Summer in the City

A Fuji X-Pro 1 review from a documentary wedding photographer | Part 1

Last weekend I had the pleasure to shoot the wedding of Svenja and Tommy in Hamburg. It was a great day and for the first time I was able to use my new Fuji X1 Pro in a real world shooting experience. I was already quite familiar with how it works because I used a X100 for the last couple of month.
What I like most about the new Fuji cams is the fact that they are small, silent and yet offer amazing image quality. What makes the XPro 1 so interesting for me is the fact that you can now change lenses.
For this shooting I only used the 35mm 1,4 though. So here are my thoughts:

- The jpeg files ooc are just superb. Nice colors and even more important pretty accurate white balance. In fact the X1Pro and X100 are the only cameras I only shot in jpeg mode. Just because they are so good.

- AF performance is good if you are able to anticipate the shot and don't chase the subjects. But coming from old school manual focusing in the film days I don't worry too much about that. I feel that the AF is still fast enough for almost anything I shoot.
The AF is also very accurate BUT you need to know about parallax correction with the optical viewfinder otherwise you might end up with the AF on the wrong spot. This is especially important when shooting the 35mm wide open at f1,4 where depths of field is very little.
- One thing I really love with the optical viewfinder is the ability to see outside the frame. This really helps me composing better pictures and I don't have to wave the camera around to see what is outside the "tunnel".

- I love the handling of this camera. Everything you need is at the right place: aperture ring, exposure comp., shutter speed. Just perfect. I love this "old school" layout better than the new cameras.

- The 35mm lens is simply amazing! It is super sharp and great colors. I love how it renders the picture.

- High iso is great. I feel I can use this camera under any lighting conditions.

Well, so far I am super happy with the camera. This week I will travel to Sweden to teach tap dance at the famous Herräng Dance Camp. There I will get a chance to test the camera a bit more. I will update this review as I gain more experience with it.

 So here are a few shots take with the XPro 1. Enjoy....

UPDATE! I just published a new blog post regarding shooting a wedding with the Fuji X100 and X-Pro 1

Wedding of Arne und Maike

Another cool wedding that took place in June. Such a nice and good looking couple....

Wedding of Carolin and Jojo

Slowly I am catching up with all the post production and editing of last weeks weddings. The wedding of Carolin and Jojo took place in Hamburg a few weeks ago. This time I was only shooting my Nikons and it was great fun....

Wedding of Anke and Bastian

The last couple of weeks I have been quite busy photographing weddings every weekend but finally I find some time to post some pictures here. This wonderful wedding took place in the beginning of June in Hamburg. Enjoy....

Wedding of Katleen and Dirk

A week ago I shot the wedding of Katleen and Dirk in Hamburg. It was a nice ceremony followed by a boat ride on the river Elbe with an old steam boat. The weather was a bit chilly but it was a lot of fun. 

Again I used the Fuji X100 along with my Nikon D3. In the end the Fuji was used for 40% of all keepers. That is very good. And I can only repeat myself but I really like the X100 for documentary work. 

In this series the last two are from the X100. Enjoy...

Wedding pics of the week #2

Last week I photographed two weddings.  I had great fun on both occasions and here are some of my favorite shots. Once I am done editing all the photos I will post more.
Again I used the Fuji X-100 along my trusty Nikon D3. As much as I like the Fuji for it's weight, size and output I would never want to miss the Nikon. It is such a reliable workhorse. Maybe it is time to look into the D4..... Enjoy!