X-H2S Firmware Update Ver.3.00

I’m a bit slow to do this update but having a little time free on this trip before I fly home I thought I would update all the cameras I have with me.

I found this video about the AI technology (updates) in the X-H2s quite fascinating.

TBH in the next few months I will want to upgrade a second X-T3, it was going to be an X-H2 (not s) so I had a more versatility but I am now no longer sure as I love the speed of the s version. I can just expand my GFX kit to allow me to shoot more on the street & landscapes (as I have done on this trip).

Berlin – Berlinale

My last post was written whilst in a cold and snowy Berlin. This post is written from a cold and rainy Los Angeles (I missed the snow by a few days… yes really … snow in Hollywoodland! )

I am here for a few jobs and then a little bit of a rest time for myself and a bit of art before returning home. So I guess the next post will be about Red (Blue) carpet’s on the beach, but until then, back to Berlin (a city and event I really love).

Dame Helen Mirren on the Golda Red carpet inside the Berlinale Plast shot on the X-HS2 with the 16-80mm & V1 flash.

So “Crossing the streams” right away and posting a colour image immediately followed by a black and white (I use that phrase as I am sitting below a Ghostbusters poster as i write, but I digress).

Dame Helen Mirren on the Golda Red carpet inside the Berlinale Plast shot on the X-HS2 with the 16-80mm & “catch flash”

Usually I set up with 2 cameras – one with flash, one without, one for full lengths and wides and the other for tight portraits. However after a little discussion and thought, I decided I would not bring the 100-400 with me, choosing the 50-140 as my longest lens on the trip. All the full lengths are being handled by the 16-80 (an often overlooked lens) – far lighter than the 16-55 with a very useful range for this kind of work.

Much of the time in Berlin I only set up a single camera; for all of the photocalls I used the 50-140 with which I could shoot single full lengths and headshots, for the red carpets, the 16-80, sometimes adding the 90/F2 if. I wanted a shot of the “talent” walking up the carpet.

This meant my usual plan of using flash on one camera and aiming to catch other peoples flash with the other was out of the window and so as you can see with the two shots above I choose to flip between these “modes” on the H2S by turning the flash on and off, slowing the shutter speed to help catch any possible flashes. It was a bit more hit and miss but there were enough hits….

At the photocalls, (above), it is easier to work this way with a single camera than on the carpet as the lighting is so good, a flash is not needed, leaving very few changes to the settings needing to be made as I shoot.

Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw Red carpet inside the Berlinale Plast shot on the X-HS2 with the 16-80mm (with flash)

Leaving the 100-400 at home meant I only brought 2 X-series bodies with me (I usually travel with 3) so I had space the pack the GFX50R as my “walk around” camera. I may have mentioned before how I love the tones and graduations this camera offers.

Inside the Neue Wache shot on the GFX50R with 63mm

The final image, taken on my final day in Berlin on this trip was taken inside the Neue Wache, a place I could spend hours inside, in silence. I find it incredibly moving and peaceful at the same time. I had been sitting in the corner for quite a while, almost in a meditative state with the camera on the floor just waiting for the feeling to be right to release the shutter. A couple walked in, both wearing red. They waked to the “Mother with dead son” work, paused for a short while then turned and headed back out. The red contrast felt right so I released the shutter with a resounding “thunk” the woman paused, turned and cocked her head, mirroring the mother, obviously noticing me for the first time.. “thunk” again… and thank you…. (1/100th @ F2.8 / 400ISO)

I have always said the key to photography is not kit, it is not speed, it is about waiting, understanding and sensing.. Make the right choices and wait.. If you take the time there are images everywhere.

(She says using a medium format digital camera that is out of many peoples pockets).

And on that note… time to wait… again.. for the next post 😉

Happy shooting and please let me know what you think.
J x

BAFTAS 2023

A very quick post with a few images of the BAFTAS – why? Because I was told today by a follower (a fellow photographer in Berlin) that I am not writing enough……..

(I am writing this from the Berlin Film festival looking forward to photographing Cate Blanchett on the red Carpet tonight)

For me the BAFTAs this year were the start of a long trip away, with a number of different jobs that have very different requirements… so I spent Saturday away from my studio packing, then unpacking and re-packing..

Packing for Travels. Smart clothes, not so smart clothes, X-H2S, X-T3, GFX50R, iPad., yoga mat.. & plugs…. Lots and lots of power outlet adaptors

So this trip covers 3 countries on 2 continents, which of course means 3 different power outlets.. UK, Euro and US.. Why can’t the world agree on a format for power sockets?? Sometimes I feel half my case is taken up with leads and adaptors to enable me to charge my kit…

However, I digress. Space at this years (new venue) BAFTA awards was in short supply and unlike in the past where the distance has required the 50-140mm plus the 100-400mm, this year I worked mostly with the 16-80mm/F4 (on the X-H2S) and the 90mm/F2 on a X-T3 with the main target being full length / fashion images.

A selection shot with the 16-80mm/F4 and X-H2S

The light was fine and with the clean backdrop (better than previous years) it made for nice, clean, if not a little boring, images.

I used the 90mm to try and get a little atmosphere (having positioned myself so that this would hopefully be possible). Unfortunately the set-up made this a little more tricky than in previous years with less of the queue visible. I did manage a few …

After the arrivals, it was off to the winners photo-call area, again with less space than previous years and my position was not great, I stuck to my original plan of staying tight, shooting on the 50-140 on the X-H2S

In the last week (and not having time to have it looked at before I traveled), my 50-140 has started “hunting” when in AF-C on the X-H2S / Face tracking. It’s still way better than it would be on an X-T3 however it is a little annoying – all other lenses on this body are fine so as soo as I return it will be off to the service dept I think.

I have a few more days here before moving on to my next destination and set of jobs. Ill post about Berlin from there…

Until then, Verabschiedung …

HM Queen Elizabeth II … pt 4, The Funeral

Much like the day on The Mall, the day of the funeral was another early start having stayed in the city overnight so I could get to the Queen Victoria Memorial (opposite Buckingham Palace) at 7am (ish). Then followed a another (less) long wait for the event to unfold.

Being a photographer is not about just waiting for the event to start, it’s about being aware of all that is happening around you. I noticed a young girl quite a way down the Mall stroking a white police horse, taking the image below on the 150-600. I posted the image on instagram and a few days later, received a message.

“The horse is called Verdun, his stable name is Dave, he is stabled at Bow Road Stables and came to the met after he was fired by the army for being naughty! As you can see he much prefers being a police horse!

I work at bow , all the officers at bow and I have admired your photo , I just thought you would like some background”

I cannot help thinking this is the same horse that I photographed on the first day outside the palace and who I posted in the first post.

There were 2 sets of photographers on the QVM. One set to photograph the procession coming down The Mall towards the palace and another (where I was positioned) to record the late majesty Queen Elizabeth passing the palace for the last time.

During the morning, the guards positioned themselves and the palace staff created a line in front of the palace to pay their respects one last time.

Of course I took any images of the procession but the one we were really here to capture was the coffin passing the palace for the last time as The kings troop lowered their standard in front of the palace

And of course the wide view..

My overriding memory of the day is the haunting silence. I have been in London for 1 minute silences before (for example remembrance day) but the 2 minute silence that morning really was silent, I’m not sure I’ll ever experience that in the centre of London again, even the birds seemed silent.

This last post in the series is a little late – I managed to write the others whilst away working but my last week of work – at the Conservative Party conference was just a bit to manic to sit down and write. The next post will go into those two weeks and the using the 150-600 a little more.

I end with my last view of the late HM Queen as her coffin left my view…..

HM Queen Elizabeth II … pt 1.

I was sitting with a number of other “entertainment” photographers at the Red Carpet for the Mercury Awards on the evening of the 8th when the PR for the televised event came and told us it was cancelled. Although we had an inkling earlier in the day, that was really the point at which I knew the Queen had passed away.

It was strange, although I have not covered “proper” news for some years, instinct kicked in, do I go to the the palace and wait for the flag to be lowered to half mast? Or do I go somewhere else? What I actually did was wait for the news to be confirmed by the palace and made a commitment to myself to make sure I do my upmost to photograph as much of the historical period as I could.

In the morning I was on the phone to Nathan at Fixation “can you get me a 150-500”? (In my mind the 100-400 might be pushing it over the next week or so for the upcoming state funeral and other events). Quite simply there were none of the new Fuji long zooms in stock. Next stop was Fuji themselves to see if there were any hire units available… yep! A few mail exchanges and I was sorted, about 30 minutes after which Nathan called me back “they have just come into stock, do you want one? I can get it to you tomorrow morning (Saturday)”. One credit card transaction later followed by a few hire cancellation emails and the new lens was winging its way to me.

All this occurred whilst i was on a train to London with 2 cameras and a couple of primes (the 35 & 90) to get a feel for the atmosphere there.

The mood was very sombre and quiet but I could not help but feel there was quite a few people being a bit over-zealous with “I’m sad” , “here’s a selfie of me being sad”, “here’s a picture of my flowers”, “here’s a selfie of me laying my flowers” oh and for good luck “here’s a picture of my flowers at the palace”..

I did not shoot much that day, nor over the weekend where I stayed at my studio in Worthing and on the beach practicing with the 150-600 which was delivered nice and early on the Saturday morning. (Posts to follow on this lens!)

My next day in London was Monday the 12th in the capacity of photographer for Mark Kermode Live at the BFI (a monthly show) preceded by a trip to Green Park to see how the floral tributes were shaping up. The mood remained sombre and I was pleased to see far less people making their visit about themselves.

X- H2S & 90/2 (more about this horse later 🙂 )

I was back in town the next day; I needed to collect my accreditation and go through security checks for the procession to the laying in state the next day but also photograph the late Queen arriving at Buckingham Palace for the last time (as she was travelling down from Scotland that afternoon).

Hanging around the palace from about 2pm, taking a few more pictures and discussing the events with other photographers it was really difficult to judge what to do. It was clear for me the palace needed to be in the image (as surely that was the point) but knowing where the official position was and how many other photographers were around it was difficult to come up with a plan (where possible I don’t like to follow the herd, it’s true that sometimes there is just one image thats right but this night was not one of those cases). I was walking away from the front of the palace wondering if the wellington arch might be a better spot, concentrating on the hearse and the crowds and as I walked down the side of the palace I got an image in my head.

I did not have a clue if this would work. It would be dark by the time the Queen arrived (remember at this point we did not know the coffin would be lit) but I decided to do an all or nothing gamble. To be honest I thought I had maybe a 50/50 chance and even if it did work it would not be the sort of image that most of the press would use but I did think it would be a moment in history so I sat down, in the drizzle, hoping I would not be moved on and waited for 5 hours , chatting to those around me.

It got dark. Then it got darker. I kept turning the ISO dial, ending up on the max setting!

The image above is the one I had in my head. A small coffin returning to the large “state” (I hoped it would be lit by the car behind, the fact the coffin was lit was a huge bonus).

The second image probably tells the story better for many though. The coffin, clearly draped in the royal standard, lit, passes into the arch as 2 soldiers stand guard.

The latter part of this blog tells the story of one image, by one photographer. Image then how I an others must feel when we see pages like this one on the bbc site. All those images created by many photographers, each image (all much better than mine) with a story, planning and a lot of time by a photographer and yet not one photographer is credited. The credits go to the organisations that distributed the images (or the photographers employers) and the people that selected the images on the page.

So please. Next time you look at an image (still or moving) on the web or in the paper, spare a thought for the work that has gone into it by a photographer.

My next post will detail the following day of the state procession

Primed for WOMAD

If you have read this blog for a long time or if you follow me on social media you will know I ride a motorbike and do not drive a car. This means if I choose to go to a festival and camp on the bike, I need to pack carefully. Some would say, right take 2 zooms, 16-55 & the 50-140 however one of the reasons I go to WOMAD is i don’t know what I’m going to get, which acts might become more relevant to press or who will be reviewed therefore I go with no pressure, no expectation, just having the aim of producing lovely images (there is always lots of colour here).

So my packing was 2 x X-T3, a 14/2.8, the 35/1.4 , a 56/1.2 & 90/2.0

Add to that a small tent, minimal wardrobe and the MT-07 is loaded.

Taking prime lenses means I have to work (slightly) harder to get the images, working the angles but this makes me think and slow down and think about how I want to portray the act.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again “there is no point having fast lenses if you shoot with them closed down all the time” so probably 90% of my images are shot wide open

Japanese vocal performer Hatis Noit – 90/2.0

Japanese vocal performer Hatis Noit – 56/1.2

Japanese vocal performer Hatis Noit was a joy to shoot – bright colours, amazing shapes and lighting that shouted “play with me” and with the 90 on camera and the 56 on the other I obliged with both lenses rendering the colours (in Astia profile) really nicely with (the 56 mainly) beautiful flare.

Kae’s set was in complete contrast, more simple, stark and emotional

I was sad to read the demise of regular visitor Carters Steam Fair and although the modern replacements are colourful, making lovely images, I feel they are just too brash, not meeting the the atmosphere of the festival.

The 56 is well touted as a great portrait lens – shooting wide open with eye tracking as I did for this backstage portrait of Wayne Coyne, lead singer and songwriter of the Flaming Lips, renders the background and even the hair lovely sand soft ensuring the eyes and face get all of the views attention.

Taiwanese contemporary dance troupe B.Dance – 14mm/3.6

The 14mm was useful a few times none more so that with Taiwanese contemporary dance troupe B.Dance, closing the aperture down slightly to keep them all in focus.

Im writing this on the Sunday morning before I shoot the acts of the last day, (the super efficient workflow you have been reading about 🤪 means I am totally up to date with my editing and sending) .

I think the images from the first 3 days give a good enough flavour how I use (and am inspired by the quality of) the Fuji prime lenses.

I have tried not to use the same images as I have posted on my social media channels in this post so if you do not follow me, there are links elsewhere on the page.

So, break out the primes, don’t just twist, use your feet and brain, and go create some images.. I look forward to seeing them.

More soon..

X-H2s – 4 jobs in

Ok, I know I said a few posts back “no camera reviews” , however – a few thoughts….

At the time of writing (a week or so ago), I had completed 4 “proper” jobs with the new flagship camera. Below are some images and thoughts from 3 of these jobs:

Kermode 3D at the BFI
Mabel at Somerset House
Bullet Train Gala

The above image is Nick, running the clips on the Kermode show at the BFI. He’s only lit by his laptop, no house lights. He is laughing (hence movement blur on the face). The camera had absolutely no problem locking onto his eyes. The technical details are below.

Face tracking and IBIS in the (very) dark

I’m closer this time – the eye tracking locked onto Nick’s eye despite so much of the face being covered.

The next job was Mabel performing at Somerset House. Shooting with the 90mm fully open on AF-C, face tracking. No issues with the flashing lights, dancers, fast movement or profile shots.

I’m still trying to get used to the button layout but as my camera’s are in Manual mode 90% of the time, the P-A-S-M dial is not an issue. That said I find it really annoying that in Manual mode I cannot re-assign the front command dial to roll the ISO as then it would match my X-T3’s and be far faster to adjust. When most of my lenses have aperture rings it really makes no sense to dedicate this dial to aperture!

The last of the 3 jobs was the Bullet Train UK gala screening. For this I used the X-H2s with the 100-400 for headshots. The eye tracking always found its target – tracking accurately as they walked and moved, even finding Brad Pitt’s eye on a 3/4 rear view (i.e. the dip in the profile where the eye was as he turned – i am wondering if it was the reflection on the sunglasses!)

Overall this camera is a HUGE step up from any of the other Fujifilm cameras with subject tracking that can be relied on at speed. Additionally although the CFExpress cards are expensive – seeing the RAW files download in a fraction of the time that it takes to download JPG images from the SD, the switch is positive.

Happy shooting and back to the Workflow with the next post.

I’ve seen posts declaring “Fuji is loosing it’s soul”

A slight intrusion into the workflow posts because the number of posts I have seen with this “loosing their soul” comment is making me smile. I do wonder why people are so blinkered nowadays and feel that “change is bad” or “this works for me so I cannot see why it does not work for everyone”

The thing that has upset everyone is the change in the top-plate dials. Gone are the separate shutter speed and iso dials and in their place, a PSAM dial & secondary display.

As you readers know, I’m a press photographer – I drive my cameras hard and need to change settings fast all of the time (I say this just to hilight I am not a studio photographer where the settings on the camera can be stable for the whole shoot).

I switched to Fuji with the X-T1 for work because I loved the colours in the images, the lightness and it was obvious that mirrorless was the way forward. I also loved the look, the feel and the dials – especially the aperture ring but to be honest – wonderful as these dials are – they are just not fast enough – in my world i need to be able to change the settings – all the settings – without removing the camera from the eye. My current X-T3’s are both set with the ISO on’A’ (so it can be adjusted with the front command dial) and the Shutter on ‘T’ (rear command dial), with the aperture on the lens ring.

If you are designing a camera that is all about speed (X-H2S – the clue is in the S) then having the default way of using to be the way I have my X-T’s set up makes sense, in which case, from a designers point of view, (logically speaking) what is the point of the dials? If the dials are of no use, then why have them? It’s just another possible location of a water ingress or other failure. Lets use that space for something else (when I used the X-H1 I loved being able see the state of the batteries without turning the camera on).

So have they lost their soul? Have Fuji abandoned their roots? I will argue no. My argument is not based on the dials, not based on going after financial rewards or entering difficult markets, it’s based on one fact.

The camera features a 26.1MP BSI X-Trans 5 stacked sensor. Not a bayer sensor, an X-Trans sensor! Its the sensor that is responsible for the look of the images that Fuji produce that we love so much, and having that sensor in this camera indicates, to me, that Fuji has without doubt not changed it’s path. The image is everything.

This is a professionals camera, a tool, that enables Fuji to operate in a market that it was not able to. We have to remember that the camera interface is just like everything else in the world. One size does not fit all.

More workflow stuff next week.

Glastonbury and iPad Workflow (pt1)

I’m sitting here writing this the Thursday after Glastonbury and (just about) starting to get over COVID (It hit me hard on the Tuesday evening after testing negative on the Monday, I tested positive on the Wednesday morning).

We had arrived at Glastonbury a week ago to this wonderful (not) notice.

Closed pits for all headliners as displayed in the press tent

This was a first and to be honest, although we expected a couple of closed headliner pits, we did not expect all of them to be closed. I think this tainted my experience of the whole weekend.

The wording there is fairly specific “closed pit” not “no photography” so my colleague and I headed out into the crowd at the end of Sam Fender’s set and took up a position. The Fuji’s with the 100-400 are quite easy when working in a crowd, being smaller but of course do slightly suffer with resolving power and focusing (X-T3) compared to full frame bodies and faster 400mm lenses. We stayed long enough to ensure we got a reasonably varied set of images before fighting our way out of the crowd and filing.

The strategy worked….

Billie Eilish images images on the 3 UK “broadsheet” websites.

So what was the workflow here? As I mentioned in my last post it followed my basic routine:

Create Collection in Lightroom for job
Import from memory cards direct into collection
Select and edit photos in lightroom
Add titles
Create a collection in ShutterSnitch for the job
Share images to ShutterSnitch collection which completes the captioning and sends via ftp
Archive the images

Folder and Albums in Lightroom Mobile (showing all 4 days)

You can see from the above image, I created a folder for the whole event and then a separate Album for each day, using my standard naming format.

The Lightroom Mobile tool is basically a web tool, wanting to store all of its images in the cloud. This is a real issue when speed is of the essence (and when you have a slow internet connection – which for some inexplicable reason at Glastonbury this year we had the worst connection at a major event I think I have ever known). There are 2 key steps to managing this.

First, when leaving on a trip I always pause the sync.

The next step is on each folder, I enable the Store Locally option. To do this requires that there is an image in the album so if pre-shooting, I copy an existing image into each of the albums and then the Store Locally switch is available from the three dots options to the right of the album name

Now I am ready to import the images from the camera card into the Album (inserting the card/card reader into the usb-c slot normally displays the import options. If not the import is available in the lower right). The bottom line is the images do not touch the apple photos app at all. They go direct from the card into Lightroom and they may be RAW or JPG with no issues. In fact the Billie Eilish images were all processed from Fuji Raw (RAF) as I thought I might need more shadow & hilight recovery. The only difference between importing RAF and JPG is that in the import window, JPGs are previewed whilst RAF are just shown as empty boxes (no preview).

Importing images into the current folder.

In this post I have covered how I set up the iPad / Lightroom Mobile and import the images. The next post will discuss selecting & editing the images.

As I finish this post I have just had a conversation with my supplier about my first X-H2, apparently I can collect it next week. Well that has cheered me up from my COVID slump..

Until the next post…

New Way Forward (and Cannes)

It’s fairly obvious I have been neglecting this blog. Actually thats not true. I have not been neglecting it, I have been avoiding it. The question is why and what do I want to do about it?

I might be a poor writer but I do enjoy it (it took me 5 or 6 attempts to pass what was the English Langage ‘O’ level when I was at school (scraping through as I took my final ‘A’ levels). I also enjoy passing on knowledge.

When I started this page, it was the early days of the Fujifilm X-System, the early days of mirrorless and this place seemed the ideal place to put down my thoughts and experiences, passing these on so others (you dear reader) can learn from my errors and not make the same mistakes. Well that was something like 8 years ago and the technology world has changed as has the camera market with most of the manufactures having mirrorless products. Online review sites have exploded with video review sites getting far more views (and influence) than written sites with the actual experience of the reviewer seeming to be way less important to both the manufacturers and viewers.

Fujifilm has just announced the X-H2, it sounds like a very capable camera which I have not seen. The reviews are promising and so I have one on back-order with my supplier and if what I read is true, it will put us X-system users back on a more level playing field when it comes to Auto-Focus performance. However, when I get it, I wont review it. I might comment on some technology that makes my life easier but I will no longer review any product because basically, what interests me is what makes my job easier, faster etc.

If you want reviews stick to the sites that make reviewing part of their business. They get large follower counts, large followings means free review kit and good advertising revenue. How good they are as photographers, how deep their experience of photography and the “sharp end” of the photography business has very little to do with a good review site (and as far as the manufacturers are concerned, the only real measure is the number of followers). If this sounds like a gripe, it’s not. I get it. Who cares that I (or other photography writers) shoot more images in a month (or maybe even a week) and get them published around the world. That does not matter if only a few hundred of people know.

So I am going to stick with the “sharp end”, what counts. How do I work? What are my business practices? Can I improve how I (and you) work?

The next few posts will be about my new mobile workflow and the use of (the rather fast) M1 iPad Pro . In the meantime, here are a few of teh 6000 images I sent out from 10 days in Cannes, all shot on Fujifilm and edited/sent from the iPad.