Tag: fuji X-T1

Circles

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The Girl and I walked a showery day out at Silver Saddle Ranch last week. All the fair-weather hikers stayed home, so we nearly had the place to ourselves. Mother Nature put on a nice display for us as we started our hike. Yes, there is a rainbow. Shot with Fuji X100V at f/8 using the Kodachrome 64 film simulation, SOOC.

I had supper with an old friend last night1. One of his favorite subjects (as a photographer) is bees. He loves to make images of bees going about their work. He reminded me that I stumbled upon at least one pepsis wasps a couple-three years ago. Well, maybe it was four-years ago.

Ki and I were walking one of our routes along the Carson River/Mexican Ditch out at Silver Saddle Ranch. There is a section of that trail I call “The Slot” because one side is bounded by a fence intended to keep livestock (and people) out of the river corridor and the other side is bounded by a fence to keep livestock in the pasture. An irrigation ditch parallels the latter so there is a large berm to keep water in the ditch. The path is only four or five feet wide, in contrast to 10 or 15 feet wide along other sections.

I generally kept Ki (and now Sera) on-lead when we pass through that section of the trail. Line of sight is limited and I do not want to be surprised by other canines. I suppose that is unnecessary information.

On the particular day, I noticed a couple of butterflies working a milkweed plant. And then I noticed a black wasp with red wings. That got my attention. I had the Fuji X-T1 with the Fujinon 35mm f/2 lens mounted to it2. I made a capture of the wasp… probably several captures.

I cannot find them. I spent an hour last night looking for the originals and found nothing. They must be lost with one of the transitions in software I made over the years. I recall leaving both Aperture and Lightroom behind. The images might have been lost the respective libraries. That is a pity.

In any event, I found an image here in my weblog. It was a rumination on a chance meeting with a woman named Judy M., who I met on the trail out by Carson River. My recollection is that she was another wanderer who was working through some life changes. I recall that we visited off and on while hiking the trail and that she created her own weblog where she posted her own ruminations.

I have not heard from her in several years. We kept up via email for a while. Her weblog is gone. Perhaps she is, too. I do not know.

But, as I think I have reflected here a number of times, I am reminded that we have circles of engagement about us. The smallest holds those closest to us — close family, closest friends, and lovers. They are more permanent than most other people we encounter in life.

The next circle is a bit larger. It contains the first group plus other friends and professional relations. These are less permanent relationships, though they might be strong for a time. But things change and those folks move on to other places, people, and endeavors.

The last circle is larger yet. It contains the first two groups plus the myriad of other folks who wander into our lives for a time, maybe are close and could possibly join the other inner circles, but for whatever reasons do not stick and wander away again.

That departure sometimes leaves a hole behind. I can think of a few relationships that I thought were going to last, with the individual moving close and closer to my inner circle for a time, maybe even stay for a year or three. But, sometimes abruptly, they leave. Those leavings sometimes hurt a bit.

Judy never made it that close. But we were friends for a time. I wished her well and enjoyed the company and conversation of another who wanders. I wonder where she might be now. I expect to never know.

In the end, I find it a bit fascinating how dynamic my social life has been. I have never had a large social group. I am an introvert and gain energy in solitude (with my dog now; with Wife for many years). But I have a social group and parts of it are dynamic, with others moving in and out of my circles.

Now I need to get on with my day. I am preparing to sell several camera bodies that I am not using and am not going to use. I replaced my first Sony A7S with an A7Sii last year. My approach to photography is a bit different than the use case of A7S series, so I bought a Sony A7iii late last week. It will be delivered in a couple of days and I will put it to use shooting my vintage glass.

A few weeks ago I took a notion to shoot the 35mm lenses in my vintage collection. I did the shoot with the A7Sii and was fascinated by the difference in optical performance. I am going to re-shoot the test with the A7iii (a 24MP camera opposed to the 12MP of the A7Sii) and then put together a comparison of the results. I do not expect a dramatic difference attributable to the change in camera resolution, but that will make an interesting observation as well. It will be fun.

The image is from last week. We had a day of showery weather — definitely a sign that fall is here and winter approaches. We walked anyway, with The Girl pausing now and again to shake the rain from what little fur she has. As we hiked the access road, I noticed the bright patch over my left shoulder and paused to make an image. The faint rainbow was a gift.

As always, I am grateful. Life is definitely good.

1No, I did not have an old friend for supper last night!

2I thought I had a different body and a Vivitar 90mm f/2.5 macro lens. I guess my remembry is broken. Or there are (or were) more images than just the one.

Washoe Lake and Slide Mountain

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From the gazebo overlooking Washoe Valley, I shot this frame with the Fuji X-T1 and the Voigtlander 27mm f/2 at f/8 raw. I post-processed the image with Photolab 7 to look like Kodachrome 64.

When The Girl and I paused at the gazebo that overlooks Washoe Valley from the south yesterday, I made a few captures with the (now ancient) Fujifilm X-T1 and the Voigtlander 27mm f/2 manual focus lens (in X-Mount).

I really like this vantage point and should probably get up really early and hike it so I can catch some morning Sun just striking the valley floor. That would probably make it worth dragging the Pentax 645Nii and shooting some film.

While I stood there just taking in the scene, I thought how interesting it might be to bring a large format film camera to this location and make some captures on black and white film. With the proper filtration, the sky could be darkened to make the contrast pop. That would be best if there were a few clouds.

A couple of color frames might be interesting as well.

The Girl ignored my thoughts, of course, and focused on cooling down and her water bowl.

When I put away her bowl and stowed my camera, she jumped up, ready to continue the lizard hunt. We headed back down the hill, both satisfied and a little warm.

It was a good day. Life is good.

Not All Who Wander are Lost

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The Girl leading me down Deadman’s Creek Trail out at Washoe Lake State Park. Shot with Fujifilm X-T1, Voigtlander 27mm f/2 at f/8, and post-processed to a Tmax 400 film simulation using Nik Silver Efex Pro 6 and DXO Photolab 7.

After my physician’s appointment this morning, I decided to take The Girl out to Deadman’s Creek trail for our daily outing. It was not too hot (could have been on the south facing side of the climb) and I was surprised at the amount of vegetation growing along the creek and the coolness caused by said vegetation’s respiration. It was very cool, literally and figuratively.

The climbout tested me a bit and I was very watchful of the girl as there can be rattlesnakes there. It seems that previous traffic motivated the snakes to stay away from the trail, so The Girl had some fun chasing lizards and rodents while we hiked.

We paused at the gazebo overlook for a water break and for me to make a few captures of Washoe Lake and Slide Mountain. I finished the test roll in the Fujifilm Klasse and made a few more captures with the Fujifilm X-T1 and a lovely little Voigtlander 27mm f/2 lens. That X-T1 has been carried a lot and the body shows it. But the shutter does not have a high count because I shoot all of my cameras like I do film — deliberately.

I saw another hiker with two dogs depart the staging area, so decided to be watchful on our return trip. But, they took the cutoff (which is marked “Do not cut the trail“) and there was no canine encounter. I think that is just as well as they seemed pretty active and Sera would have loved to engage.

Maybe it would have been alright. I just never know until the dogs meet. Don’t start none; won’t be none.

As we reentered the cool of the vegetation along the creek (still water in it too, which she enjoyed), I noticed her waggle as she advanced down the trail. I made the capture.

When I arrived back home, got some stuff done, and then reviewed the images, the caption came to mind. We do wander quite a lot, The Girl and I. We are rarely lost, though. We simply like to wander.

I am grateful. Life is good.

Smurfette

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A capture of Smurfette with the Fujifilm X-T1 and a Zhongyi 35mm f/0.95 lens. Post-processing in the iPhone 13 Pro Max using Snapseed.

I needed an image for my Project 365 this evening. The Fujifilm X-T1 with a Zhongyi 35mm f/0.95 manual focus lens was sitting on my desk. I picked it up and made the capture of Smurfette. She sits on my worktable, a toy I found lost or discarded in the backyard of my apartment. I am sure there is a story there. After washing her with a toothbrush and some detergent, I decided she needed a home and my place is as good as any.

It makes me think I should get out some of my Schleich toy animals and feature them on my desk, in rotation. They accompanied me on my walk-about after Wife died. I would get them out wherever I landed and put them on my desk for company when I worked.

The Girl and I had a good hike this morning. We went up in the mountains again. We were blessed with a bit of high clouds so the Sun was not so brutal.

When we got home, I visited with Older Son while I grilled a hamburger for lunch. Lunch was good, with the hamburger dressed with Pepperjack cheese, lettuce, a slice of red onion and some tomato, and spicy mustard. It was tasty.

I also finished the install of my Starlink system here at the house. I bought a Starlink late last year so I could have Internet service while traveling. This releases me from the desk because I can work anywhere. There is no reason to pay for landline Internet and Starlink, so I decommissioned the landline and access point/router, installed a wall pass-through for the Starlink cable, and added a Ethernet switch for the wired connections. I also terminated my ISP service and will return their equipment this week.

I am working on getting my workroom in order. I still need to clean the PC side of my workspace, strip and recycle the old tower, and transfer the 32-inch monitor to the new laptop computer. I can use the extra screen real estate for my work. I might start that process tomorrow.

Much of the week will be spent in the field surveying. I have some office work to do as well, which is good with the money I have been spending.

I am reading a set of E-zines I purchased from Sean Tucker, a UK-based photographer and writer who reminds me much of myself. Although, he does a lot more portraits than I do. But, much of his other work does remind me of my own photographic interests.

It was a good day. The Girl wants some of my attention, so I think it time to move to the sofa so she can snuggle. After I fed her, she started asking. Now she is waiting patiently on her bed under my worktable.

Life is good.

Snoozing Sera

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I have so many images of my Girl. This one was shot with the Fujifilm X-T1, the Meike 35mm f/0.95 wide open, and converted in-camera using Pro-Negative film simulation, SOOC.

I shot this image a few minutes ago for a daily image. I take a lot of photos of The Girl. She is a ready model, does not mind, and is good looking. She also has so many aspects to her personality that she presents many photo-ops.

I have a Shawn Mullins album playing in the background, Beneath the Velvet Sun. One of the songs, Amy’s Eyes brought a tear to my eye. When I dealt with my depression, so many years ago, this song was a reminder of how Wife saw the world through different eyes than I do. The world just seemed to be a bit brighter for her and I envied that, a little.

In time I got better, but the observation remained — Wife just seemed to see the world a little brighter than I do. Although she died more than a decade ago, her presence is still missed. I especially miss her voice. We talked a lot, much of it inconsequential, but that did not matter.

Now that it is cooling off, I think it is time to hit the rack. The morning will come quickly and there are some things to do tomorrow.

I am grateful. Life is good.

Daily Image: On the Trail 19 June 2024

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The well-worn trail from the sand pit to Mexican Ditch at Silver Saddle Ranch. Fujifilm X-T1, Fujinon 35mm f/2 at f/8. Raw image converted to Acros film simulation in-camera. Straight out of camera.

We hiked out at Silver Saddle Ranch the last few days. It is closer to the house and the weather has been cooler, so Sera does not get too hot. I am on the watch for snakes and keep her close in. There is also the chance of encountering another canine and she can be reactive (depending on the other dog).

On this particular hike, I carried the Fuji X-T1 (my first Fujifilm camera) with the little Fujinon 35mm f/2 lens. It is from Fuji’s compact lens series, which remind me of the old film rangefinder camera lenses. The rangefinder cameras and their lenses tended to be compact (and good). There was also less of a range of focal lengths for those cameras because of the limitations of the rangefinder focusing system.

But, I digress. I do like to talk about equipment.

I struggled to keep my attention focused on my space. My mind wandered in every direction, that barking dog or chattering monkey figuratively trailing me on the trail. It took effort to reign in my wandery mind and focus on my Girl and our hike. The camera I brought to help me with that did not help. I struggled to find a subject to capture or a place to pose The Girl so I could make an image.

I elected to carry the old X-T1 because it is small and the 35mm lens offers a different look at things than the 23mm of the X100V. I thought about tossing another lens into the bag before we left the house, but elected to keep the kit small. A recent goal is to keep things as simple as practical because of my propensity for making things overly complicated.

Aside: As I write this early Wednesday morning, Sera just wandered in to my workroom to check on me. She looked at me, made eye contact, and asked if I am OK. She knows I am up early, even for me, and decided to check on me. After some interaction, a few pets, a doggie smile, she headed back to bed. I will return there and sleep a bit more before I really start my day.

For most of the last year, I have been shooting mostly JPG images with the Fuji X Weekly film simulations. The Fuji cameras are particularly good at reproducing certain film looks and I want that film look. (That means I need to shoot more film, I think.)

But, over the last week or so, I decided to revert back to shooting in RAW and then post-processing the RAW files to a processed (in-camera or at the computer) JPG after the fact. I generally have an idea whether I am looking at a subject that will present better in black and white or color.

So, for the trail image above, I knew that I would produce a black and white image. I also knew I wanted to use one of the embedded film simulations in the X-T1. The ACROS seems like the one to use.

Today and tomorrow I will finish up my preparations for a Field Day 2024 expedition. I will camp with friends out south from Smith Valley, Nevada. We will have a good time of radio play and fellowship.

When I come home Monday, I will have to do a quick reprovision of the camper because I have field work the remainder of next week. Then I expect to be home for a bit as I have a number of personal projects to work on before the summer ends.

Camping is good. The fellowship of friends is also good. Life is good. I am grateful.

Hydrant

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Freezeproof hydrant at Silver Saddle Ranch.

The Girl (Sera) and walk past this freezeproof hydrant nearly every day. It is part of the stock watering system at Silver Saddle Ranch. Today it called to me. The light was flat but that is pretty easy to fix in post-processing. So I paused, checked for traffic, and made the capture.

The Girl and I then continued our walk and I made a few more images. In then end, though, when I reviewed my captures after we got home, I picked this one.

It was made with the Fuji X-T1 and an adapted Nikkor 135/3.5 telephoto. I like many of the Nikkor lenses nearly as much as the Fujinon glass.

It was a good walk and a good day. I am grateful.

Lenticular Over Piñon Hills

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Fuji X-T1 and Fujinon 35/2 with in-camera conversion. Daily capture from morning walkies with The Girl.

We had a nice morning walk out at Silver Saddle Ranch this morning. It will be windy this afternoon. I know this partly because that is the forecast. However, the wind was already up at 0900h local, which is early. Also, the lenticular clouds foreshadow the coming of more wind.

It is a bit early for us to have Zephyr winds. But this is an unusual weather year. I think El Niño is strong this year. Now I wonder what the coming winter will bring. Will it be more heavy snow?

The Girl and I enjoyed the morning walk. I might even get out to play some radio this afternoon. We will see.

Snowy Ki in Orange

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This was shot in January 2020 while we were on walkies. She had her orange hoodie on and still wanted to walk.

Ki will always be The Original Girl, even as I begin calling Sera The Girl.

I found this image on the memory card of my Fuji X-T1 camera this afternoon. I was doing a couple of test shots with an old Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 manual focus lens. When I grabbed the SD card from the camera, this was on the card. I do not recall making the shot, though I do remember the day.

She was not feeling well after a couple of really bad seizures. But she still wanted to get out and walk and she so loved the snow. So we took her out for a walk — as long a walk as she wanted. She even let me put on this orange hoodie a friend gave us.

I was thinking about her this morning. I do not recall what made me think of her, perhaps it was my play with Sera. Sera and I have been playing tug with the old rope Ki and I used. Plus I bought her a new Kong squeaky-stick, which is a toy that Ki also loved to play with.

I am using the same training approach with Sera that I did with Ki. My friend Ana taught me to use the tug to teach them to manage their energy. Both of them get (got) very excited by the tug. So we tug for a bit, then I ask for a release and tease her with the frayed end of the tug, but require them to leave it.

Ki got it and it helped her a lot. This morning Sera was getting it. She wanted to continue to play, but listened to me and it was a good session.

I love working with dogs. They are such wonderful creatures.

Yesterday afternoon I sat on the couch in the cool living room to rest and read a little. It was not long before The Girl showed up, oozed up onto the sofa, and stuck her face right up against mine.

After checking on me, she laid down next to me and put her head on my thigh. It was not long before she was sleeping. Her relaxation and sleep sounds made me put down my book before I dropped it. I then fell asleep too.

I only woke because my legs went to sleep. Otherwise I might have slept a couple of hours.

I loved how Ki shared her life and energy with me. I miss her and always will. She was a unique personality who was a huge part of my life. She also had a large part in the care of Wife.

And guess what, The Girl is a huge part of my life and is a unique personality who came into my life at the exact moment that I needed her. We need each other and have a good life together, full of love, play, and even a little work. God willing, Sera will be as well traveled as Ki was and have experiences that only a few dogs ever do.

I love dogs, working with them, living with them, having them be part of my life.

Life is good.

Fujinon XF 35mm F/2 Lens

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This compact Fujinon 35mm f/2 is one of my favorite lenses.

I bought the Fujinon XF 35mm f/2 WR lens some time ago. I don’t recall exactly when I purchased the lens, but it was sometime after I bought my X-T1. As Fujifilm released their compact series of lenses, they received very good reviews. They are fast. They are compact. They are well-made (mostly metal and glass with plastic where it makes sense). They are weather resistant (like the X-T1).

There are plenty of very technical, pixel-peeping, jargon-filled reviews on the Interwebs. I think those reviews are interesting, but then I am an engineer and I like technical analysis. My short review is not like those. That is all done and I can add nothing significant to that content.

What I can do is share some of my experience with this particular lens on the X-T1. I carry it a lot (hence all the dust). It complements the small form-factor of the X-T1 well. It is excellent optically. It focuses accurately (for the most part) and quickly. It is also very quiet.

I found this on morning walkies Sunday and had to have an image.
A number of the images on my weblog were made with the Fuji 35/2. Some of my favorite images (think the pepsis wasp) were made with this lens. Some of the characteristics of this lens that I like are:

  • It will focus to about a foot, which is close enough to work as a light macro lens.
  • It has good contrast.
  • It is small and light.
  • It is fast enough to provide separation between the subject and the background.
  • The out of focus portions of the image are quite pleasing.

There is only one thing that I don’t think this lens does very well. It will sometimes miss focus, especially when close in. That is a limitation of the system and not a fault of the lens. The Fujinon 35/2 is not a true macro lens. The focusing sensors will sometimes target the background behind a close subject. When I miss this in review I am disappointed when I return to the computer and begin working on the image.

The solution is to check focus in the field after making the capture. The alternative is to use manual focus (which the X-T1 does very well) with the split screen and focus peaking.

The split-screen capability of the X-T1 operates by presenting a small portion of the center of the image, enlarged, adjacent to the full frame in the EVF. This is perfect for use with manual focus, either when operating the Fujinon lenses in manual mode or when attaching legacy manual focus lenses to the camera via an adapter. (I have a large collection of legacy glass that can produce beautiful images.)

This boy is the victim of a couple of bad spinal disks. However, in the water, he’s just a dog — his land-gear left behind.
Focus peaking is an algorithm in the camera firmware that detects the sharpness of the image and highlights sharp areas in the EVF. Focus peaking was a feature of my first mirrorless camera (a Sony NEX-5N, that I loved and used a great deal) and was a requirement when I started looking at the Fujifilm Finepix cameras. Fuji knows how to do focus peaking just as well as Sony.

Although my intent is not to review the Fujifilm X-T1, those points are salient because the Fujinon 35/2 works with the camera as a system and this system works well for me. It is a good system.

To sum up, I really like the handling of this lens on the X-T1. With a compact lens and relatively small body, the combination is light, handles very well, produces excellent images, and is a joy to use. The X-T1 and 35/2 fit into a small bag and there is room for extra batteries, extra memory cards, and a couple more of the compact Fujinon lenses. But, those lenses are a topic for another entry.