts tend to follow whatever hobbies I am into at the time and right now, going out for bicycle rides around the neighborhood is something I have more of an interest now since we all are staying at home almost all the time.

It got me thinking of a bicycle ride I went on in 1982 with a group from the YMCA. Two friends and I joined a 9-day bicycle tour that started in San Francisco, and ended at the YMCA in our hometown of Torrance. It was really fun, but surprisingly I hadn’t thought about it too much since then. Maybe I’ll write about my memories of that in another post, as I managed to find some old photos of the trip when I visited my parents last Christmas.

But for now, I’ll just continue with some photos I took on tonight’s ride. 🚲

I hope you had a nice day! またね~

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO400
“Seat and Bags” Cedar Park, 2020
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/680 sec, ISO200
“Neighborhood Construction” Cedar Park, 2020

Backyard Stars with the Fujifilm X100T

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/2, 13 sec, ISO800
“Starry Night” Cedar Park, 2020

こんばんは。How’s it going?

This evening the skies in my neighborhood were relatively clear so I set up my Fujifilm X100T in the backyard to do a little astrophotography time-lapse. I got started a bit late, and it was very cold, so I only let it run for about an hour. Still, I am pleased with how it turned out. Please take a look:

Speaking of cameras, the Fujifilm X100V was announced recently, and I am almost positive that I will be upgrading from my X100T. The new model will be a huge step up for me since I will be skipping a generation (X100F). As far as time-lapse capabilities go, the X100T’s longest shutter speed while using the electronic shutter was only 1 second, thus forcing me to use the mechanical shutter which causes a bit of flickering. The X100F fixed this by maximizing it to 30 seconds. Also, the maximum number of exposures using the interval timer has changed from 999 on the X100T to “infinity” on the X100F. This will be key for creating longer time-lapses without having to babysit the camera. Exciting!

The only thing I still wish for is the ability to lock down the aperture during the time-lapse. The way it works with the T is that the aperture re-adjusts every photo, so there is a slight difference in each exposure which causes flickering in the time-lapse. This forces me to shoot wide-open, which isn’t always the best… However, the X100V has a new lens design which makes shooting at f/2 much sharper. All-in-all, the X100V will be better for time-lapse photography, and I am looking forward to it!

Fujifilm WCL-X100 Lens Attachment

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 35mm, f/5.6, 1/10 sec, ISO800
“With the WCL-X100” Cedar Park, 2019

It’s been a while since I’ve bought a camera or lens, but here’s my newest acquisition: the Fujifilm WCL-X100 wide-angle adapter. It’s basically a lens that screws onto the front of the X100 lens and changes the 35 mm (equivalent) focal length into a 28 mm, with no significant loss in quality. 35 to 28 may not seem like much, but it actually makes a big difference.

28 mm used to be my favorite focal length and I’ve had a 28 mm lens since the 80s when I used my Minolta X-700, so it’s nice to pair that focal length with my favorite camera of all time, my Fujifilm X100T.

The first thing I did after receiving the WCL-X100 (which I bought used for $179), was to take this time-lapse. The sun was going down and I just missed an awesome cloudburst (see photo at the bottom of this post), but I think the sky still looked amazing. FYI, I set the camera to auto-shutter speed so it could adjust to the darkening sky. I think it did pretty good, with only slight flickering.

At 28 mm:

And for comparison, here’s a time-lapse looking towards the same direction at 35mm.

Can’t wait to put the WCL-X100 to more use!

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 35mm, f/2, 1/320 sec, ISO200
“Stormy” Cedar Park, 2019