2023 Film Independant Spirit Awards

This event is held on the Beach (Car Park) at Santa Monica in an open sided tent.

The locals were very much about “It’s so cold” , “make sure you wear layers” etc. Having come from Berlin the week before and the BAFTA’s before that, I have to say, it might have been cold for L.A. but cold? Not really!

As I was shooting for clients mostly, I decided to shoot fairly straight up and down, choosing the 16-80mm & 50-140mm on the X-H2s and X-T3 respectively.

As usual, the images were edited in Lightroom Mobile and sent from a Cafe Santa Monica via Shuttersnitch (See the software page for links).

Here are a few of the images (with a couple of Oscar winners amongst them) ….

Attendees of the event included Jamie Lee Curtis, Jessie Buckley, Jodie Turner-Smith, Cate Blanchett and Ke Huy Quan

It was nice to see this image of Cate and Michelle used in the UK press the next day.

I had neglected this blog for so long but now I am getting in the habit of writing again it’s nice to see how you guys are returning to reading here. I mean what I say when I ask for comment, feedback or if there is any subject you would like me to cover – please comment 👇👇

Until the next time..

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).

HM Queen Elizabeth II … pt 3, laying in state

The last post left me at about 3:30 on The Mall having got there early on the Wednesday morning.

After filing my images and managing to get a dinner with friends in Soho, I headed to Westminster Hall where I had a 30 minute slot to photograph the late Queen laying in state at 21:30.

Luckily before dinner I was able to store some of the kit I was carrying in a secure location so again, I needed to plan what images I wanted to make. Many of the National papers and major agencies had earlier time slots which enabled me to see what they had filed. As expected most had focused quite tightly on the coffin, guards and visitors (there is an saying in the press photography world “Tight, Bright and Shi……” .

The Westminster Hall, where the late Queen was laying is the oldest part of the parliamentary estate and having walked through it many times I had an idea of its grandeur and size. I headed back with the 35/1.4 mounted on the X-H2S and the Laowa Ultra wide on the GFX50R.

The sensor on the GFX50 has an enormous dynamic range and shooting in RAW on that camera gave me the best chance of getting detail in the rafter shadows as well as the colours of the Royal Standard & Yeoman Warders.

Stopping the lens down a bit and reducing the ISO enhanced this enabled me to slow the shutter and blur the members of the public giving them a ghostly appearance.

Stopping this lens down a bit also does give nice a nice star points.

With the H-2S i focused on the details like the changing of the guard.

The final post in this series will be later in the week when I focus on the day of the funeral. As always I would love to hear your comments and questions.

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.