Girona, Street Photography Series #7 (And some more Fuji X100s comments.)

The Fuji X100s is small, light, and handy, but I find myself so used to the bigger files from my Nikon that I often forget I can’t crop in as much as I’d like.

The Fuji raw (RAF) files come out at 300ppi and 4896×3264 pixels, which measures 16.32″ x 10.88″. Not bad, really. But, I generally like to size things to 12×12, 12×18 or 18×12 for printing, so this means some very slight upsizing in Photoshop. (Compare those Fuji dimensions to my D800 raw files: 7360×4912 at 300ppi, or 24.553″ x 16.373″.)

Furthermore, when shooting street, I can’t always get as close as I’d like with the fixed focal length lens, so some cropping is in order now and then. The resulting reduced file can sometimes mean some significant upsizing to get to my standard print dimensions. Most enlargments look OK on the electronic screen, but an actual, physical print will be the titallating test.

A few more Fuji comments…

–I love that you can change the battery and the memory card with the entire leather case in place.

–Speaking of batteries…you will need at least one extra–two more would be even better insurance. I find that I can go through two in a full day of strolling around and shooting, say, 300 frames. It is possible that I may be using more juice than the average bear since I leave the camera on, with the “eye detection” option selected, so this may be turning the electronic viewfinder (EVF) on and off as it dangles around my neck and against my chest. (My impression, though, is that the camera “goes to sleep” as it dangles.)

–On the subject of flash…To use it, you have to press and hold the Disp/Back button for a few seconds (assuming you are in silent mode for street shooting). The flash is very good at fill on a backlit subject. However, this also disables the silent mode, so don’t forget to reverse the process when you go back to stealth shooting. I almost never use flash on the street…but I might use it for portraits of friends or spouse.

–I tend to walk around with the outer cover of the leather case and the lens cap removed. I hold the camera (as it hangs from the neck strap) with my finger near the shutter. If I see a situation developing I touch the shutter to wake up the camera and get ready for the shot. If I can, I use the EVF up to the eye. Often, though, I find it quicker to simply frame with the LCD.

–To repeat what I said in an earlier post…I generally have the camera set to manual focus, f/8 or f/11, auto ISO up to 3200, min shutter speed of 1/125, and min focus distance set at about 5-6 feet. If necessary, a switch to autofocus is quick and easy–I just slide the switch on the lower left end of the body all the way down.

Finally, in the For What It’s Worth Department…I got into a conversation on the Metro with a DSLR-carrying Irish gentleman who thought I was wearing an old film rangefinder camera around my neck. If this photography-aware person thought that, then most other folks probably think something similar. All the better!

And another group of images from the Fuji…