lightcraftsman

<p>Les,<br>

I own an X-E1 and have used the 35/1.4 extensively. While the autofocus is not as fast as on my Canon L lenses, when it locks focus it is very precise. As for sharpness, I enlarged an image shot tripod mounted to 24x36 inches and it was sharp enough to read the license plate on a car one block away. This is a very fine lens if you do not need super-fast focusing. I shot mainly fine-art landscape now, so the focus speed is not an issue for me.<br>

Darron</p>

<p>I bought an X-E1 last summer and sold my EOS gear. Love the IQ and the light weight. </p>

<p>Welcome to photo.net. I haven't been to Montana in a few years, but I love it there. </p>

<p>I've been using West Coast Imaging for years and they do excellent work. I have to ask, though, are you sure your lab is at fault for the dark prints? This is a common complaint and it almost always the fault of the person prepping the file.<br>

Are you prepping the files at home or do you send them to the lab? Is your monitor calibrated? Have you made proof prints?</p>

<p>Instead of carrying a separate hard drive when traveling I bought some USB memory sticks and use those for backup. Much smaller, and they are available in USB 3 versions, although I use USB 2 and just go do something while the images are copying from my MacBook Pro.</p>

<p>I rented an X-E1 and 35/1.4 lens on a trip to Denmark in May. I enlarged one photo to 24x36 inches and my wife was so stunned by the quality she let me by an X-E1 kit. The 35/1.4 is a superb lens, and the X Trans sensor is no slouch. I no longer suffer from Red Dot Envy.</p>

<p>Check out <em>The Photographers Guide to Yosemite</em> by Michael Frye. He lives near the park and knows it well. As mentioned above there are too many excellent locations in Yosemite to do them justice in a web reply. You can find beautiful scenery everywhere in that park.</p>

<p>I was in Big Bend a few days ago and while we had clear skies one night the humidity in the air really cut down on the starlight. It is the rainy season in the American Southwest right now so traveling that far for star photography doesn't make sense. October through February is the best time for dark skies in West Texas and presumably the rest of the American Southwest. </p>

<p>Fort Davis Texas is a great place for astronomy and star photography. As a bonus the McDonald Observatory has public star parties on clear nights. There are also some nice B&B establishments in Fort Davis. </p>

Get the Sony RX-100, either the original or the new MK II. I am also a fine art photographer and bought an RX-100 last

December. I have made some gallery worthy 16x24 inch prints out of handheld shots with that camera.

<p>Marcus, are you using a lens hood? If not, that could be part of the problem. The 50/1.8 is a very good lens, but if light is striking the front element when you take photos that will reduce contrast and wash out colors.</p>

<p>You've had some good advice on lenses, but be careful when buying inexpensive zooms. My wife bought a Tamron 17-50/2.8 for her 60D and it was so good I ordered another for my 60D. Our second example was a terrible lens. It showed severe chromatic aberration even at f/8, and back focused almost every photograph. I returned it, sold my wife's 17-50 Tamron and bought a used Canon 17-35/2.8L. Even being more than 15 years old it was a better lens in every respect than either Tamron.</p>

<p>The extra cost of professional lenses buys you more than build quality and faster apertures. Pro zoom lenses have more elements using more expensive glass than the less expensive equivalents, and handle difficult lighting (such as backlit tree branches) more capably than less expensive zooms. My 17-35L showed very little CA under the same conditions where my wife's Tamron lens exhibited moderate CA and the one I bought for myself was dreadful.</p>

<p>I'd rather have one good lens than three cheap ones, especially for fine art work. Decide whether you need a wider lens or a longer lens next, then get the Nikon 35/1.8G or 85/1.8G.</p>

<p>I agree the Fuji site is poorly designed. When I click the Download Now button I expect a download to begin, but instead am taken to a page where I have to scroll down to see yet another Download link. Fuji really needs someone to clean the UI on their site.</p>

<p>However, kudos to Fuji for listening to their customers and updating their cameras' firmware swiftly and effectively. I switched from Canon to Fuji and am not looking back. </p>

Downloaded the latest firmware yesterday and the focus speed on the 60mm lens, while improved, does not bring it into

portrait lens territory, but it isn't a portrait lens. I eagerly await the 56/1.2 lens for portraits.

<p>I have Wasabi batteries for my X-E1 and Sony RX-100. They are every bit as good as the OEM batteries and came with a wall charger and international plug adapter.</p>

<p>I have an X-E1 with the 14, 35, 60 and 55-200 lenses. If you're looking for lightning fast autofocus response this is not the system for you. The 35 focuses plenty fast for street photography but is not a portrait lens. The 60 is a macro lenses and like most macro lenses it focuses more slowly than other lenses in its range. There is another firmware update due tomorrow that promises faster autofocus, so I'll check it after updating.</p>

<p>Fuji's roadmap lists a 56/1.2 lens coming later this year. If it is as fast as the 35/1.4 it will be fine for portraits. that said, the Fuji X system excels at static subjects, but is not a good choice for moving subjects. I use mine for fine art landscape photography and am very happy with it. Trees and rocks are famously slow moving.</p>

<p>I second the suggestion to take the OMD on your trip. Lighter is better when traveling.</p>

<p>If you do the manual calibration in a room with no reflections and you have good color perception you can get pretty darn close. One trick I learned is to defocus my eyes a bit while going through the steps. Good luck.</p>

<p>Still, the best solution is to save your change in a jar for a few months until you can afford $150 for a hardware calibrator.</p>

<p>Gil, the problem with the 7D is low-light image quality. I'd go for the 6D in this case. Much better in low light than the 7D, and much less expensive than the 5D Mkiii. Available light is always better than on-cmaera flash.</p>

<p>Keep the 7D as a backup and for longer shots. I cannot understand why anyone would worry about 1/4000 second as a limitation on shutter speed. I've been shooting professionally for 30 years, including four years as a professional motorsports photographer, and have never needed to shoot that fast.</p>

<p>Tammy, you've received some excellent advice about the creative and technical aspects of photography here. I'm going to give a different perspective.</p>

<p>I took an organizational change class this spring (yes, I'm old enough to be a grandfather and just getting around to finishing my degree). You are going through the same thing everyone goes through during a transition. Your frustration is normal and healthy. The way to overcome it is to create a change management plan. Decide where you want to go, then think of ways to get there. Perhaps devoting one hour per day to working on a specific photograph will help. Make time to take photos for yourself and develop your style. Get a copy of the book <em>Managing Transitions </em>by William Bridges. That was our text for the class and it is an excellent introduction to the subject.</p>

<p>Most of all, don't be paralyzed by change. Concentrate on the small steps in the process and you will get through this and be a more confident person and photographer.</p>

<p>Like many others here I've been at photography for a long time. I've done a lot of different types of photography over the years, but it wasn't until I was 57 years old that I decided what I want to be when I grow up. I'm in the midst of that career change right now; concentrating on fine art landscape photography, working on a business plan and, yes, refining my personal style and developing my brand. Geez, I hope that doesn't discourage you.</p>

<p>I have an NEC P221W and with calibrator and it worked fine with my 2009 13-inch MacBook Pro. I have since upgraded to a 2012 Mac Mini and the monitor still works fine. This monitor may no longer be available, but the NEC P241W looks like a good choice in your price range. Get a Spyder4Pro calibrator and you're good to go.</p>

<p>Even today's entry level computers can handle PhotoShop chores quite well. I use a bottom of the line 2012 Mac Mini with 16GB RAM and it has no problem processing 3GB psb files. I use a 240GB Sandisk SSD as my startup drive and a 4TB striped external HD connected via Thunderbolt for my photos. I'm getting 350 mb/s throughput from the external HD. The largest files take 6-8 seconds to load.</p>

<p>The key is getting a monitor you can calibrate and learning how to do so. I have an NEC P221W as my working monitor and an old Sony 17-inch monitor I use for my palettes. Don't stress over people who say you need to fastest computer available. I work on a variety of digital images, from originals shot with a Canon D30 (3MP) to medium format and 4x5 drum scans (600MB) and my humble computer handles them fine.</p>

<p>Also, don't forget to budget for a backup hard drive. </p>

<p>I love TLRs, and used to have an Ftb as a backup camera. Welcome to photo.net.</p>

<p>Thanks Hector. It is good to be back.</p>

C Watson raises a good point. Most people want and need a camera they can carry in a pocket or purse and is simple to

operate. Few people make prints any more, so what's the use of buying a camera when they already have 8 MP or more

in their phone?

 

However, if anyone can make inroads with an MILC, Fuji may the company that does so. I ditched my DSLR equipment a

few months ago and just purchased an X-E1 after seeing the quality I can pull from this little gem. The 24x36 inch print I

made last week is incredible. If I was still a pro even photographer I'd use a DSLR, but for the events I'm shooting now my

Sony RX-100 is sufficient. The Fuji is my main fine art photography camera.

 

I'm keeping my Hasselblad 501CM for special occasions, but when traveling overseas or hiking into wilderness areas the

Fuji will be in my bag.

<p>I'm using LR5 and recently enlarged a RAW image from a rented X-E1 to 24x36 inches in PhotoShop CS6. The print was so good I bought an X-E1 and three lenses (14, 35 and 60) yesterday. I always shoot RAW+JPEG for the reasons Dave and Howard mentioned above.</p>

<p>Thanks for the tip, Andy. I'm downloading the software for my X-E1 right now.</p>