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INSTAX Christmas decoration DIY

by mariesophieklueber November 30, 2022 Comments0

Only 24 days let until it is Christmastime again! Today, we show you how you can quickly create a unique Christmas decoration with your favorite photos.

For this you will need:

  • 1 glass
  • Water
  • Water beads
  • Mini Christmas decoration
  • 1 floating candle
  • Your favorite Christmas photo
  • Transparent tape if needed

First, put the water beads in a bowl with water and let them swell overnight.

The next day you can print out your Christmas motive with your INSTAX-Square Smartphone Printer like here, or you shoot a new one with your INSTAX camera. If you want to protect it from water, you can try wrapping it in clear tape.

Now take your jar and alternate filling it with a little of the decoration and the water beads. In the middle you put the INSTAX instant picture. When the glass is almost full, fill it up with water – and all at once the water pearls disappear!

Now your INSTAX photo floats in the middle of your great Christmas decoration! You can round off your DIY now, in which you put a floating candle in your glass, so you have conjured up a double eye-catcher.

A few tips: it’s best not to use real candy canes, because they dissolve quickly. Please note that it is possible that the INSTAX instant picture may change if it is in the water for a longer time.

See the video for more detailed instructions!
Filed under Be Inspired Blog Spotlight

How to: Make Better Images Indoors

by maurice kammholz November 22, 2022 Comments0

Here in Europe, you can already feel it… Winter season is here. The days are getting shorter, it is getting colder outside, and in some parts it is already starting to snow. Of course, such conditions create perfect outdoor sceneries to capture in your photos, but shooting portraits and other pictures involving people or pets might be challenging due to the unpredictable weather. Therefore, it is time to move back inside and make use of the cozy vibes of our homes. Especially, since Christmas is around the corner, and we are about to take the perfect cheesy family pictures. For beautiful indoor images with perfect color, you need to know how to respond to available light.

Remember, what you see is what you get!

Utilizing your camera’s electronic viewfinder, or the main LCD screen, gives you an accurate view of how the picture will be when you hit the shutter, eliminating any kind of guesswork. Even if you make adjustments to exposure or other settings, you are able to see these in your viewfinder. Thus, you get the picture exactly the way you want to.

Did you know if you add a live histogram to the display, it shows how bright or dark the image you will make is? In your camera’s settings, simply go to ‘screen set-up > display custom setting > activate histogram’.

Make use of auto ISO

As always, available light is inconsistent and therefore, it is important to be adjustable. ISO is every photographer’s secret for that! For everyone who is lazy or as we like to call it ‘smart’, simply set the ISO to Auto, so it adjusts automatically, ensuring you get a good exposure every time. If you prefer adjusting the ISO to your specific requirements, you can as well do so manually by altering the ISO handle.

In addition, you can set a minimum shutter speed with the Auto ISO. Now, it will not drop below that setting – as you can see, all you need to do is tell the camera to do what you want it to do! By choosing one of the auto ISO modes you will be able to change the three settings ‘Default Sensitivity, Max Sensitivity and Min. Shutter Speed’.

Significant to note is that control over Auto ISO is only available in the Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, or Manual modes. In other options, the camera uses Auto ISO automatically.

Filed under Be Inspired Blog Tutorials

Do you recognize this image?

by Giulia Grassi November 15, 2022 Comments0
https://blogs.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/2014/04/HD_2D00_Windows_2D00_XP_2D00_Bliss_2D00_Wallpaper_2D00_Backgrounds.jpg

We are sure that almost everyone is familiar with this. Exactly! This image depicts the famous default wallpaper hill of Microsoft’s Windows XP™ operating system.

A ‘digital window’ overlooking a green hill and blue sky in the Los Carneros American Viticultural Area of the California Wine Country. This photo, named Bliss, consistently makes a Windows XP™ PC recognisable.

However, if you think Microsoft© created it in one of its design studios, you are wrong. The Bliss is a completely original photo with slight editing.

Charles O’Rear, former National Geographic photographer, took the photo in January 1996 and Microsoft© bought the rights to it in 2000. O’Rear used a 1980 Mamiya RZ67 SLR camera and Fujifilm Velvia film to take the image, a film often used among nature photographers and known to saturate some colours.

Since it was the beginning of the millennium and technology was not as advanced as it is today and it was not possible to send the photos digitally Microsoft© decided to obtain the actual negative film for the best results. Microsoft© decided to have O’Rear fly in to have the film delivered personally: it was the cheapest and fastest way to get his hands on the film that would become one of the world’s most iconic photos.

The photo is mostly as it was taken in reality. Although there was later speculation that the image had been created with software such as Adobe Photoshop, O’Rear claims that it never was.

Microsoft© retouched the photo by slightly darkening the green spot on the hill, but other than that, O’Rear’s camera did the rest. The saturated colours are the result of Fujifilm Velvia film, which is known to saturate colours somewhat.

Microsoft© gave the photo its current name and made it a key part of its marketing campaign for XP.

It is estimated that billions of people have seen the image, making it perhaps one of the most viewed photographs in history.

Look the iconic hill on Google Maps.

Filed under Be Inspired Blog Photography

Adobe Camera to Cloud for FUJIFILM X Series

by maurice kammholz November 12, 2022 Comments0

Isn’t it insane how fast 2022 went by? Only a couple of weeks left until we enter 2023. Luckily, we are already excited to welcome 2023 because something new is waiting for you… A new feature for our FUJIFILM X Series.

We are happy to announce the world’s first Native Digital Stills Camera Integration for Adobe Camera to Cloud, which is coming to FUJIFILM X-H2S Series. Now it is easier to connect, create and collaborate by simply connecting to Frame.io using X-H2S and an attached FT-XH file transmitter to send files directly from the camera to collaborators anywhere in the world.

Key features:

  • Send images and videos quickly and safely with global standards in Cloud Security
  •  Automatically send JPEG, HEIF or RAW files to Frame.io directly from the camera
  • Deliver Apple ProRes Proxy files and get bandwidth-efficient, high-quality files into Frame.io
  • Make your content available to collaborators worldwide within seconds

More information will definitely follow. Stay tuned and keep your eyes open because it is planned to launch in early Spring 2023 as a special firmware update for X-H2S.

Filed under Blog Business Consumer

Highest Zoom and World’s longest Focal Length

by maurice kammholz November 8, 2022 Comments0

No, we are not messing around with you. FUJIFILM has developed the broadcast zoom lens ‘FUJINON HZK25-1000mm’, which boasts the world’s highest 40x zoom and the world’s longest focal length of 1000mm.

Following many years of developing and supplying broadcast lenses that address broadcast camera operators’ refined needs, Fujifilm became the first in the world to release a 4K-compatible broadcast lens in 2015. Ever since, Fujifilm has established a lineup of 8K-compatible broadcast lenses to lead the industry in raising video image quality.

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Filed under Blog Business

X-Summit Tokyo 2022

by Fujifilm EMEA November 2, 2022 Comments0
Video

Check out the “X Summit Tokyo 2022” and find out more about the new additions to the Fujifilm X system. The new products will be presented by Fujifilm and X photographers will tell their thoughts about them. Do not miss the exciting news!

Fujifilm launches FUJIFILM X-T5

  • Featuring the latest 40.2MP sensor and image processing engine to deliver superior image quality and fast AF
  • Equipped with three dials on the top panel and a three-way tilting LCD monitor despite being lightweight and compact

X-T5 features the fifth-generation devices, i.e. the back-illuminated 40.2MP sensor “X-TransTM CMOS 5 HR” and the high-speed image processing engine “X-Processor 5.” Its superior image quality and high mobility make it a perfect choice for still photography. The compact camera body, weighing just 557g, is equipped with advanced features including the five-axis in-body image stabilization (IBIS) of up to 7.0 stops, as well as AI-based subject-detection AF and high-speed AF. Other features include three dials: ISO, shutter speed and exposure compensation, and three-way tilting LCD monitor delivering greater comfort in photo shooting. The X-T5 will be a perfect companion to cover a wide variety of photographic genres from snapshots / documentary photography, in which its portability is a major asset, to landscape photography and portraiture, which demands superior image quality.

Fujifilm launches FUJINON XF30mmF2.8 R LM WR Macro

  • Introducing a standard macro lens for mirrorless digital cameras with the minimum focus distance of 10cm and maximum magnification ratio of 1:1
  • Delivering high mobility thanks to compact design and fast, accurate and quiet AF

The XF30mmF2.8 R LM WR Macro is a standard prime lens with the focal length of 30mm (equivalent to 46mm in the 35mm film format). Its standard 30mm focal length provides the angle of view perfect for portraiture and snapshots that take advantage of natural perspectives. The minimum focus distance of 10cm and the maximum magnification ratio of 1:1 (equivalent to 1.5x in the 35mm film format) mean the lens is highly versatile, adapting to a variety of situations, with its capacity to go up close and personal to the subject in limited space, e.g. tabletop photography of food. It is designed compact and equipped with fast, accurate and quiet AF for high mobility.

X Summit Tokyo 2022

You can watch the recording of the livestream here as well as even more recordings of past Summits or on our Official FUJIFILM X Series YouTube channel.

Filed under Blog Photography