Barcelona

In the past ten months I've led photography tours to Colombia, Galapagos, Pilbara and Karijini, Turkey and Spain. I'm using my beloved Nikon D700s less and less and my Fuji X100 more and more.

Now please note, there is absolutely nothing wrong with my two D700s. They are superb professional work cameras for portraits  and studio work. But for travelling, I just love the freedom and inspiration afforded by the small, lightweight Fuji X100.

I was at a Barcelona Information Centre awaiting the start of a Barcelona Gourmet Walking Tour when I noticed the escalators and the specular reflections on the handrails. All through the tour I've been encouraging participants to look for the 'shiny' bits in their pictures.

Join me for my three day UWA Travel Workshop and learn about the best cameras for travel and street photography and lots more.

If you Value Your Exposure check out my Intermediate Digital Workshop on 3/7 Nov 2013, where you will learn how to use the manual and creative controls on your camera. The night exercise shows you how easy it is to get great images of lightning and fireworks.

How good is the Fuji X100S?

Is it worth upgrading your Fuji X100 to a 100S?
Click HERE for a review.

X100 at the WAPPAs 2013

I wonder how many pro photographers submitted entries this week taken on compact cameras? Well, I'm coming clean. One of my entries was taken on my Fuji X100 and it ended being awarded a Silver Award in the Travel Section.

I liked the Fuji X100 (recently superseded by Fuji's X100s) right from the moment I first picked it up a year or two back. Since that first meeting I've grown to enjoy this remarkable little camera. But its not for everyone. I think you need to have an individual, old-school philosophy to develop a meaningful relationship with the X100, especially with the fixed, 23mm wide-angle lens.

However, I'm yet to find another compact that can match the sensor quality and high-ISO performance of this retro-styled camera.

The shot was taken earlier this year in Cartagene, Colombia. I wandered into the town square before breakfast one morning and spotted a local lovingly polishing his favourite statue. (For the technical buffs I shot the image on 1.500@f4 using 800ISO.)

Footnote: The Colombia tour was a photographic tour led my Peter Lambert and myself. Our next tour is in Feb 2014 on roads less travelled in Southern India and beyond. If you'd like a copy of the itinerary and prices for Images of India please email India@wildheart.com.au

The 'X' Factor

The elves have been working the midnight shift at Fuji.

 In the last there years Fuji has come out with

• Fuji X100
• Fuji X10
• Fuji X1-Pro
• Fuji XE

and the new X100s will be released in Australia any day now.

Now Fuji's not alone in producing a  bagful of new camera models; most of the other big manufacturers  have been taking the same midnight pills. What makes Fuji different is that they were coming up with innovative new concepts and designs in each of the X series.

The X100 and X-Pro 1's ability to shoot in low light is, in my humble opinion, unsurpassed in compact cameras. In fact, it beats most DSLRs as well. There is almost no noise at all, even shooting at 1600 and 2000 ISO.

 In low-light performance the X100 and X1-Pro perform better than Leica. Now that's a big call I know but I've field tested them alongside the Leica ME type 220. In average sunlight the results were comparable but the moment the sun dipped below the horizon it was like chalk and cheese. The Leica could not match it with the Fuji X100.

At the same time that Fuji was bringing out new cameras the Fuji lens department was rattling out a dozen new lenses. I'm always wary of any company that produces so many new lenses so quickly. How good was the research? How much field testing was being carried out?

The lenses are understated but their performance is exemplary with sharpness, detail and good tonal range. The level of detail using the X Pro-1 and Fuji lenses is as good as or better than most DSLR's on the market. Indeed, the devil is in the detail!

Learn how to conduct accurate lens sharpness tests at home in Advanced Digital Photography with Dale Neill at UWA Extension. (Take advantage of a discount in this course by using the code ENTHUSE when you enrol.)

Ferrari of Compacts - the new X100S

Over fifty years I've purchased about 40 cameras for professional use and pleasure. All forty were capable of producing sharp, high quality images. If they couldn't do that I wouldn't have bought them in the first place!

However, about six of those cameras were special, especially camera numero uno  - my Hanimex X35 I bought in 1959. Then there was the Nikon F2 Photomomic, the Yashica 124G black box, The Nikon F100, my tank the Pentax 67, the Nikon D700 and now the Fujifilm X100. I'm not sure whether I fell in love with them or they fell in  love with me. It doesn't matter. But these cameras fire me full of passion for photography.

These cameras felt like an extension of myself as a photographer. Those special cameras had intuitive logic in their design (easy to learn to use and operate), they felt good in your hand and they never let you down.

Author and long-time student Helen Bareham in FACEZ studio. Both X100 officinados!






















Fujifilm's X100 slips comfortably into my list of top cameras I have ever owned. When i first used teh X100 I was delighhted with it and predicted it would become a cult camera. Its one camear I would never ever sell.

However, the X100 is neither perfect or faultless, a bit like the owner! There were some initial problems with over expsore at small apertures (now solved) and lack of RAW conversion software but the superior image quality more than compenasted for that. Its retro design, high-efficiency functionality and magnificent performance at high ISO make it a leader in compact cameras.


Fujifilm are shortly to release the replacement for the X100 - the X100S. The exterior will look much the same but inside there's a new sensor - the Fujifilm-designed 16.3MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS II. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Fuji make the best sensors available - particularly in relation to the reproduction of skin tones.

There's a new engine under the bonnet - the EXR Processor II image processor. I've heard on the grapevine that shutter lag has been reduced to a Billy the Kid gunslinger time of 0.08 sec. You can read an expanded review of the new Fujifilm X100S at  www.dpreview.com 

If you want to learn about cameras, photography and how to use light creatively join me in one of my structured, sequential UWA workshops in 2013.

• Beginners
• Intermediate
• Advanced
• Creative Flash
• Portraits - Memories Forever

About Dale Neill