Continuing the blog serialisation of my popular X-Pro Series lust/hate/love story:
Part 111: The X-Pro1 and the XF56: A Day of Snaps
These past few weeks my articles have all been about X-Pro1 images.
Well…. They’ve been about making X-Pro2 images look like X-Pro1 images.
This is a subject close to my heart, because I love the X-Pro1 look but I also love many of the improved aspects of the X-Pro2 camera. The operational speed, the joystick, the better EVF, the easy to use with only one hand nature of the improved ergonomics
I’ve put (and shared) a lot of work into trying to make my X-Pro2 images charm me as much as the X-Pro1 ones do.
Why? Well having my cake and eating it of course 🙂
Did I succeed in my quest to get X-Pro1 looking images from the X-Pro2?
Somewhat. I dunno man… it’s all so objective. I found a different way of working with my X-Pro2 files though.
So I think it wasn’t a waste.
Despite living in the northern part of a southern European country, the weather of late has been atrocious.
Like start collecting pairs of mixed gender animals and taking a ship building course atrocious.
Facebook has been taunting me with its “memories” each morning. “Hey Adam, perhaps you’d like to share this memory from April last year, the one when it was really hot and you went to the beach with your daughter?”
Bite me Facebook. Bite me.
So when for a few pitiful hours, the rain stopped and the clouds rose to a level where you could see the planes heading in to land at the local airport (rather than just hear them), I knew I had to get out with a camera.
It was then it occurred to me… I hadn’t actually shot with the X-Pro1 for quite a while.
After so much effort in making X-Pro2 images try and look like X-Pro1 ones, I decided that it was high time that I just grabbed the original.
I was about to set off, I was just about to take the XF35 off of the X-Pro2, and put it on the X-Pro1 to make my de facto single lens walkabout rig, when I stopped…
I’d shot a portrait gig a few weeks ago, used the XF56 (naturally) and I thought, no let’s give the XF35 a break and go out with the slow to focus camera, and the slow(ish) to focus lens and see what we see and see what we get.
So, a little like a Simpsons clip show, here’s some of the pictures I came home with.
(This also serves as a test of new way to embed images into my site. They should open in a new window and you can zoom in a bit. Let me know how that pans out…)
Igreja Paroquial de Santo Ildefonso (The Parish Church of Santo Ildefonso)
Usually swarming with people, and still quite busy – I managed to get a fairly people free shot. I wouldn’t normally use a 56mm lens for this, something wider works a bit better in my view… but truth be told I wanted to shoot something else, and needed it look like I was trying to get a shot of the church, so my potential subjects would be nonplussed by me waving a camera around. (Like I’ve said before, personally I find the XF56 just crosses into the realm of being large enough and imposing enough that street subjects know you’re pointing it at them.) Normally I just pretend to take a shot, but I liked the scene enough to actually press the shutter 🙂
I like things in threes, three pairs if I can get it. I had three pairs of eyes fixed on me when I pulled out the camera. But some dummy shots (and some real ones) of the church (see above) allayed their concerns and this is what we got.
I was drawn to this scene because of the contrasting light and it’s play on the motorcycles. I harboured a vision of the two motorcyclists returning to their bikes, walking in from the light on the right, perfectly silhouetted. I waited. I waited. My legs started to ache from inactivity. I wondered if it was a long stay car park. I gave up. Another day maybe.
I thought I’d try a bit of wide open zone focusing and shooting from the hip with the XF56. Hum… The focus is narrow and the framing is tricky. A game better played with the wider lenses methinks 🙂
You might have caught this on Facebook or Instagram? In black and white. I think ultimately it’s a black and white shot… YMMV. But for this article I wanted to keep continuity between all five photos and show the X-Pro1 palette, so I made it colour.
I think it’s the strongest image of the day (YMMV), I wanted a shot of the alley where that little café is. I had in mind it would perhaps work better if someone happened to walk along. Unlike the motorcycles it took mere seconds for someone to unwittingly oblige.
The dry weather didn’t last. You can see in the church shot that the sky was rain filled.
Neither the X-Pro1 nor the XF56 are weather sealed. I didn’t have an umbrella with me.
I enjoyed getting out of the house with a camera, grabbing some snaps and feeling the freedom of the outdoors.
I hope I don’t have to wait so long for the next trip out, but looking at the weather forecast, I don’t feel too optimistic
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Adam Bonn Fotografia 
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