Fotoeins Fotografie

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Posts from the ‘Camera Gear’ category

Fotoeins Friday: Fujichrome Slide, Fuji recipes 1

Fujifilm film-simulation recipes for X-Trans II detectors, applied to the X70:

2 Jun 2023: Fujichrome Slide.
9 Jun 2023: Kodak Platinum 200.
16 Jun 2023: Ektachrome 100SW.
23 Jun 2023: Kodacolor.
30 Jun 2023: Kodachrome 64.

I made the image above on 21 Sep 2022 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and settings: 1/1000-sec, f/13, ISO1000, and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-p8i.

My Fuji X70: Fujichrome Slide, Kodak Platinum 200 (XTrans2 recipes)

Above/featured: 1st Narrows, from John Lawson Pier.

My Fujifilm X70 mirrorless fixed-lens prime camera has been a big plus for photography at domestic and international locations. The built-into-camera film-simulations (e.g., Provia, Velvia) work beautifully in standard settings, but as I’ve never had a film camera, the advent of “camera recipes” to produce additional film-like settings stimulated interest in different colour or pictorial representations.

So far, I’ve tested these Fujifilm film-simulation (“film-sim”) recipes:

•   Ektachrome 100SW (saturated warm), simulating images with the Kodak colour transparency or slide films produced 1996–2002;
•   Kodachrome 64, simulating images with the Kodak colour film produced between the mid-1970s and 2009;
•   Kodacolor, “producing classic Kodak analog aesthetic closest to early-1980s Kodacolor VR200 colour film that’s been overexposed.”

( Click here for images )

My Fuji X70: Kodacolor (XTrans2 recipe)

Above/featured: After Girard: Vancouver-Strathcona, 14 Oct 2021.

The Fujifilm X70 mirrorless fixed-lens prime camera has been a real boon to my approach to photography for personal projects both domestically and internationally. To satisfy my curiosity, I’ve provided examples of X70 images made with two Fujifilm analog-film simulation (film-sim) recipes:

•   Ektachrome 100SW (saturated warm), simulating images with the Kodak colour transparency or slide films produced between 1996 to 2002;
•   Kodachrome 64, simulating images with the Kodak colour film produced between the mid-1970s and 2009.

In this post, I examine the Kodacolor film-simulation, a reproduction of which Fuji X Weekly’s Ritchie Roesch describes as “producing a classic Kodak analog aesthetic.” According to Roesch, the digital film-simulation is closest to Kodacolor VR analog color film from the early-1980s, whose ISO200 version is still available for purchase as “ColorPlus 200” (Kodacolor 200).

The following film-simulation recipe creates images similar to the look of “Kodacolor VR 200 (film) that’s been overexposed.” My X70 settings are:

  • ‘Classic Chrome’ built-in film-sim
  • Dynamic Range: DR400
  • Highlight: +1 (Medium-High)
  • Shadow: +1 (Medium-High)
  • Color: -2 (Low)
  • Sharpness: 0 (Medium)
  • Noise Reduction: -2 (Low)
  • White Balance: 6300K; -3 Red, -2 Blue
  • ISO: Auto, up to 6400 for “grainy” appearance (or fixed to 1000)

The recipe above is for the X-Trans II sensor; the corresponding recipe for an updated or more recent sensor is found here. All other recipes sorted by specific sensor are found here.

The following images were made at locations throughout metropolitan Vancouver. Minor adjustments to brightness level, rotation, and geometric distortion have been applied from straight-out-of-the-camera (SOOC) to posting.

( Click here for images )

Lions Gate Bridge, Seawall, Stanley Park, First Narrows, Salish Sea, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

The wide field

Above/featured: Vancouver landmark: two towers of the Lions Gate Bridge – 17 Jan 2014 (6D1).

Some time ago, I wrote about my photographic journey which has included a point-and-shoot camera, an introductory crop-frame camera, a consumer-model full-frame camera, and a compact mirrorless camera.

The way people see the world is best encapsulated at focal lengths typically around 35mm. Portraits of people start at about 50mm, and go as “long” or “tight” at 80mm. With larger zoom glass and longer focal lengths, “action at a distance” becomes accessible; examples include “close-up” views or moments at sports events or bird-watching from afar to avoid spooking the birds. At focal lengths below 35mm, the accessible field of view becomes much larger; for example, one of the “widest” fields can be found with a super-wide piece of glass at around 16mm.

I’ve made photographs across a wide variety of focal lengths: from wide (16mm) to long (480mm). I once imagined I would spend most of my time photographing “long”, at focal lengths beyond 100mm. I soon learned I prefer photographing (well-)below 50mm, with the lion’s share of my images in the “wide field” at focal lengths in the range 24 to 28mm.

( Click here for more images)

My Fuji X70: Ektachrome 100SW (XTrans2 recipe)

Above/featured:False Creek east, from Cambie Bridge – 12 Jul 2021.

A variety of film simulations in the form of recipes with different settings are applicable to Fujifilm cameras to create uniquely historical and/or vintage look to images. Fortunately, a number of recipes are available to apply onto Fuji cameras with X-Trans II sensors.

That’s where my Fuji X70 has entered the fun fray. Previously, I showed examples of images made with the Kodachrome 64 recipe, simulating images made with the Kodak analog colour film produced from the mid-1970s to its final run in 2009.

I wanted to try another film-simulation recipe: the Ektachrome 100SW (SW for ‘saturated warm’) described by Ritchie Roesch in Fuji X Weekly. Historically, the Kodak company produced the ‘Ektachrome’ line of colour transparency or slide films. From its introduction in 1996 to its termination in 2002, the ‘Ektachrome 100SW’ film with increased ISO sensitivity produced images with deeper colours and warmer colour balance.

At locations throughout metropolitan Vancouver over a period of four weeks in July and August 2021, here are images below straight-out-of-the-camera (SOOC) with the following settings:

  • ‘Velvia’ built-in film-sim
  • Dynamic Range: DR200
  • Highlight: +2 (High)
  • Shadow: +1 (Medium-High)
  • Color: -1 (Medium-Low)
  • Sharpness: 0 (Medium)
  • Noise Reduction: -2 (Low)
  • White Balance: Auto; +1 Red, -2 Blue
  • ISO: Auto up to 3200 (or fixed to 1000)

All recipes sorted by specific sensor are found here.

( Click here for images )

My Fuji X70: Kodachrome64 (XTrans2 recipe)

Above/featured: South portal, Lions Gate Bridge – 25 Jun 2021.

I wrote about how the Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime has been great for my photography. Fujifim prides itself on good to faithful reproductions of film simulations (film-sims). For the most part, I’ve used the default or “Standard” setting, equivalent to the “Provia” film-sim which is one of 11 film-sims built into the X70.

I learned about other film-sims, particularly those applicable to the older X-Trans II sensor that’s in my X70 camera. I’ve been interested in digital reproductions of “old” colour slide film, and seeing how images over a variety of subject matter appear with a film-sim that looks a little more like “old school film”. Ritchie Roesch describes in Fuji X Weekly the differences between the Kodachrome II and Kodachrome 64 film-sims; the former resembling the look of Kodak film from the 1960s to the mid-1970s and the latter echoing the final version of the film-type from the mid-1970s to 2009. Roesch provides additional historical context to the development of Kodachrome film here.

Here I’ve used the Kodachrome 64 film-sim recipe with the following settings:

  • ‘Classic Chrome’ built-in film-sim
  • Dynamic Range: DR400
  • Highlight: +2 (High)
  • Shadow: +1 (Medium-High)
  • Color: 0 (Medium)
  • Sharpness: 0 (Medium)
  • Noise Reduction: -2 (Low)
  • White Balance: Daylight; 0 Red, -3 Blue
  • ISO: Auto up to 3200 (or fixed to 1000)

All recipes sorted by specific sensor are found here.

( Click here for images )

The Foto(eins) Journey, with Canon & Fujifilm

Above/featured: Winter morning at Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver – 22 Dec 2020 (X70).

Frankly, I don’t know why I waited so long.

For the longest time, I thought photography wasn’t for me. But the curiosity of making images would soon win me over.

My late-entry to photography means I have some regrets not having any images when I lived in Toronto and in Germany. After I moved to Minneapolis, I asked friends and colleagues for some advice, and by 2015, I purchased a compact Canon point-and-shoot camera. I pushed the limits of that camera, and I realized very quickly the kinds of images I wanted to make were beyond what the camera could manufacture. I needed greater flexibility and capability to adjust aperture- and exposure-values, and within three years, I moved “up” to a Canon camera with a crop sensor (450D).

I learned quickly I wanted a broader range of focal lengths, which led me to acquiring a couple of extra lenses. I pushed the 450D very hard, including my year-long around-the-world (RTW) journey in 2012. The shutter died the next summer in Prague, and with my investment of glass within the Canon camera-system, I moved “up” to a Canon camera with a full-frame sensor (6D1) in early 2014. With a larger sensor providing greater sensitivity to low-light, I feel the camera has furnished great images under a variety of conditions. But the 6D1 camera and complement of lenses can be bulky and heavy to carry around for an entire day, and I was feeling “burned out” by the camera-and-lens combination’s larger footprint and weight.

In early 2018, I pondered the idea of a more portable camera, and I decided on a lightly-used Fujifilm X70 mirrorless camera. I brought the 6D1 and the X70 on trips to Europe and the U.S. Southwest to experiment with both cameras, and to understand which device was ideally suited for different environments in different places. The 6D1 still has its place for what I want to photograph, but I discovered a different level of fun and versatility with the X70 with its light weight and small compact size. The X70 isn’t perfect, but it’s a lot easier to carry the X70 into the streets than with the 6D1.

I don’t know what happens next, but there are lots of possibilities for further projects in locations near and far.

( Click here for images and more )

Fuji X70, Fujifilm X70, Fujifilm, X70, Peak Design

My Fuji X70: from Austria to the US Southwest

Instead of merely complaining about a desire to carry something lighter for day-to-day photography situations, I decided to do something about it a couple of weeks before my month-long visit to Austria in May 2018.

I looked online for a mirrorless compact camera, but I didn’t need the latest or a top-line model. I preferred an older model with a lot of online reviews and user comments, and I decided on a compromise among three criteria: cost, weight and size, and image quality.

( Click here for images and more )

Zugspitze: can I see Italy from here?

“If I’m at the highest point in Germany, can I see Italy?”

Over the years, I’ve seen at various times the claim made about seeing Italy from the tallest mountain in Germany.

I’m startled by the winter morning sun, streaming through the window into my hotel room in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I rise slowly from the bed, barely able to keep my eyes open. I shuffle across the room, and pull the small linen drapes aside. It’s blue everywhere, and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. My eyes are now wide open, heart pumping with excitement, because I know skies are gonna be clear up top. Later I learn forecast conditions for the Zugspitze summit are excellent: mostly sunny, visibility out to 160 kilometres (100 miles) with a high temperature of -8C/+18F. Cold, but very doable. It’s also why I have with me 70-300 glass for the long zooms.

Below I show photographs with sightlines and their corresponding average azimuths*: east-southeast (107 degrees), southeast (138 degrees), south (175 degrees), southwest (210 degrees), west-southwest (250 degrees). I label specific mountain peaks of interest in addition to the flag of the country where the mountain is located. In a few cases, mountains lie along the border between two nations in which case I provide two country flags. For the labeled peaks, I’ve also provided further information about mountain heights and sightline distances in the map below.

Spoiler alert: not only am I able to spot mountains in Italy, but also other peaks in Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.

( Click here for images and more )

On the camera full-frame, another ten-thousand framed

24 October 2014.

With nine months (Jan-Oct 2014) under the belt, I’ve set a new mark with my tech-friend. I’ve made good progress to “flip” (or reset) the four-digit image-number counter for the first time: I’ve clicked away on the 10000th frame on the Canon 6D.

10-K on the 6-D

It’s a bright fall afternoon in the greater Vancouver area. Conditions are breezy and overcast; the cloud ceiling is high but not very thick. With excellent transparency in the air, the light is diffuse, providing softer contrasts between highlights and shadows.

I’m in New Westminster for the opening night of my neighbour’s art exhibition. Before the doors open to the exhibition, I have some time to hang out along the Fraser River at Westminster Pier Park.

Windsocks appear like fingers against the cable-stays of the Translink SkyBridge over the Fraser River, as a scheduled automated train crosses over from New Westminster (left) to Surrey (right). The train is at right angles with the tall north tower of the Skybridge, and the Skybridge deck is just tangent with the yellow curved arch of the Pattullo Bridge behind.

Looking through the camera viewfinder, I shuffle back and forth, getting ready for the shot I want. I wait for the right moment. When I see all of the details come together, I press the shutter button.

Over time, I’ve developed a sense for simply more than documenting the moment. I’m folding in a sense of place, a sense of the situation, that the stream of time can be held (frozen) for a tiny moment in a remarkable confluence of disparate elements.

Skybridge, Pattullo Bridge, Westminster Pier Park, New Westminster, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

“Breezy autumn pluck at the right angle”

I made the photo above on 24 October 2014 with the Canon 6D camera and EF 24-105 L-lens with the following settings: 1/160s, f/10, ISO500, 105mm focal length. I clicked away over 75000 exposures with my previous Canon 450D camera over a period of five years. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-613.

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