A friend and I decided to go camping in Wales, which perfectly coincided with the passing of the ex-hurricane Bertha! To many this is a bizarre time to choose to go camping, but from a landscape photography perspective, angry weather equals exciting weather.
At the moment I am trying to train myself to only use prime lenses as Fujifilm offers such a wide variety covering lots of helpful focal lengths (the announcement of the XF90mm f2 R and XF16mm f1.4 R being added to the lens roadmap is very exciting). The reason for this is that to me they inspire creativity, using the fixed focal length makes me think more about composition and simply take more time with each picture. However, the thought of changing lenses in high winds and heavy rain atop a cliff wasn’t particularly appealing so the ever-camera-bag-present XF18-135mm came into its own. Having previously used a prototype version of the lens on the Farne Islands (see my initial impressions here) this was the first time I had really put the production version through its paces and I have to say it passed with flying colours.
Because I was generally taking landscape photographs I didn’t miss the wonderful wide aperture capabilities of prime lenses. The other bonus of using the XF18-135mm was the fast auto focus and probably, more importantly, the weather sealing. Once mounted to the X-T1 the weather resistance system left me with one less thing to think about while battling the hazardous conditions.
I wasn’t the only thing out enjoying the powerful winds though, a few fulmar were flying around the cliffs, putting on a very impressive aerial display. This was a great opportunity to try the continuous focus in mirky conditions with a very fast moving subject. Once locked on the keeper rate was very high.
Enjoying the conditions
Target ahead
Cliff flyby
Fulmar in the scene
The other very helpful feature of the XF18-135mm lens is the 5-stop image stabilisation which proved very helpful in countering the blustery and often dark conditions.
Setting Welsh sun
Going further against my plan to use only prime lenses, the other lens used extensively was the XF10-24mm R OIS on the X-Pro1. Again I went with the practicality and versatility offered by this wide angle zoom lens. Despite this being a zoom, I loved using it at the ultra wide 10mm end to capture as much of the impressive scenes in front of me as possible.
Incoming shower
Boisterous waves
Overall it was a great few days for photography, but before you go off camping in inclement weather, make sure you check with others you drag along, as the X-T1 – XF18-135mm set up is weather resistant and ready for anything, but they might not be so obliging.
Who doesn’t love a little adventure from time to time?
My adventure begins with simplest of texts: “Fancy coming to Wales for a week, for free?” sent from my Mum on a weekday morning. Well who could pass on an opportunity like that? I hadn’t done a great deal of landscape photography and knew that this was a great chance to up my skills in this area.
I mentioned my trip to a few colleagues and they suggested I grab some ND Graduated filters to give me more control over the exposure of sky and land. I had never used an ND Filter before, but was excited to give them a go. I knew I couldn’t afford anything decent so I simply bought some £15 (delivered) ND filters with holders on Ebay.
So a few weeks later, fully prepared with all the bits and bobs (tripod, batteries, etc) we set off. I had only been to Wales once as a kid and didn’t remember it that well. All I knew was that I would see LOTS of sheep. Here was a little snap I caught and loved of one of the first sheep I saw there.
Blowing raspberries?
After settling into our holiday home, we planned out the week ahead. This included going into the underground mines, climbing Snowdon, visiting Anglesey and other holiday-type locations.
Destination number one had to be Snowdon as the weather forecast was looking good and we wanted the best visability when we made it to the top. My Fiancée and I decided to take the Snowdon Ranger path as it was recommended as beautiful and not too difficult.
Here are some of the shots going up the mountainside.
You may notice that the sky has that slight layered darkness to it, that is the ND grad filters. They help darken the sky area so the whole picture can be exposed correctly. Without them the sky would have been bright white and the colours would’ve been washed out. One problem I did face with the ND filters was that because they were cheap, they had a tendency to give a magenta colour cast on the image. To combat the issue, I used Photoshop to target problem areas using a Solid fill layer set to overlay and then picked a more suitable colour.
Once we made it to the top we saw the train that runs alongside the Llanberis path. A beautiful train though it was, I am glad we walked up for the sense of achievement and also the train did seem rather old and clunky! Made for a great snap though.
Here is the view from the very top. I boosted the colours a bit in Photoshop but it really was that clear and that beautiful. I highly recommend taking a visit if you can.
Now I love visiting Castles, something about the history and the medieval era interest me somewhat. So it is not surprising that we had to take a trip to the recommended – Conwy Castle. Unfortunately I didn’t get many good shots of the castle itself as I would have wanted to take them from the sea as a landscape shot and we didn’t come in from that side. However, it did give me an excellent viewpoint to trial the ‘Miniature’ mode on the camera. Here are some of the shots taken from the top.
One of my favourite days out had to be travelling round Anglesey. It was my turn to drive out of the family and I must say it was truly excellent. The roads were full of interest with their twists & turns, cliff edges and mountainous surroundings and the views were simply picturesque – everywhere. I remember I kept saying “We will get a picture here on the way back”, I said that about 20 times as pretty much every corner I turned there was another shot waiting to be taken.
One of the first places we stopped was a little place on the coast that I cannot remember the name due to it being “Oh that looks nice, let’s stop here for a minute and take some snaps”. A couple of hours later we were still there enjoying the views and wandering along the coastline.
Here are a few shots from this ‘unknown’ location using the ND grad filters again.
Once we had eaten some lunch here we knew it was time to move on to get the ‘necessary’ holiday ice-cream’ from a beach nearby, we chose the beautiful Beaumaris Pier in Anglesey (shot below).
Pier at Beaumaris – Anglesey
We also visited some other piers and beaches on the day. Here are two shots that I was really lucky to find. The first image is of a pier, my feet/shoes were pretty soaked after this one as the sea water was coming up from under the wooden beams! I have post-processed this image firstly into black and white and then colourised it with a blue tone to add to the drama of the shot.
ISO 200 – f/9 – 1/250 – XF10-24mm
The second image was shot on a pier that had this impressive looking building attached, I just loved the look in black and white with all the lines created in the flooring. Again using the ND grad filter to pull some contrast into the sky.
ISO 200 – f/4 – 1/550 – XF10-24mm
The final part of the day was to track down a good lighthouse image. I found the best one near to us to be South Stack Lighthouse. It was pretty difficult to find and quite a walk to it but it was well worth the effort. As mentioned previously in this blog the ND grad filters gave a magenta cast to all my images. With this particular image I didn’t filter much of it out as I loved the colour with this composition.
I have come to the end of my mini adventure and I hope you enjoyed being a part of it. Hopefully it will inspire you to go out and venture among these beautiful landscapes and just have fun.
I generally do not like to write reviews of products without a long and intensive field test. And by long I do not mean days – I mean several months.
I also don’t like writing first impressions of a camera or lens, because in a few days, even shooting many hours, I do not have enough time to get perfectly tuned with the gear I am using. I still remain a stranger and there is still the excitement of the new toy.
It’s almost like in real life, with couples. You can (almost) never tell after a first date or two if your partner will be “the one” but after several months of dating, you get a quite good idea if your relationship will go for a long run.
That’s why, although I’ve been one of the first and privileged people in the world to get my hands on the X-T1, long before it was announced, I didn’t write anything about it yet.
This was all true until one night in Yokohama, Japan, where a group of X-Photographers are gathered to speak at CP+, I went out with some friends and colleagues, and coupled the latest X-series with the Fujinon XF10-24mm F4 R OIS.
13.8 mm (in 35mm: 21.0 mm) 1/8 sec; f/4.5; ISO 6400
Love at first sight
I guess this is what is known as love at first sight. A perfect match. When you know there is no need to further test, or to “date” a little bit longer because you simply know it will be a long-lasting and happy relationship.
There are plenty of detailed reviews online and plenty of technical data sheet about the camera and the lens, there is no need to cover again that kind of information.
11.5 mm (in 35mm: 17.0 mm) 1/32 sec; f/4.0; ISO 3200
All I can say is that the camera is designed to fit perfectly in the hands and to have that kind of tactile feel that only a vintage camera could offer and is designed with a lot of technology inside but with a simple usage in mind. And the lens, is just amazing: wide open is razor sharp, it has an impressive OIS that can easily hold 5 stops, all you have to do is get out and shoot. And this is what the X-T1is made for: to simply take beautiful picture, to forget about the technical race and to focus on what should be every photographer’s main concern: making stunning images.
I want to add is this:
3200 or 6400 ISO
1/8th and 1/4th of a second, handheld (yes, you read it correctly, handheld – God bless OIS and the small weight of the camera)
f4
You judge the result your self. All of the images featured here were taken on the X-T1 with a (pre-production) XF10-24mmF4 lens and are JPEGs straight out of camera. I dare you to find me another combination like this.. 😉
10.0 mm (in 35mm: 15.0 mm) 1/4 sec; f/4.0; ISO 3200
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About Gianluca
An in depth knowledge of photography has led Gianluca to travel to many diverse destinations around the world, from the Arctic Polar Circle to Africa’s deserts, from the Far East to the Amazon. Gianluca’s photographs have appeared in various publications including National Geographic Magazine, New York times, Newsweek, Los Angeles Times, CondèNaste, Bloomberg News.
His images are represented by National Geographic Creative.
His series of images from India has been projected at Musèe de Elysèee in Lausanne.
Gianluca is also a member of NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) and he has an intense lecturing and teaching activity counting various seminars and workshops: he teaches reportage at European Institute of Design of Milan, and is a Photography Expert and teacher for National Geographic Expeditions.
When not on assignment Gianluca spends his time in Switzerland and in Italy.
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