daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
My Fujifilm X-E4 is back in my hands! The repair facility wanted around $750 to fix it, which felt like too much, so I passed on the service. So far though, it’s powering on and working just fine. Fingers crossed I can get many more shots out of it before it gives up on me again. And at least I still have my trusty old X-T10 as a backup. 📷😊
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.
Here’s a snapshot of our small oven baking area using my new Fujifilm X-E4 camera. I really like the look of the “Classic Negative” film simulation!
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～
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!
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!
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Today I received a lens adapter in the mail so that I can mount my beloved Minolta MD 50mm f/1.4 lens to my Fujifilm X-T10. The Fotasy Minolta MD to Fujifilm X-Mount Adapter was only about $16 and fits perfectly. The mounted lens is snug and secure, with no play at all.
The 50mm lens is what I used a lot my Minolta X-700, and more recently with my Sony A77 via an adapter, so I thought it would be cool to put it on the Fujifilm. I am happy to report that the quality of the photos that the lens produces with the Fujifilm is much better than the ones produced with the Sony. The edges are sharper and there’s less chromatic aberration. I’m not sure why the Sony images weren’t as good, since the adapter simply acts as a spacer between the lens and sensor. I can only guess that the adapter I used with the Sony was a tiny bit too long or short.
At any rate, the 50mm lens produces some lovely bokeh at the wider end, and when stopped down to f/3.6 the sharpness increases quite a bit. Using a manual-focus lens on a mirrorless body is easy because of the focus peaking feature, which overlays color outlines over the parts of the image that are in focus. I love it!
Now I have another option that I can use with my single body/lens philosophy, which seems to be working out nicely. Just yesterday I used the X-T10 and 35mm lens combination at the Fourth of July party, and I am really happy with the images! And I don’t mind “zooming with my feet” with the prime lens. It’s actually kind of fun!
I hope you had a nice day!
またね～
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