An online journal sharing my interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, spirituality and asking deep questions.
A short comment about the Fujifilm XF16-80mm f4.0 lens. Loving it! Crisp images. I’m impressed with the how close I can get for macro images. It is silent compared to the XF18-55mm f2.8-4.0 lens. The focus is almost negligible. I was worried at first with the OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) because it is so quick. Thought I may have a bad lens but some experimenting let me know it does it’s job. At my age the OIS is a nice plus. For sure making me a better photographer. 😊
“When you have a moment, just listen to the beauty of silence. It has so much to say.”
Armin Ganguly
I found this article from the Sierra Club interesting. Some of you may have already read it or at least seen the headlines about it. The Sierra Club is apologizeing for some of the early directions the organization took and the views of some of their founders. I found it very revealing and helping me see my role of my privileged life.
On my walk around Dixon Reservoir I found this most beautiful plant I do not remember ever seeing before. At first I thought it was in the milkweed family because I found it near some mildweeds. But, it’s scientific name is Euphorbia marginata or called Snow-on-the-mountain. I would not recommend trying to say the scientific name if you have a mouth full of peanut butter, just saying. It has grey-green leaves along branches and smaller leaves in terminal whorls with edges trimmed with wide white bands, creating, together with the white flowers, the appearance that gives the plant its common names. I thought they were beautiful!
When I went to upload this image my laptop could not find any photos, either through Lightroom or Finder. I changed card readers and the same thing. Grabbed the manual and began looking up the card information on the card slots. Wanted to make sure I had the camera set up correctly as it is my first camera with dual card slots. I wanted it to be in the Sequence mode, storing images on the card in slot 1 until full then begin storing to slot 2. I had it set up right. I began to think it was a bad SD card. Put the SD card back in the camera and playback showed all the images. It was then that I found the images were stored on the second SD card. I’ve discovered that if you do not have the SD card all the way in, or not even have a card in slot 1, the camera will default to storing images in slot 2 if there is a card in the slot.
So, I learned two lessons yesterday. One was the information on this plant and the second one about my dual storage slots on the new Fujifilm X-T3 camera.
These are the leaves of a hops plant that was climbing up the wall at the apartment my sister and brother-in-law were renting in Lake Forest, Washington. The hop is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Although frequently referred to in American literature as the hops “vine”, it is technically a bine; unlike vines, which use tendrils, suckers, and other appendages for attaching themselves, bines have stout stems with stiff hairs to aid in climbing (Wikipedia). Anyway the leaves were stunning in details so I grabbed the camera.
This image was taken last night as a nice rain storm was developing in the west. I could see the rain falling in the foothills so I drove out to the natural area. This allowed me to participate in the storm as it built up with wind, lightning, thunder and then the gentle rain. The image is a raw file using Adobe Landscape profile in Lightroom Classic.
I’m pleased with how solid the camera feels in my hands. The size and build are the draw even though there is a small weight increase. Also impressed with how snappy and quiet it can focus, which I would expect. The joystick is a joy!! I was pretty sure that it was going to be something I’d like.
I must admit I was overwhelmed when I first started reading the manual, even questioning my decision. There seemed so much to learn. I could not believe all the information provided in the viewfinder, to the point of almost forgetting to look at the subject when I first used it. But that has quickly died down by practicing with it. It will become second nature.
I’ve only shot with raw files so still need to look at the jpeg files. The raw files are Huge! I’ve gone from about 30 meg to 50 meg, an increase of 30%. Glad I upgraded to the 4TB drives a few months ago. I imagine I will be deleting more images because of their size.
My first thing I will mention on the new camera is the size difference. I have been shooting the smaller cameras for about 7 years so this X-T3 seems BIG. In comparison the X-T3 is about 5.5 ounces heavier than the X-T10 (30%), yet it is 13.5 ounces (40%) lighter than my Nikon D300. I’ll also mention that the XF16-80 f4.0 lens is much bigger than the XF18-55mm f2.0-4.0, weighing about 30% heavier. After saying that I must say the camera and lens fit nicely in my hands and comfortably. Oh, and the manual is twice as big!! Study time.
First Tom did it, then Earl did it. So, I did it. I had to! Thought it would be wise to follow suit with two accomplished photographers. As many of you know I’ve been toying with upgrading for quite some time. Well, the time arrived. And, the camera and lens just arrived. Battery is charging. I’ll keep you informed as I get a better grasp on this upgrade. It was inevitable!