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| Fuji X-T1 |
So my Fuji X-T1 arrived just under two weeks ago and I decided to write a short piece outlining my initial impressions after its first professional photographic outing.
I was photographing a wedding in the beautiful Yorkshire dales and it was a full days shoot. 19 hours in total with very little down time. It was a biggie and I needed my gear to work faultlessly throughout. The last thing you want on these really long days is a camera or lens malfunction. The weather was glorious, the venue was superb and the entire day was a photographers dream. Lovely couple, great guests and a brilliant live band. At the moment I only have one battery for the X-T1 and this is quite clearly not enough. I knew this was going to be the case and realised I was only able to shoot the mornings session with it. I have two more batteries on order at present so this won't be a problem in the future. Since my Nikon D4 and D3s were to be the main work horses throughout the day I wasn't concerned. I really didn't think I would use the Fuji at all during the bridal prep, just the odd shot, but as any wedding photographer will tell you, lighting can be quite tricky when shooting in these situations. The make up artist will position the bride next to a bright light source, more often than not the window so careful exposure is needed. Cameras are normally tricked in to under exposure, at least a stop, possibly more and if you and the subject/s are moving around quite a bit this can be a pain. Not so with the X-T1. The Electronic View Finder ( EVF ) shows the exposure in real time and as the image will be captured. This means you can work so much quicker adjusting the exposure compensation dial on the top plate of the camera as you go along. I actually found myself putting the big Nikons down and concentrating on shooting almost entirely with the Fuji. The size of it, or should I say lack of size really made it easy to manoeuvre around and it was a joy to hold. Nice grip and a tactile feel. That does cause a few small problems however. The four way controller on the back of the camera is tiny so pressing the right buttons while holding the camera to your eye can be slightly tricky. I got better with this over time though and I'm pretty familiar with the setup now. I did find myself accidentally pressing the red video record button on a couple of occasions as I tried to rotate the exposure compensation dial and maybe in a firmware update Fuji could introduce an option which would allow the user to effectively turn this button off if not needed.
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| Top plate |
The camera is beautifully made. Quite light because it is so small but feels solid with a metal construction. Every control you need is right there on the top plate or available on one of the six customisable function buttons dotted around the camera. The EVF is lovely to look through offering a really large image full of detail and colour. The focus peeking option is great. It allows a magnified view of the part of the image that you require in focus making critical focusing that much easier.
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| Close up of the dials of the beautiful Fuji X-T1 |
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| Rear view of the X-T1 |
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| The 18-55mm Kit lens |
The images that come out of the camera are lovely. Very sharp and full of detail. One area to watch though is the smudging of grassy or leafy areas of images, particularly as they start to fall out of focus. I noticed this whilst using Adobe Camera Raw to process my R.A.F. files. Most of the time the images were just fine, but occasionally things looked decidedly awful. Reading the many forum debates on this subject and the apparent fact that Adobe cannot fully work these files out yet, I decided to look elsewhere for a raw converter. Many people suggest using either Photo Ninja or Capture One for PC and I have just downloaded a beta version of Photo Ninja. Images processed using this program are stunning and that painterly effect is just not there so I would highly recommend giving it a go. I have yet to try Capture One but I also hear very good things about this program also. Below is the link for the latest version of Photo Ninja.
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| Size doesn't matter |
As I mentioned at the top of this post, this isn't really a review of the camera, rather a first impression. And first impressions are very favourable, especially now that I have found a raw program that can deal with X Trans sensors found on Fuji cameras. Come on Adobe, sort it out. If you don't you'll find many people jump ship as Fuji cameras become more and more popular.
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| Lovely case and the four way button setup |
One final thing I wanted to talk about concerns the aesthetics and protection of the camera. The X-T1 is a lovely looking thing, reminiscent of film cameras from years past. For that reason it deserves a beautiful case. I was browsing online for Fuji cases when I came across this rather lovely looking example. Black leather with white detail stitching. It looks great on the X-T1 and fits a treat. I bought the full case for protection whilst travelling, but the top part can be detached leaving just the half case fitted to the bottom of the camera if you want to travel light. The matching wrist strap is fantastic. It allowed me to carry the camera safely at the wedding without it getting in the way. You may want to check it out here,
Also available in other colours.
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| Full case |
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| Close up detail of the stitching |
I will start to upload some of my images taken with the X-T1 in the coming weeks, both from my recent wedding shoots and also hopefully some landscape stuff, so please stay tuned.
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