Today was another day devoted mainly to the 24mm PC-e lens. I set off for one of my very favourite places, Deepdale. This is a lonely valley accessed from the road to Patterdale. Despite easy access, very few people make their way there in comparison with the standard Lakes honey pots. In 7 hours I only saw one walker heading up the valley. This provided an interruption and distraction free time in which to develop greater experience with this challenging lens. I understand the general principles of Tilting and have read all that I could find in terms of practical usage advice. I was also helped enormously by Andy Phillips who generously shared with me his precise step by step process.I felt that the only way to develop was simply to use it a lot until some of the thinking was replaced by feeling. That's what I've been doing since buying it. Not all situations lend themselves to a T&S lens or indeed to 24mm however and I havent tried to 'force the issue'. Today was the first day in which I have felt the balance shift towards a majority of success rather than failures. Today I made progress in a number of aspects. I think I am beginning to get a 'feel' for the tilt and refocus process; when things look right, they are increasingly right. I also chose use the viewfinder more than live view in the initial setup. I had also been focussing on the nearest point before tilting for the distance but today I've been focusing on a point a little further out and the number of iterations seems to have decreased.Probably the key gain today is that I felt the lens was working with me and not against me. I was enjoying using it and not fighting it. Perhaps the peace and tranquility of the location helped, perhaps it is just another inevitable step. The attached image was made with the 24mm f3.5 PC-E, 30s at f11 with a Lee Polariser and 3 stop ND.
Living with the Fuji X-Pro 1
There are many influences that make people hand over cash for a Fuji X-Pro 1. There are those seeking lighter weight. Those looking for retro. Those perhaps even first time buyers seduced by good advertising. For a while in the media it was 'the second camera to have'. the world and his brother seemed to have bought one.
For a substantial proportion of the camera buying public, it was the nearest thing we might ever get to a Leica M series. There were similarities all over even down to the launch with just three primes. I think I was somewhere between all of these. I've owned an X-Pro 1 for about 18 months - there are positives and negatives. the size and weight allowed an entire kit to be carried in a small shoulder bag and a day in Venice was possible without shoulder pain or moaning. The quality of the results suggested no compromise was being made. It was a pleasure to use, feeling good in the hand. However there were some aspects that provided a bit more of a challenge given the way I work.
I'm not certain of the order or priority but the following issues affected me in some way. The USP of a traditional cable release has the downside that there is then no way of using a timer for long exposures. You have to fire the shutter, lock the cable and watch the seconds on the screen and release manually. For most it doesn't matter a hoot but for those of us who make long exposures, it is an added complication.
I do find the viewfinder most useful in RVF mode in order to allow precise composition but still feel it is difficult to assess accurately. No dioptre adjustment is certainly a factor in this.
The Q menu button is REALLY easy to hit, real pain.
The camera goes too far to sleep. The recovery is so slow that it becomes quicker to switch it off and back on again rather than wait for the wake up.
Even with these niggles it is a great camera and still a pleasure to use. Watching how the s/h price is dropping through the floor, it becomes an absolute steal on the used market.
Refining the process
This image was made three weeks ago. The revised workflow that I came back with has begun to change the nature of the output. The combination of CS5 and Silver Efex Pro has begun to allow me to produce the image that I had in my head.The initial RAW file came out of a Nikon D700, Nikon 16-35mm VR and Lee Big Stopper.