CleansingChild being washed for Thaipusam Ceremony, Batu Caves, Malaysia, 2019 'Cleansing' - Child being washed for Thaipusam Ceremony, Batu Caves, Malaysia, 2019.  Fuji X-T2, Fuji XF 90mm @ F2.
I was watching a YouTube clip recently, and they made mention about choosing one’s favourite Fuji lens.  It got me thinking seriously, and wondering if I had to make the same choice, what would I decide.  After much rumination, I resoundingly came to the conclusion it would have to be Fuji’s 90mm F2.  Saying ‘favourite’ is not the same as the most useful, or the most used, because that is much different.  The lens that is most prolific and takes the majority of my images is of course my 16-55 zoom.  When I go overseas on an extended trip, or shoot an event back home here, I always come away with about 1/3^rd of images from the 90mm and the other 2/3rds from the 16-55.

Also, if I had to choose only one lens on a paid shoot or to travel the world for a year, of course it would the irreplaceable 16-55.  You can read all my other blogs about this lens, but it is truly a once in a lifetime hunk of glass.  It is equally as sharp as my 90mm, and with better contrast and sharper than most of my ‘FujiCrons’.  However, that is another story for another day.  I chose the 90mm as my favourite lens, because Fuji only have one lens (for me), that can do what this lens does, and it does it so well it blows all other lenses away and they have to line up for second place!  In other words, it is so unique and special, that if I couldn’t use this lens, then there would be a gaping hole in my arsenal and I would have ‘baled’ from Fuji long ago.

Golden GirlStreet market vendor selling jewellery, streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2020 Golden Girl - Street market vendor selling jewellery, streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2020.  Fuji X-H1, Fuji XF 90mm @ F2.
A brief Recap

I don’t want to ‘flog a dead horse’ here, and go back over what I have written at length about in my other blogs.  However, very briefly, I swapped over to Fuji mirrorless about 5 or 6 years ago now.  I have less than zero interest in shooting scenery/landscapes/macro/still life – my absolute passion, and bordering on obsession, is photographing people.  I think that’s why I’m a school teacher - I just love being around other human beings.  The thought of camping alone in a forest for a week to get a photo of the Red Rumped Kingfisher, or the Frosted Tit, would drive me nuts. 

With my Nikon D3X system I photographed Asia for years.  The full-frame system suited me perfectly.  As I only ever shoot my lenses wide open (to blur the background and make my subject stand out), I revelled in the lack of depth of field and it was a veritable breeze to get my subjects with a ‘creamy’ background.  All was well in my little warm fuzzy photographic world, until I started getting a sore back from lugging around huge amounts of Nikon full frame lenses and cameras that could double as self-defence weapons.   After research, I started with a Fuji X100, then slowly eased into a full Fuji system, where all of my Nikon gear was finally sold off.  However, little did I know I had a huge shock waiting for me!

Temple BeautyEarly morning worshipper, Thien Hau Temple, District 5, HCMC, Vietnam, 2020 Temple Beauty - Early morning worshipper, Thien Hau Temple, District 5, HCMC, Vietnam, 2020.  Fuji X-H1, Fuji XF 90mm @ F2.
A major crop sensor flaw!

I had read and was vaguely aware that one of the negative aspects of crop sensor cameras, is that they give you better depth of field than a comparative lens on a full-frame camera.  However, I didn’t give it much thought and I sunk my funds from the Nikons into buying Fuji lenses that would suit my style of photography – street/travel/environmental portraits and events.

It wasn’t too long and I was starting to struggle in getting the look that I so easily achieved with my Nikon full-frame system.  The first contender was Fuji’s kit lens.  I have written about this at length so I won’t re-state what I really think of this ‘apparition’.  Suffice to say, after 3 different samples and months of experimentation, I finally realised that it was a cheap and nasty kit lens and that’s all it was ever was going to be.  I then purchased the 55-200, with the hope that I could start to blur my backgrounds a little better.

I’ve also written about this at length – I didn’t like the 55-200 lens much at all.  It is an extremely sharp lens, with beautiful images, but I just couldn’t live with its other downfalls (read my other blogs).  At that time, I had a long trip coming up in Asia so I was looking for a lens to fill in the increasing gaping hole in my camera bag.  After much research, I got the 18-135.  This was not as sharp as the 55-200, but the other things about the lens were much easier to abide.  However, this is not a constant aperture lens.  When I zoomed out past about 90mm, it would suddenly now become a 5.6 lens – which is basically useless for getting ‘creamy’ backgrounds and isolating subjects.  Having said that, I did get some gorgeous shots on this lens - from Bali and Myanmar.  These images grace my website now and they are pictures that I will always love.  However, in the situations that I needed to get a subject isolated from the background, this lens could not ‘cut the mustard’.

I was fast running out of options.  By this time, I had discovered the truly marvellous 16-55 lens, and this was certainly rocking my boat for all my wide-angle and mid-range shots.  The pictures were beautiful and they never disappointed.  However – and remember it’s not the job of a 2.8 zoom lens to do this – but it just couldn’t get those blurry, creamy backgrounds that I was used to in full-frame.

That Which Was LostMusicians, Temples of Angkor, Cambodia, 2018

Loss - Musicians, Temples of Angkor, Cambodia, 2018.  Fuji X-T2, Fuji XF90mm @ F2.

Do I jump ship again?

This may sound very extreme, but for somebody like me who eats, breaths and lives photography, I was so disappointed that I couldn’t get the look that I was used to getting.  Some of my pictures didn’t look as good, and I had exhausted all avenues for Fuji lenses. They had the 55-140, but there was no way I was ‘strapping’ that huge contraption on my ‘T’ cameras and carrying around a giant ‘brick’ again.  I was actually thinking of baling out, selling my gear off and going to another system.  Believe me I wasn’t hankering - I was satisfied with my Fuji gear, except for that one thing.  I certainly didn’t have GAS, and my wife would have ‘killed’ me if I had to spend all of that money again.  What to do?

Smoke and PrayersThien Hau Temple, District 5, HCMC, Vietnam, 2020 Smoke and Prayers - Thien Hau Temple, District 5, HCMC, Vietnam, 2020.  Fuji X-H1, Fuji XF 90mm @ F2.
Help Arrives

It was actually on one of my other blogs that somebody made a comment that I should try Fuji’s 90mm lens.  I had vaguely considered it before, but only for a few moments.  I knew that this lens is a 135mm equivalent (and unlike my other zooms, had no OIS) – which in my book is a telephoto lens.  Telephoto lenses can only be held in fairly bright light, and anything less they need a tripod.  I don’t even own a tripod and could not stand lumping one around.  I shoot in a lot of dark monasteries and places in Asia, and a telephoto lens would be hard to hand hold there in that dim lighting.  I was using two Fuji X-T2’s at this stage, and we all know that they do not have IBIS – neither is the 90mm blessed with OIS.  However, out of desperation, I decided to give the 90mm lens a try.  They are very expensive in Australia (1,400 AUD), and we have no return policy in our country, like you folk in the States do – once we walk out that shop door, it’s ours whether we like it or not.  With this in mind I tentatively ordered my new 90mm lens, and held my breath!! 

Holy GroomingApprentice Monk brushing dog with a toothbrush, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2018 Holy Grooming - Apprentice Monk brushing dog with a toothbrush, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2018.  Fuji X-T2, Fuji XF 90mm @ F2.
A sublime lens!

You will see from some of my samples that I have posted here, that this lens produces simply stunning images. Right out of the starting blocks, I knew I had a keeper.  Beautiful sharp faces and eyes, crisp colours and incredible clarity, definition and contrast in the images in spades.  However, and more importantly, I was able to easily isolate my subjects from the background and produce beautiful creamy bokeh.  Coupled with the 16-55 ‘strapped’ onto my other X-T2, I had a fantastic kit for travel, street and events.  However, all was not perfect.  I was finding that anything under about 1/200^th second, my images were not quite sharp and a little bit of motion blur was being introduced.

The WaitingPlaying two-up, Goldfields, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, 2018 The Wait - Playing two-up gambling, Goldfields, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, 2018.  Fuji X-T2, Fuji XF 90mm @ F2.
Enter the Fuji X-H1

Around this time Fuji introduced the X-H1.  I tried it at a camera shop and didn’t like it too much – I thought it was a little heavy.  However, I ended up selling one of my X-T2’s and swapped it out for a X-H1.  That camera went straight onto my 90mm lens.  The difference was remarkable and I got used to the X-H1 so quickly, that I soon sold off the last X-T2 and ended up with a brace of X-H1’s – now no more blurry images.  When I’m shooting these days, I have my 16-55 around my neck on one of those neoprene straps.  They are truly great and because they are stretchy, it makes it feel as if you are holding half the weight.  I also have the ‘Think Tank’ belt around my waist with a couple of their small bags attached.  I sit the camera and lens with the 16-55 on top of the bag where my belt buckle is (balanced with the strap around my neck).  This way I can walk all day long with the full weight of the camera and lens supported by that small bag and there is zero weight around my neck.  The second body with the 90mm F2 is over my shoulder on a Black Rapid.  It just hangs by my side, but can be grabbed and deployed in a split second.  I love this setup and I can walk all day long and I have all my focal lengths covered, and having such top-quality glass attached – I normally come home with the ‘bacon in the bag’.

Tree HuggerLunar New Year preparations, District 1, HCMC, Vietnam, 2020 The 'Tree' Hugger - Lunar New Year preparations, District 1, HCMC, Vietnam, 2020.  Fuji X-H1, Fuji XF 90mm @ F2.
All is not perfect

Like I tell my kids at school, we should not expect perfection in anything, or we are setting ourselves up for a big fat disappointing life.  The weather is not perfect, our health is usually not perfect, our friends and relationships are never 100% perfect, and neither usually are our jobs or colleagues.  In other words – just about everything in life is about compromise.  Finding out what has the least number of cons, and accepting that as your “close to perfect” is about the best you’ll ever get.  It really is about adjusting our expectations.  So too with the 90mm F2 lens.  Yes, the images are usually flawless and second to none (I think they can even match Leica), and the lens is beautifully made and a joy to handle. 

However, there is one issue I still struggle with and seem to have no answer for.  It’s only ever in bright outdoor light when I’m usually shooting a crowd or a moving event.  Wide open and in any autofocus mode, it sometimes has issues locking onto the person I’m pointing my green square at (whether ‘zone’ or ‘single’ or AFS and AFC).  It will then do its little ‘death march’ – grind back and forth for the full throw of the autofocus range.  This is so frustrating and I do miss some shots this way.  It’s really bazaar because it never does it in dull light, only ever in full bright light.  I have no answers for this and I just put up with it because it doesn’t do it too often.  I even sent my lens to Fuji for them to check and calibrate.  It also does it on both of my X-H1’s, so it’s not a camera issue.  I always laugh when so many people write that the Fuji 90mm F2, is Fuji’s fastest focusing lens – oh no it’s not.  For me it is my 16-55 or perhaps one of the little Fuji ‘Crons’.

Mr Hot ShotKid playing pool, Brick factory, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2018 'Mr' Hot-Shot - Kid playing pool, Brick factory, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2018.  Fuji X-T2, Fuji XF 90mm @ F2.
Conclusion

Perhaps the only change I may make in the future is to try out the X-H2 – if it ever arrives.  If the focus was better, then perhaps it could fix the issue with my 90mm trying to grab focus in bright light on moving ‘targets’.  The X-T4 with that useless selfie screen would only be a misery for me.  Also, in Australia they are over $2,600.  There is no way I’m going to spend that kind of coin on something that has the same sensor as the X-T3 - and I do zero video. 

Because I shoot 60/70% of all of my photos from the hip, I need a camera with the simple flip out screen.  It is much more discreet for my street photography and I’m not poking a camera in people’s faces.  We are quite blessed with Fuji.  They give us lovely small little cameras, with beautiful image quality and a choice of lenses, that even the most discriminating photographer should be able to choose a ‘brace’ of lenses from.  I’m just grateful that this small piece of glass and metal, ‘saved’ my photographic hide.  If it were not for the 90mm F2, I would have baled from Fuji long ago, and would have regretted losing such a small and powerful quality image making system that is a joy to use – and horror of horrors, I may have even ended up with a Sony! 

Cheeky SmileIndian boy during preparations for Thaipusam, Batu Caves, Malaysia, 2019 Initiation - Indian boy during preparations for Thaipusam, Batu Caves, Malaysia, 2019.  Fuji X-T2, Fuji XF 90mm @ F2.
 

Smoke and Prayers - worshipper at Ba Thien Hau Pagoda, District 5, HCMC Vietnam, 2020.  Fuji X-H1, Godox TTL fill flash, 16-55 @ F2.8, 16mm, ISO 400, 1/420th.

I recently arrived back from my annual, end of year holidays.  I travelled most of the journey with my wife, but also spent part of the time alone in Cambodia.  I ended up in three countries and had a wonderful time exploring with my cameras.  I have been travelling now for over 14 years photographing parts of this wonderful planet.  I have been to Cambodia 13 times and countless times to other parts of Asia.  I think after slowly honing my skills and my equipment this was the first time in my life where I returned not being frustrated with some part of my gear or wanting to change anything.  Consequently, I missed a lot less opportunities because of being very familiar with my equipment, having the two best lenses on the planet (for me), and the new X-H1’s with the IBIS just lifted my photography to the next level.  This all combined to make this trip unforgettable.

For this blog I want to concentrate less on the cameras and gear (though I will touch on it briefly for those who may be interested) – most of my other blogs have always be gear centric.  However, this time I really noticed the grace and kindness of people, allowing me to photograph them in their natural environment and different cultures.  I am so blessed to be able to do this often and I was humbled by some of my experiences.  This time I will talk more about the actual act of photographing people, and the hilarious, sad, irreverent and holy sights that one witnesses along the way.

Golden Girl - street market, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2020.  Fuji X-H1 & XF 90 @F2, ISO 400, 1/120th.

Where did I go?

My wife had been pestering me all year to go to China.  She had spent the last six months muttering away in the lounge room every night learning Chinese (or so she told me).  I reluctantly went, because even though I really had no interest in China, my wife graciously goes where I want to most years so it was my turn.  We spent about a week in the old city of Lijiang, and then about four nights in the ancient city of Shangri La.  I had just experienced a week straight of over 40deg Celsius in the Western Australian desert town where I abide.  You can imagine the shock I got on the first morning in Shiangri La, when I awoke to thick snow and -15°.  We really loved China - the people were awesome, the place was spotlessly clean, and everything ran like clockwork.  This is the antithesis to most of the rest of Asia.  I read recently where Steve McCurry said that China is the easiest place in the world to take photos – methinks he is correct!

My wife is Vietnamese so we spend a lot of time there.  Vietnam is lovely and the people beautiful but it is absolute chaos there!  The motorbikes rule the road, the footpath, they run red lights, drive up the wrong way.  I never saw one traffic infringement the whole time in China.  I also had many different types of photographic opportunities in China that were different from the rest of Asia.  Mainly the snow shots, the way people dressed, the bikes and vehicles they drove and the way they reacted to my cameras.   

The 'Holy Thief' - Catholic Church, streets of Quy, Nhon, Vietnam, 2020.  Fuji X-H1 & XF 16-55 @ 2.8, 16mm, ISO 800, 1/100th.

Why Asia

As mentioned, I do live in a Western country, and it has almost become impossible to point your camera at random folk in the street (in spite what people tell you, it is not illegal to do so).  I came back from this almost 6 week trip with nearly 15K images.  If I had taken that many photos here in Australia I would probably have been arrested by now, beaten up or had my camera wrecked.  I took a photo on the street here in my hometown just at the end of last year (2019) - the maniac I pointed my camera at objected, so he thought he had every right to grab my beautiful X-H1 and 16-55 and try to wrench it from me.  I held on for my dear life as he tried to twist, break and smash my camera.  I’ve had experiences like this here before and have just about given up doing street stuff around home.  In traveling Asia for nearly 15 years now, having taken hundreds of thousands of images, I’ve only ever had one bad experience for that whole time.  It was in Vietnam years ago, and my wife explained to me after it happened that gambling is illegal there.  I tried to photograph a bunch of guys playing a gambling board game on the road.  They picked up rocks and chased me out of there quick smart.  Now that I’ve been enlightened I never point my camera at them.

Don’t even mention taking photos in the West around children.  I’ve had security called on me many times, just because I happened to be festooned in cameras, near some place where kids were - people thought I was a menace (I never point my camera at kids in the West).  It is the total opposite in Asia.  If folk see me anywhere around kids, they ‘wheel’ them out for me to photograph.  I’m a teacher so I’m very at home working around kids.  In the nearly 15K images I took on this trip I never had anybody objecting to me photographing near or around children/families.  There were only a handful of other times where folk just put up their hand if they did not wish to be photographed - of course I always respect that.  I think you can see now why I love so much to photograph in Asia.

Holy Consternation - me distracting little girls at church service, Quy Nhan, Vietnam, 2020.  Fuji X-H1 & XF 16-55 @ 2.8, 55mm, ISO 800, 1/60th.

The holy the mad and the serendipitous

It became very obvious to me on this trip the rare insights that one gleans into humanity, when intimately photographing people in their own space.  I absolutely love the photo I took of the guy ‘running off' with Mary – from the scene in the manger.  He almost looks like a ‘Holy’ thief!  I was struck by the incongruity of it all – the Holy scene being disrupted, the church clerk scampering off when he saw me with the camera.  The Divine and the mundane meeting somewhere in that church yard in Vietnam.  The young Monk descaling Buddha with household detergent – as I happened along.  I couldn’t believe my good fortune and that serendipitous moment has now been captured forever.

Midst the clamour and stench of the fish market I caught the lady staring into her makeup mirror giving herself a ‘touch up’, and totally oblivious to the incongruity of the whole grubby scene.  I could go on but suffice to say these are just snippets of numerous examples of humanity just getting on with things as best they can.  This is the part of photography I really love the most.  People ask me why I have zero interest in sunsets or scenery or landscapes.  It is humanity that truly intrigues me and I am so blessed to be able to not only witness these special moments, but record them so they can be shared and recalled at will.

The other amazing thing too is that not only are there serendipities that one can stumble upon, but often there are also other surprises awaiting when one checks out the images on the computer.  I took the photo of the little girls smiling at me during the church service.  I grabbed a quick shot but it wasn’t until later I discovered the nun scowling at me.  This turned a normal mundane photo into something very special.  My wife asked me to take a photo of her sitting at the table of an old historic house in LiJiang in China.  It wasn’t until I got home and looked, I saw the man staring down at her with the magnifying glass – again, a mundane image turned into something special.

I am truly grateful to all the wonderful, gracious and kind folk who allowed me to capture them in their personal space – often in not very flattering poses or circumstances.  If all of these gracious folk had shooed me away (my wife said she would if somebody poked a camera in her face) – I certainly would not have the beautiful collection of images that I now posses, to forever remind me of this wonderful journey that I have just completed.

Don't tell my wife she's in here, I'll be in trouble!  Ancient City, Lijiang, China, 2019.  Fuji X-H1 & XF 16-55 @ 2.8, 16mm, ISO 800, 1/80th.

Gear stuff

Man I really love this part.  My gear totally rocked this time and the few changes that I made, really made a difference.  I’ve photographed the last couple of years with my marvellous 16-55 and 90mm lenses.  They are so embedded in my M.O. that not even a crowbar would prise them off my cameras.  However, swapping over before I left for the two X-H’1s was a totally magic move.  The bigger grips, the faster handling, and the IBIS, all helped to put me in the zone and keep me there.  I shoot a lot in dim places, temples, markets and dark streets.  It was very obvious on this trip that I had so many more keepers because of being able to shoot in lower light and use lower ISO settings.  As I don’t even own a tripod this is a really big deal.  The 90mm lens was always hard to use on my X-T2, I had to try and keep the shutter speed up around the 250^th sec but this was not always possible.  Except for people movement, I can now shoot way down to 1/15^th sec now with the IBIS.  This really is a game changer.

I made a few other changes to settings and things that also made a big difference.  Up until this trip I have always shot in ‘matrix‘ metering, or whatever the Fuji equivalent is.  I used it on all of my Nikon cameras and it seemed to work satisfactorily.  However, when it came to post processing lots of my shots always seemed to have blown out highlights.  The last few years I started to try and use the minus compensation on overly bright images.  This helped a bit but was always a pain.  For this trip I shot everything on the average metering (the one with a pair of square brackets).  This was totally transforming.  Hardly any of my shots had blown out highlights, and I never had to use the + or -.   After starting to post process some of my images I can clearly see that they are metered more perfectly for the scene.  Of course the marvellous sensor in the H-1’s can easily handle the rest of the differences between shadows and highlights (if they are a little on the dark side).

De-scaling Buddha! - Wat Bo, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2020.  Fuji X'H1 & XF 16-55 @ 2.8, 22mm, ISO 800, 1/105th.

I also started experimenting a bit with ‘zone’ focus.  Man – it was really fantastic.  Up until recently I always used the small ‘single’ focus, but of course I had to frenetically move it around the frame using the D pad.  Sometimes I would be a bit slow and miss the focus.  This time I used the smallest ‘zone’ focus and had some really good results.  Of course the area it covers is much bigger than the ‘single’ zone, so one does not have to move it around too much.  I thought I would get a lot of out of focus shots because it may latch onto the wrong area to focus on – but not so.  I had very few images that were not perfectly in focus.  However there is one big proviso – do not use it with the 90mm at F2.  There is such a slim area of focus or depth of field at this focal length, that ‘zone’ is not precise enough.  If I pointed it at a face it may focus on the chin or forehead, but the eyes would be slightly out.  I found I could only use the 90mm with the ‘single’ focus mode.  However, the ‘zone’ was fantastic on the 16-55.  I mainly always shoot that at the wider end, and even at 2.8 there is enough depth of field in whatever focus point is chosen, for things to be perfectly sharp.  What I mean is if I point it at a face, no matter what part of the face it latches onto, the whole face will be in focus.  All of these things were small changes, but they all allowed me to work a bit faster, a bit smarter and helped me to achieve the results that I was after.

Another change I made was to always have my little TTL Godox flash attached to the H1 with my 16-55 on it.  I did not use it often but sometimes there were scenes where I was shooting into strong backlight and there was no way the camera could handle that dynamic range.  I would flip on the little flash and voila.  Some of my favourite photos from this trip would not exist if it were not for the flash.  The photo of the guy sweeping the snow, the girl in the temples with the smoking Buddha sticks around her and some of my images from the dark Siem Reap market were only possible because of daylight balanced fill flash.

I also did not bother taking a backup hard drive.  I just bought some extra cards and used the double slots in the H-1’s.  This allowed me – after the two cards were full – to ferret one away in my camera bag and the other in a different hiding place.  This gave peace of mind, because if I were ever robbed or lost a bag, I had another disk backed up somewhere else and I did not have to carry around a heavy hard drive.

Endurance - little girl getting hair ties, Dali, China, 2020.  Fuji X-H1 & XF 16-55 @2.8, Godox fill flash, 21mm, ISO 400, 1/250th
 

Capture One

However, I believe the best change of all that that I made was swapping over to Capture One.  I did this about six months ago because the Lightroom CC I was using, had ground down to a snail’s pace on my 27” iMac.  It was a total disaster to use and very frustrating.  However, it caused me much angst to even think about changing programs.  I had used LR for years and had hundreds of profiles saved away that I would go through when post processing.  Anyway, I was forced to make the change and it was the best thing I ever did.  Capture one works reasonably fast now on my fairly old computer.  However, the difference this time was in the post processing of all of my images from the trip and how quickly I was able to get the look I wanted.  In LR, the look of all of my images seemed to vary so much that I almost had to individually tweak or change each image. 

Though I did not really have any styles for C1, I used some of the default ones that came with the programme and over a period of a few months I developed some of my own.  Once I came to process the images from this trip I just went through my own ‘styles’ and found one that suited about 95% of all these shots.  This was fantastic.  I was able to attach that look to the images as I downloaded them and then all I had to do was slightly tweak each shot before uploading and using them.  I also find that C1 is magic when it comes to the default settings for clarity, sharpening, saturation.  With LR I had to fiddle so much with sharpening and clarity because some of the images looked terrible.  I find for nearly all of the images the default settings on C1 are absolutely brilliant - especially those for sharpening, clarity, dynamic range and saturation settings.  I found the settings were too critical on LR for the X files, but C1 is much more gentle and refined.  If an image needs a slight tweak from my standard ‘style’, it is so easy to get it correct in no time. 

Smoke Signals - homeless vagrant, streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2020.  Fuji X-H1 & XF 16-55 @ 2.8, 27mm, ISO 800, 1/75th.

Go where others dare not go

My closing thoughts would be to challenge each of you to be daring and get off the beaten path.  Steve McCurry alluded to this and it is also exactly what I do (get lost)!  Especially in Vietnam – I leave my motorbike stored with my wife’s parents – each time we go there I head off into the mayhem and literally get lost.  I just keep driving and stopping.  As soon as I see a factory, place of work, market, farm business or people doing anything, I stop my motorbike, festoon myself with cameras, and start poking around.  It is just the best feeling in the world.  I purposely never take a guide or ‘fixer’.  I’ve tried this and it’s a waste of time for me.  The fixer can speak their language and can often get told that you are not allowed in, or it will cost you this and that. 

Ignorance in bliss, so being a visitor (and obviously so because I’m a ‘White Man’), I am tolerated because it’s too difficult to have a discussion or conversation.  I am never rude though or assume anything.  I certainly do not want to offend or be precocious.  I usually point to my cameras, smile and wave, and over 90% of the time I am allowed to enter and poke around and take my images.  The photos here of the charcoal factory were taken by this M.O.  I was just driving around ‘lost’, I saw and heard the factories operating.  I stopped my bike, got all of my gear ready and just entered smiling and being friendly.  There is always a bit of a fuss at the beginning but people always get used to you, and after a while you are free to click away.

Carbon Man - Charcoal factory, Ben Tre, Mekong Delta, Vietnam, 2020.  Fuji X-H1 & XF 16-55 @ 2.8, 38mm, ISO 800, 1/125th.

I have travelled so much over the years now and I always avoid tourist destinations or on the beaten track.  I always take off and get ‘lost’ – and these are the times that the real magic will happen for you.  I always carry my google map (smart phone), and a card from the hotel or wherever, so if I am truly lost, I can easily find my way back.  In Siem Reap, Westerners are not allowed to hire a motorbike (so that the tourist trade can benefit the local Tuk Tuk drivers).  I just hired an ebike and was still able to head off by myself and find the magic sights.  I even spent a day up at the Temples of Angkor, but I was still able to keep away from the thousands of tourists, get off the beaten track and find those magic moments.

Even if you can’t travel to these foreign climes, still get away by yourself.  Wander around and get lost.  Be a bit cheeky and poke your nose in where you would not normally go.  The worst that can happen is that you may get a ‘no’ and you can just move on to the next destination.  I challenge you for this year to get outside your comfort zone and start finding those ‘magic’ shots.

Snow Man - Streets of LiJiang, China, 2019.  Fuji X-H1, Godox TTL Fill Flash, XF 16-55 @ F4, 16mm, ISO 400, 1/500th.
 

A lesson from the ‘little ones’!

The WaitingPlaying two-up, Goldfields, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, 2018 The Waiting - two-up gambling, Goldfields, Western Australia, 2018.  Fuji X-H1, XF 90mm @ 2.8, ISO 200

I have to chuckle sometimes, watching the children I teach at school coming to grips with some of the concepts of life that we adults often take for granted.  I have to remind them that nothing in life lasts forever or is even the same for very long.  Our moods change, the weather fluctuates, their friends are ‘mean’ to them one day and kind the next.  However, what I seem to be reminding them the most is that nothing in life is perfect - our families, our jobs, our health, our friends, the weather, the towns or even the counties that we live in, and most of all our governments.  However, as adults we can learn that lots of things can be well askew of perfect, but we can still function as fully happy and fulfilled human beings. 

That is why I am aghast sometimes when I read blogs, where many photographers think and expect to find the perfect camera and lens setup.  They seem shocked like my little kids that their new acquisition has left them disappointed in some department.  Just like I tell the kids – “perfect doesn’t exist”.  Knowing full well than no camera system would be perfect, I slowly transitioned into the Fujifilm mirrorless system way back in 2011.  I’ve written in detail about this long journey in many of my other blogs, so I won’t repeat the details here.  However, after many changes and a bucket-load of money, I ended up with two X-H1’s - a 16-55 permanently ‘strapped’ onto one of them and a 90mm F2 ‘glued’ onto the other (I hate changing lenses, and since I got over this bad habit, I have never had to clean a sensor).

Moments - Jockeys between races, Kalgoorlie Boulder Raceway, Western Australia, 2019. Fuji X-H1, XF 16-55 @ 55, 2.8, ISO 400

The benefits of hindsight!

'Chewy'On of Kalgoorlie's characters, slugging down a 'cold one'. Goldfields, Western Australia, 2019 'Chewy' - one of Kalgoorlie's characters, slurping down a 'cold one'.  Goldfields, Western Australia, 2019.  Fuji X-H1, FX 16-55 @ 16mm, F2.8, ISO 800

For this article, I’d like to hone in on the 16-55 and talk about my observations and why I think it is the closest lens to perfect I have used in over 35 years of photography.   This is not a review – I’m not qualified to do that kind of stuff – just thoughts and insights from a happy Fuji customer.  I am not sure what ‘magic sauce’ Fuji used when they made this lens, but I know that they really got things right.  I was out shooting an event today, and some of the images on here are taken from that shoot.  Sometimes I’m still gobsmacked when I see the sharpness, rendering, colours, lack of nasties, that this lens produces – and all from a zoom!!  Even though I have sold off all my other lenses (and I’ll discuss those here shortly), I would always test a new lens for sharpness, rendering, clarity etc, against this zoom.  That sounds ridiculous because many of them were primes – but that’s just how it is.

The last prime I have left, and it will go on ‘fleabay’ shortly, is the 23mm F2.  I can honestly say that the 16-55 is noticeably sharper, crisper, punchier at that focal length, and wide open – when compared to this prime (particularly when the 23mm is shot up close)!  I much prefer the pictures from the zoom than from that small ‘Fujichron’.   

However, for me the thing that really makes this zoom stand out is the sheer usefulness of it, and the joy in the whole process of using this lens.  In a perfect world, of course I would love to have the extra speed of the primes (the F2 or better still the 1.4).  I only ever shoot people/travel/street/portraits and have zero interest in landscape or scenery.  I therefore mostly always shoot my lenses wide open – I’m constantly searching to isolate my subject from the background and make them stand out.  Coming from a full-frame Nikon kit I took a huge hit in this department when I swapped over to APSC.  I’ve written about this in detail, but that is why I got rid of the zooms like the 18-135, Fuji’s 55-200 and the kit lens.  I needed the faster aperture of 2.8 that the 16-55 was offering, so I could at least be part way trying to make up for the deficit in lost subject isolation that I was lumbered with when swapping over to mirrorless.  However, even more than that, the 16-55 was even in a different world to the primes. 

Primes – all is not well!

'Madame' 2Child having her face painted, pre Christmas celebrations, Goldfields, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, 2018 Face painting - Spring Festival, Goldfields, Western Australia, 2018.  Fuji X-T2, XF 16-55 @ 51mm, 2.8, ISO 1,000

Yes as we’ve discussed, primes offer a lighter package, faster aperture and are usually optically better than zooms – but they have their trade-offs was well.  The fact that I usually shoot fast and quick on the street, I found on too many occasions that I was missing photos. There was always that bit of consternation as I headed off – ‘do I have the right lens on my camera’?  Often I would not, and by the time I fumbled around, put on the appropriate lens and reached for the moment – it had well and truly disappeared.  In fact I had usually let a bunch of crud onto my sensor (where I shoot in Asia it is often dusty and filthy), had missed the shot and still ended up with the less than perfect focal length on my camera.

I know we are all different, but for me and how I shoot, I just love the overall usefulness and lack of complication, shooting a quality zoom.  Many people knock the 16-55 for its weight and size.  Yes it is not light and it is much bigger than the cheaper Fuji zooms and certainly so when compared to primes.  However, what they forget to add is what the 16-55 replaces.  When I travel on my trips overseas, to get the equivalent of what I have now with the 16-55, I had to lug around the 16mm 1.4, the 23mm F2, the 35mm F2, and the 50mm F2.  That is four lenses, and if you add the weight of them all, they are around 1kg – nearly twice the weight of the 16-55.  My one zoom has now replaced those four lenses, and I do not have to miss shots fuddling around trying to get the correct focal length on my camera, whilst my moment is lost to eternity. 

However, some folk can get away with just the two primes – say the 23mm and the 35mm or the 50mm - in this case, and if they don’t mind swapping lenses out – it could be better for them to go with primes.  Everything on here I say is what suites me, but as we are each different, I know other folk will have a different take on things.  I need the 24mm equivalent for the wide angle – so I can fit broader scenes into my frame, and I’m always using the 55mm end for portraits and close-ups.  That’s why just two small primes don’t work for me!

The ‘fifth’ lens!

Kids having fun - St Barbara's Festival, Goldfields, Western Australia, 2019.  Fuji X-H1, XF 16-55 @ 55, 2.8, ISO 400  

I stated above that the 16-55 had replaced four lenses for me.  I got rid of the 16mm, the 23mm is on its way, the 35mm went last year and the 50mm is gone.  It is such a breath of fresh air not to have to lug all those primes around.  However – though the 16-55 is great, there is one thing it cannot do.  As I only ever shoot people, I usually always need to separate them from the background.  Mostly on the 16-55, the amount of background I include in my images, revolves around which focal length I’m shooting.  If I’m wide open (16mm), then of course I want the background included to give some context to my image.  If I’m at the longer end then of course I still have some slightly out of focus background, which is usually always fine.  However, there are times when I really want to just isolate one person from the crowd and have them stand out with some lovely bokeh in the background. 

I mentioned above this was one thing I really missed from full frame.  With a 2.8 70-200 zoom you can do this all day long on full frame.  However, this was almost impossible with the 55-200 zoom (even though it is a very nice, sharp zoom).  At the longer focal lengths it was nearly on F5, which was harder to obtain clean backgrounds.  Same story with my 18-135 – in fact even worse, because after 90mm that baby is on F5.6.  It was on one of the forums (I think ‘DPR’), where somebody suggested the 90mm after me discussing my options to this problem.  I bit the bullet and from day one this lens has never disappointed.  I always shoot it at F2, and the results never cease to please me.  You will read now, what really was the next game changer that crystallised this lens as a permanent fixture in my kit!

The X-H1 – a whole different ‘ball game’!

Aboriginal Cultural Dancers - St Barbara's Festival, Goldfields, Western Australia, 2019.  Fuji X-H1, XF 16-55 @ 55, 2.8 ISO 400

I really liked both of my X-T2’s and the images from them still stun me sometimes with their detail and clarity.  Of course I used the 16-55 and 90mm on both of my X-T2’s, so the only difference to my current kit is the cameras.  Early this year I sold both of my T2’s on ‘fleabay’ and bought two X-H1’s because they were such a great deal here in Australia.  My brand new T2’s a few years ago cost me $2,500 each.  I got one of my H-1’s for $1,800 and the other was only $1,500 (both brand new).  That may not be good for you folks in the States, but for our low Australian dollar, that is very cheap. 

I wrote about this in my previous blogs saying I did not need IBIS or any stabilisation in my lenses – particularly the 90mm.  However, I am prepared to eat humble pie now and say that I was wrong.  On the X-T2 I had to keep the lowest shutter speed to around 1/350^th to get really sharp images on the 90mm, and around 1/125^th on the zoom.  It wasn’t until I started shooting with the H-1’s that I fully realised how much sharper my images were, and even way down to around 1/15^th second. 

The other extra bonus to shooting with the H-1’s is now I’ve come down a whole stop value in high ISO.  I always use auto ISO, and have found on all of the different Fuji cameras I’ve had that it works beautifully (married along with aperture priority that I always use).  However, in the past I had to mostly use 1600 or 3200 ISO to keep that shutter speed up to that 1/350^th sec.  Now that I can shoot way down in my socks as far as slow shutter speeds, the maximum I ever set my auto ISO on is now 800 ISO.  The results are obvious and I’m really enjoying those crisper, cleaner images.

An all round package

Army Cadet - St Barbara's Festival, Goldfields, Western Australia, 2019.  Fuji X-H1, XF 90mm @ F2.2, ISO 400

There is so much I like about this lens.  My other Fuji zooms – the 55-200, 18-135 and the kit lens, were always a bit wobbly and loose on the mount.  I could get the lens and wobble it back and forth.  Often when I got to the end of the zoom range and gave that little turn, I could feel some loose play where the lens met the mount.  There is no such movement with my 16-55.  I always carry camera number two over my shoulder on a Black Rapid.  When I did this with the 55-200, and the 18-135, they would annoyingly gradually creep out to the full extend of the focal length.  This meant that the lens was fully extended and sticking way out – this made it much more vulnerable to being hit or damaged as it swung by my side.  There is no such movement on my 16-55.  I always carry it around at 16mm (it’s shortest length), and it has never extended by itself and ended up hanging out.  The beautiful firm zoom action, weather resistance, lovely firm clicks for each stop – this is an amazing piece of quality kit.

However, none of these things would be much point if it wasn’t optically up to it.  I can honestly say after using both of these lenses now as my main and only ‘glass’ - they go with my everywhere, the images from my 16-55 are every bit as sharp (corner to corner and wide open), as the Fuji 90mm F2 and all the other primes I sold off.  That is really saying something, because many folk say that the 90mm is the sharpest FX lens that Fuji make.  Some say too that the 90mm is a very fast focusing lens.  I disagree, I still have trouble with it sometimes searching back and forth for focus in very bright or normal outdoor lighting.  There is never any issues like that with my 16-55 – it never misses focus and is faster than my 90mm.  I know people will disagree, because many reviewers say that the 16-55 is not that sharp wide open, and other negative stuff.  I have no answer for that or perhaps I got a great copy.  I am very discerning and fussy with my images, so if it were not so, it would have ended up on ‘fleabay’, with Fuji's other lenses that I sold off! 

The search for ‘perfect’ is over

[email protected] 0404495004 Boys will be boys - skate park, Goldfields, Western Australia, 2019.  Fuji X-H1, XF 16-55 @ 45mm, 2.8, ISO 400

Having started this blog with an analogy to illustrate my point about the search for perfect, I also want to end there.  I have booked my annual trip this year and head off shortly for four weeks to Vietnam, China then Cambodia.  I will only have two cameras and two lenses with me.  One really small bag and a couple of cameras – that’s all I need to capture all the beautiful images that will be on offer.   No points for guessing which two lenses those will be!

I did state that nothing in this life for us is ever really perfect, and I still stand by that.  However, if I come to the point in my travels where I could only take one lens and one camera, you know which one it would be.  Perhaps the 16-55 is not perfect, but I must say after using dozens of different cameras and lens combos over 35 years, spanning many different makes and models, the Fuji XF 16-55 2.8 zoom, is so close to perfect that perhaps in this instant we could make an exception!

Man - now that's what I call a truck!! St Barbaras Festival, The Goldfields, Western Australia, 2019.  Fuji X-H1, XF 16-55 @ 16mm, 2.8. ISO 400