Fuji on the go

July 16, 2017July 16, 2017 / mikeosbornphoto / 13 Comments

My family of cameras has expanded again. This time I’ve invested in a little sibling for my trusty compact system workhorse, the Fuji X-E1.

Little is the crucial world. The Fuji x100T has a fixed 23mm lens and is much lighter than its big brother. My regular camera takes up an entire backpack and doesn’t go with my everywhere.

One evening returning late from work, I got off the tram and was greeted with a stunning sunset pierced with cranes and high rises of urban Manchester. My phone camera is substandard at the best of times and couldn’t cope. I had to leave the sunset to melt away, uncaptured.

I thought it was high time to have a decent camera to slip into my work bag and be ready for those moments. Fuji has greatly pleased me for nearly six years, so I turned to them and settled on an X100T. This was a cheaper option as it’s already been succeeded by the X100F but there’s still new stock to be had.

I expected a lot of familiarity and wasn’t disappointed, but things have moved on from my X-E1 and the menus and functions took some exploration. I also had trouble getting the electronic viewfinder properly calibrated so preview and finished shot matched up.

Teething troubles aside, working with this little one is fairly simple in my preferred manual mode. The aperture control on the lens can be a bit fiddly, as I’m more used to a chunky lens to adjust. The complete absence of zoom capability is at times an issue, but you have to adapt your photography.

But it’s a nifty little operator and the initial results prove that it has Fuji pedigree that I’ve grown to love a great deal, while having a camera close by much of the time is a huge advantage.

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Shingle spit

June 25, 2017June 25, 2017 / mikeosbornphoto / 19 Comments

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I thought it was a lifeguard, peering out to sea. But no, it was a man with his camera standing on a lofty vantage point. He beat me to it.

This is Zlatni Rat on the island of Brac on Croatia’s beautiful Adriatic coastline. It’s this amazing spit of land made up of shingle, and has become a popular spot for Croatians and overseas visitors to Dalmatia. You approach it from the small town of Bol via a broad pine-clad avenue. The sea shimmers a myriad of blues and sailing boats bob gently on the water.

Like many places around this country, it’s well worth a visit. Here are just a few more Zlatni Rat moments…

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The orchid show

June 8, 2017March 16, 2020 / mikeosbornphoto / 4 Comments

This was an unexpected bonus of a Sunday afternoon visit to Tatton Park, a Cheshire stately home and grounds. One of its buildings was crammed with the delicious fragrance and stunning colours of orchids. These flowers came in all beguilingly delicate varieties, almost overwhelming the space. I swiftly shifted to my 60mm macro and tried to make the best of a tricky subdued light…

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Come closer

March 3, 2016March 2, 2016 / mikeosbornphoto / 10 Comments

My Fuji family has just expanded with the addition of a new lens, the Fujifilm XF 18-135mm zoom. This sits aside the 18-55mm kit lens that came as standard with my Fuji X-E1 back in 2012, and the 60mm macro lens.

There is a comprehensive array of lenses for the Fuji compact system, with this zoom one of the more heavyweight offerings. Its substantially greater focal range offers the chance to bring distant objects and views closer, and hang back in street photography situations.

My first observations with this piece of glass is that it feels quite weighty attached to the light body of my camera. The instinct is to cradle it with one hand while carrying it around my neck. The manual zoom ring gives quite a lot of resistance, but it needs time to loosen up. Another practicality is that my camera bag has become heavier, there’s less space in it and will have to be replaced if the family expands any further.

I went into central London and conducted a simple test using the BT Tower – a prominent city landmark – to prove the lens’ zooming prowess. The left-hand image (below) is at 55mm, the extent of my usual kit lens. The right-hand one was taken at the full 135mm, and the difference is obvious.

As a photographer who likes capturing tall structures and landscapes, this should be worth its weight in gold. Whether the 18-135mm lens will become my standard remains to be seen. And it’s weather resistant, but I have a phobia of exposing my camera to wet weather which is not likely to change. These are just initial impressions and a full review with technical specifications can be found on Ken Rockwell’s site.

Grand mosque

January 24, 2016January 11, 2020 / mikeosbornphoto / 27 Comments

This magnificent building was my main incentive for taking a trip to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Situated on a huge site to the north of the country’s capital, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque can accommodate 41,000 worshippers and is an opulent feat of architecture, completed in 2007.

But my visit, under the piercing blue of an Arabian Gulf sky, was less about religious observance as tourists from all over the world flocked to see this impressive complex. It’s a myriad of pillars, windows, arches and domes, while the interior is studded with gems and cut glass.

With tourists come phones, selfie sticks and iPads in a building where photography is thankfully allowed. It feels almost impossible to take an original image. But with this wealth of lines, symmetry, colour and majesty, you just have to go with your instinct and capture what enthralls your own eye.

This isn’t the end of the story with the mosque. There is even more to come…