Weekly Email - 4-13-12 - Sunny Zoom Zoom

This week I was trying to see if I could get creative with a long zoom camera and work with the many different focal lengths in a scene.
Certainly not a tough assignment but in some instances timing is everything.

Here on the edge of the Hudson I was shooting about a mile away across to New Jersey.  Using the new Fujifilm X-S1 camera with a 26x zoom lens from 24mm to 624mm it really becomes a simple twist to create impact.

The images possible are endless using this kind of plan to stop, zoom and click.

X-Pro1

X-Pro1

Shooting with the Fujifilm X-S1 and the EF-42 Flash

This weekend was the annual Easter Parade on Fifth Ave in NYC.  It is a unique experience and the amount of people with cameras exceeds the amount of Easter bonnets by far.  One of the important tricks for capturing what I feel are interesting images which retain their color and the background is to use a camera which has a high speed flash sync.  
All the images here - except the one of me - were shot with the Fujifilm X-S1 at shutter speeds with fill flash ranging from 1/800th to 1/3000th.  This is easily accomplished with most non DSLR cameras.  Without fill flash many of the images would have incredibly harsh shadows from either being backlit or terrible overhead sun and shadows.

You can see my X-S1 with the EF-42 which I chose over the EF-20 (which was on my X-Pro1) since it has more power to balance to the daylight in some super bright scenes.  All of these are jpegs from the camera and not processed RAWs.

See more about the X-S1 here:
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/digital_cameras/x/fujifilm_x_s1/index.html

Photo by Mel DiGiacomo - picture above

F/5.6 @ 1/640th

 

I am an employee of FUJIFILM North America Corporation.
The statements, comments and opinions expressed here represent my own, personal views and are not endorsed by, or affiliated in any way with, FUJIFILM North America Corporation or its affiliates.
bremler@fujifilm.com

Weekly Email - 4-6-12 - Flower Versions

Making an interesting photo is always a subjective activity.  There are clearly endless ways to apply your vision to a scene and render the light & subject.

This week with Spring in bloom it is easy for photographers to get caught up in the colors popping everywhere.  So what makes a good image great?  I guess the old adage that beauty is in the eye of the beholder works to explain that.

I shot around 10 different exposures of this tulip and each one has a slight change in the scene due to the saturation, exposure, and fill flash combinations.   Sometimes the tulip can look backlit and washed out - or the background can be overexposed.  

Here I've also tweaked some with NIK for additional effects.

Have a great holiday weekend.

Fujiiflm X-Pro1 w/18mm - approx 1/250th @ F/11
Fujifilm EF-20 flash on camera

Fujifilm X-Pro1 Leather Case & Grip

Now that the X-Pro1 is shipping and the accessories are on their way I thought I would share a couple quick points about the case and grip.  The grip feels awesome.  Much better than I even anticipated.  There is a nice benefit in that when you attach the grip you now have a centered tripod mount.  You do of course need to take the grip off to access the battery and SD card - but the thread is easy to remove.  In the below video you can see a brief description of the leather case set.  Note that the extra case is not for a lens - but for caps or filters.




I am an employee of FUJIFILM North America Corporation.
The statements, comments and opinions expressed here represent my own, personal views and are not endorsed by, or affiliated in any way with, FUJIFILM North America Corporation or its affiliates.

Fujifilm FinePix HS-30EXR Zoom!

I'm playing around with several new cameras now and testing the powerful zoom capability of the new cameras.  One that is really impressive is the HS-30EXR.  This compact has a built in optical zoom of 30x and can go out to 60x with digital zoom.  Here is a quick example of the power of a lens like this.
The statue is on the top of City Hall in NYC.  The optical zoom range is 24-720mm!
None of these images have been adjusted in photoshop - these are out of the camera jpegs.

http://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/digital_cameras/s/finepix_hs30exr/index.html

I am an employee of FUJIFILM North America Corporation.
The statements, comments and opinions expressed here represent my own, personal views and are not endorsed by, or affiliated in any way with, FUJIFILM North America Corporation or its affiliates.

Weekly Email - 3-30-12 - Magic Blues

One of the best times to shoot is widely known as  “magic hour” (or the golden hour). That first and last hour of sunlight, when the suns low angle to the earth bathes the sky - and everything below it - in gorgeous, warm, diffused “magical” light.  The stunning effect of gold, red, yellow and even blue hues this special light produces is what lures many photographers for the opportunity to create an amazing image.

During recent travels, I found myself up in the early wee hours of the morning and decided not to let that sweet light go to waste. There are several images from this shoot posted on my blog but the image below I had shot on the cusp of sunrise producing a brilliant sapphire blue sky and warm glow surrounding the plane.

If you’re not much of a morning person, don’t’ despair! Another way you can create a similar blue-toned look is to use a polarizer filter. This simple little filter is a fun way to turn up the drama of any ordinary image. Take a look at the photos below to compare how the red of the crane pops and the building loses its reflective effect when using the polarizer.
My post with many other images from Dulles and around Magic Hour is here:

http://brandonremler.blogspot.com/2012/03/stuck-in-dulles-with-my-fujifilm-x-pro1.html

Fujifilm X-Pro1 at ISO 1000 - F/2.0 @ 1/34th - 18mm lens
Fujifilm X-Pro1 at ISO 250 - F/5.6 @ 1/420th - 18mm lens

Fujifilm FinePix F770 Camera

This week I've been playing with the new FinePix F770 series cameras.   There are several models and colors of the F series camera which are Fujifilm's advanced consumer series cameras with a long history of performance and innovation.

One of the amazing new features is the mixture of the optical and digital zoom capabilities.  The newest cameras do this very well and even with digital cropping they can get the job done.  What sold me on this was the first series of photos I shot out the taxi window when stopped at a light near the Superdome.  The initial optical zoom of the F770/750 is 25-500mm and with the digital zoom it brings it out to 1000mm!  With further digital processing the camera can reach a staggering 68x zoom which is a 1700mm zoom from a camera which fits in your pocket.

 

From Zoom to Super-wide Angle, Full Range of Shooting is Available

Conventional digital zoom basically only re-sizes the optical image data, often resulting in lack of definition, but the new Intelligent Digital Zoom uses the speed and power of the EXR Processor to instantly sharpen image edges and reduce noise for images with natural clarity and crispness of detail across the digital zoom range.  All images are handheld with no massaging.  These are jpegs from the camera.  And yes the F770 series does shoot RAW, as well as many other neat features including 320fps video.  For a complete look at the cameras check out the site:
http://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/digital_cameras/f/finepix_f770exr/

But the page with the really neat tech info is here:

http://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/digital_cameras/f/finepix_f770exr/features/page_02.html

I am an employee of FUJIFILM North America Corporation.
The statements, comments and opinions expressed here represent my own, personal views and are not endorsed by, or affiliated in any way with, FUJIFILM North America Corporation or its affiliates.