With the introduction of the Fujifilm x100V, those of us with its predecessor, the F model, are faced with a dilemma. Are the improvements to the new camera, which was already a wonderful instrument for photography, so compelling to prompt an upgrade? And if so, what should be the timing, given the trade-in value of our current gear. As I tend to over-analyze things, I have been reading the reviews and trying to decide.

The “V” model indicates the fifth X 100 model in the series. Fujifilm finally (at least for me) finally divulged the code for the various random letters they have assigned to previous models. It turns out “S” stood for second, “T” for third, and “F” for fourth (did everyone else know this?). Now they have apparently decided to go for Roman numerals.

The new camera has several compelling upgrades. Most importantly to me would be a new lens. It is still 23 mm and f2.0 but redesigned to improve overall sharpness, particularly wide open. From the comparison images that I am seeing online, they appear to have succeeded. Happily, my investment in the lens converters for my previous cameras is not lost as they also work on the new lens.

There is apparently a new aluminum/magnesium body that by all accounts improve the aesthetics of the body. More importantly, there is now, weather sealing everywhere but at the lens, which requires the optional filter adapter and a filter to render the camera impervious to dust and water splashes. Bravo Fuji.

There is now a four, rather than three-stop neutral density filter built-in. This will make the camera even more versatile for moving water images.

As always there are changes in the optical viewfinder and increased resolution for the electronic viewfinder and the rear LCD which now can pivot up and down. This was cleverly accomplished without significantly changing the camera’s trim dimensions.

Autofocus is also said to be improved, which seems to happen with each new iteration. This is always welcome.

Probably least important to me is the new 26 megapixel Trans-X 4 sensor. Though there is a slight increase in resolution, I have not been able to detect in the available raw files, much improvement in image quality with this sensor. Things are no worse, however.

So far I have fallen for every new upgrade of the X 100. Will this be the same?

After some thought, have reached the following conclusion:

First off, this is my most commonly used camera. Since I tend to shoot more images with the X 100 family of cameras than anything else I own, an improved version is more compelling than for my other equipment (my Nikon 800E, which I rarely use, is two generations old)

I have not for instance upgraded my X Pro 2 because it functions beautifully for me, and the major improvement; namely the sensor and unusual tilting view screen are not that compelling to me. Plus if Fujifilm improves its lens lineup, this can always be applied to this interchangeable lens body.

With the X 100V, the lens improvement to me is its most compelling feature. Now I could just shoot my X E3 with the 23 mm F2 .0 lens this combination is probably optically superior yet, and is not a lot larger than the X100. But between you and me it’s not the same. For instance, the X E3 lacks the incredibly quiet leaf shutter found in the X 100 series which facilitates discrete candid photography.

As I use this camera for street and event shooting, the tilting screen will be an important improvement allowing me to more conveniently shoot from below the waist and overhead.

So it’s obvious I intend to move forward with this. I’m not sure whether to buy it once it is released or to wait, perhaps for a price drop. I’m pretty sure this is unlikely to happen in less than a year unless the camera’s sales disappoint. I’m pretty sure that won’t happen however given the number of used X 100F’s already appearing on eBay.

It appears that my current camera may be added to those listings.

Autumn has come to an end on the Pocono Plateau.  Not so much the calendar season, as that ends with the winter solstice.  But photographically, the season was over after a late October nor’ easter which stripped most of the trees of their remaining leaves. Soon nature followed with early season snow.  For now, winter seems to have begun.

It was a lovely fall this year.  There was a lot of mild dry weather that delayed the foliage peak by about a week. There were rich colors contrasting the sodden flat season we experienced last year.

Here in northeastern Pennsylvania, the first signs of autumn occur in late August while it is still rather warm.  Here and there the uniform green will be touched here and there by yellows and reds.  The small maples, who tend to leaf out in the early spring to grab at sunshine before the canopy closes over, are also the first to turn in the fall.  It is the sight of their bright red-orange leaves, scattered over the foliage and the ground that heralds the more colorful times to come.

The larger maples are often the next to go.  Soon the poplars, beeches, and hickories, will change.  Underneath them, the forest floor is transformed by the bright orange of the Cinnamon ferns, and the pale yellows of the hay-scented variety, accented by the deep red of the low-bush blueberry and other heaths that carpet our woodlands.

The holdouts tend to be the oak trees, the prevalent species on most of our local ridge tops.  They stubbornly stay green until the rest of the trees have passed their peak, finally displaying a variety of orange and crimson colors to the fading forest.

I for one truly enjoy the fall, particularly the midseason with temperatures in the high fifties and low sixties.  This affords me the option of wearing sweaters once again, the better to cover my lumpy sixty+ year old body.  I enjoy finally being able to shoot deliberately, often with a tripod without being assaulted by legions of biting insects. I love the cool crisp mornings with frost coating the landscape.

Now in mid-November, as I write this, the ground is covered with a light coating of snow. It has been rather cold for several days with daytime highs in the high 20’s  The deer are acting strangely, moving about in larger groups a way one seldom sees in the summer.  Unfortunately, one particular little buck wandered in front of my pickup truck in the last week, causing considerable damage, and ending his short life.

I have not seen a bear in several weeks. I hope they are “denning up” so that my garbage can go out in the evening rather than in the early morning shortly before the truck arrives.

In this season, I occupy my time by gathering and splitting firewood to fill my woodshed. Once the leaves on my lawn are dealt with, it becomes time to change my equipment over to the tools of snow removal.

So now we have an early taste of winter.  Unlike most people I know, I actually hope that this is a sign of what’s to come, as, without snow, winter to me is just a bleak brown season devoid of recreational and photographic opportunity.

Now,  as it is dark shortly after work, I must content myself with a book and a warm fire.

Hopefully soon, the real winter will begin.

I haven’t posted in a while. This is mainly because WordPress decided that they would completely change the functioning of the blog editor, and it took my rapidly aging brain some time to figure it out. Well, in the immortal words of Jack Torrance: “I’m Baaaaaaaaaack…”

I don’t know whether it’s the crappy photography conditions we’ve had, or my general satisfaction with the capabilities of my current equipment. It is even remotely possible, that finally, maturity and fiscal responsibility has settled on me perhaps 30 years late. For whatever reason I no longer yearn for the newest and best.

I no longer scour the pages of Dpreview for the latest equipment reviews.  I’ve stopped visiting the various Fujifilm forums. I dropped my subscriptions to Reid Reviews and the Luminous Landscape (though in the case of the latter site, it’s not really the same since Michael Reichmann died).

Nonetheless, new Fujifilm gear is likely in the pipeline, and probably not far from introduction. I’m not talking about The XT or XH lines, which have obviously been updated more recently. I’m talking about the cameras that I prefer to shoot, namely the X100 and X Pro lines. Both I think will be due soon for an update. What really bothers me, is that I’m not sure that I care.

What is happening???????

I currently shoot an X100F and an X Pro 2. In the case of the X100 series, I have owned all of the various versions starting with the original X100. It seemed to me that each time a new model came out, there was a fairly compelling reason to update the camera. This was also true of the X Pro 1 to X Pro 2 evolution. I am truly satisfied with my current equipment which has benefited from the constant evolution and improvement not only in the new models, but with subsequent firmware upgrades.

So what new features/ capabilities would an X100 “G” or an X Pro 3 need to offer in order to move up once again. I think part of the problem, is that I’m not a particularly demanding shooter. I’m not generally shooting sports, or wildlife. Most of the landscape I do is fairly deliberate. so what new features/ capabilities would cause me to upgrade? I suspect the next camera up will be the X100 series, so this will be where I focus in this article.

So, what might Fujifilm do to entice X100F owners to upgrade?

Well, there is the new sensor introduced in the XT3. At 28 megapixels there is slightly more resolution than the X100F’s 24 megapixels. High ISO performance is said to be the same or slightly worse than the previous sensor, with perhaps a gain in dynamic range, partly from the new lower base ISO. The latter feature would be useful, to slow shutter speeds for moving water, but overall, to me,the new sensor is not a huge draw.

How about weatherproofing? In a fixed lens camera, one would think this is easier to accomplish than in an interchangeable lens body. My sense is that it wouldn’t add much in the way of weight or bulk, and would be a nice addition to a camera used extensively for street photography. On the other hand, I use my cameras all the time in wet weather. Exercising some caution, I’ve never really had a problem with the X100 series.

A new lens might be interesting. The current 23mm f2.0 lens has been unchanged since the X100 introduction in 2011. It is a lovely optic, but it is known to be soft wide-open particularly close up. I would be interested, and an upgrade with a new lens, perhaps F1.8.  A deal breaker however, would a lack of compatability with the two lens converters Fuji currently offers ( for which  I spent good money on and use all the time).

They could improve the video performance, but I suspect, most X100 series users wouldn’t really care. Unless there have been big strides in technology, I don’t think there is adequate heat dissipation capacity in the small X100 frame for 4K (It’s borderline in the larger X Pro 2). You can always buy an XT3 if you want to shoot “Movin’ pitchures”.

Lens stabilization is always a welcome feature in a camera body. Given the size constraints with this line, I suspect it’s not possible to add it without increasing bulk. Ditto dual Card slots, or a separate memory card door like the X Pro 2

Better autofocus which is always claimed for upgraded cameras would also be useful, but I am relatively happy with the current performance of the “F”.

In short, because we’ve already had a look at the new sensor, the prospects for the upgraded X100/X Pro series aren’t very compelling from my limited viewpoint. The improvements that were so lauded in the XT3
(video and tracking autofocus) are not really that germane to these two camera series (at least in my hands).

I guess time will tell.

If it’s gonna be a rainy day
There’s nothing we can do to make it change
We can pray for sunny weather
But that won’t stop the rain.

   – Jim Morrison

 

I live in an old resort community, on the edge of the Pocono plateau in Pennsylvania. This is an old settlement, founded in the 1880’s on either side of a what was then the main road between towns. In the center of the community, there is a creek that runs below a 70-80-year-old masonry culvert.

Over the years, the road, still owned by the township, services only a few properties beyond our community. It is no longer a main thoroughfare.

The creek at this point is perhaps 200 yards from its inception in an artesian spring, one of many that bubble up in the surrounding woodlands. Being so close to the source, there is little watershed to feed the creek. Typically, by late July, the creek bed under the road is dry. In the 30 years I have lived there, this has always been the case.

In the last 3 years the culvert has been deteriorating to a point where it needed replacement. it’s an expensive proposition, and the Township has been struggling to find the money.

A state grant was obtained, and the job bid out. This spring we were told, that the “culvert” would finally be replaced in the late summer when the creek ran dry.

Unfortunately, however  the summer of 2018, about the wettest summer in my memory. As of early October, the stream is running as vigorously as though it was late March.

As it turns out my memory is fairly good.  According to NOAA, this is been a record here for rainfall in my region.

Now I want to recognize devastating effects caused by hurricanes, that have already occurred and will apparently occur again in the southern US.  The fact is however, we’ve had more rainfall as compared to normal than anywhere in the U.S.

The wet summer has had a variety of consequences. Fall foliage is clearly delayed by at least a week or maybe two, and many trees apparently affected by the super-saturated soils have already lost their leaves prior to any change in color. I understand that this is particularly true of apple trees. Sometime in the summer, both of my apple trees dropped their foliage, and then feebly tried to push out a second crop of sparse greenery.

It is a great year for mycology. In both the forests, and the lawns, I have never seen a greater variety of mushrooms springing up in places they are not generally seen.

It has been a constant battle to fix the washouts of the gravel driveway that leads to up to my barn. My house painter, who works on part of my house every year, is so delayed that I doubt he will get to me.

As I alluded to in an early article, on any warm day biting insects remain a significant problem even at this late date due to the persistence of vernal pools.

 

As I write this (October 9) we have just enjoyed a 3 day weekend of fog, mist and intermittent downpours.  It was so humid, in the outdoors, that my X100F autofocus started to act strangely, only to return to normal in my dry studio.

At our location and altitude, normal peak foliage time is around 15 October, yet at this point, with less than a week to go , most of the foliage is still green. It will be interesting to see the effect of all of this rain on the quality of the colors when they finally occur. 

I’m afraid I am not optimistic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every once in a while, it is stimulating to leave what is familiar and comfortable, and venture into a place where we are challenged to adapt and extend our abilities.

In pursuit of this, some people travel to novel destinations, or take on a new physical challenge.  In photography, this can mean trying a new form of photography or working with new equipment. Recently, my exercise has been to shoot in a very unfamiliar format with the Laowa 9 mm f2.8 ultra wide lens.

We all have our comfort level.  In terms of focal lengths, I tend to work within a range of 35 mm to about 150mm (full frame equivalent).  These days I favor my Fujifilm equipment. So the X100 series 23mm f2 fixed lens( 35 mm field of view), the TCL-100 adapter(50 mm field of view) and the XF 56mm f1.2(roughly 85 mm field of view) get the bulk of my use, with the XF 55-200mm zoom available when required.

A 9 mm lens (13.5 mm field of view) is radically more wide angle than anything I typically shoot.  But I was intrigued by some images I saw online, shot with this Chinese-sourced lens. Curious,  I purchased one from the company website.

This is a small lens, smaller than anything I currently have for the Fuji lens mount.  It looks old-fashioned, it is made of metal with a metal lens cap and seems quite sturdy. There is a handy depth of field scale on the aperture ring. It interfaces securely with the Fuji X lens mount.

Setting the aperture and focus are  done manually  as there are no electrical contacts on the mount.  The body must be set to “shoot without a lens” in the menus to allow the set up to work.  One simply sets the shutter speed on “A”, and the light meter will set appropriate exposures on whatever aperture is selected. For the most part, this seems to work pretty well.  Exposure compensation also seems to be usable.

Ultra wide-angle lenses require specific framing if you are to obtain an interesting image.  I had very little experience with their use, so I went online and watched a variety of tutorials.  Pretty much everybody says the same thing:  first, you need to set the aperture fairly tight to maximize your depth the field.  On the lens this wide, at roughly f11, everything from about 1 feet and infinity is in reasonable focus. You need to pick a subject in the foreground and then get extremely, almost uncomfortably close to it. Then need to pay close attention to the background, as this focal length is very inclusive.  If your composition is right, then this should result in an interesting, fairly three-dimensional image.

With focal lengths this short, sometimes you have to get very low to the ground or shoot at unusual angles to frame a compelling image, or to exclude something unpleasant-looking.  A tripod is helpful, especially since any small movement of such a wide lens tends to alter significantly perspectives and angles of the seen.

I quickly found that if I could not get sufficiently close to an interesting subject, the resultant image would usually be completely uninteresting and flat. Every once in a while though, you can break the rules, and still end up with an interesting photograph. 

This was my first experience with a Chinese made lens.  Both the aperture ring and the focus ring rotated smoothly, and the former had click detents at 2 stop increments. The front element has a hydrophobic coating said to resist water droplets and mist.  The lens however, is not billed as weather-sealed. From the standpoint of built quality  it certainly felt like pretty good value.

Image quality was interesting.  This is not a fisheye lens and is designed to be rectilinear.I rarely found the need to set the aperture wider than perhaps f5.6 and found that from there to perhaps f11 the lens is not only very sharp in the center, but acceptably so in the corners. I have very little expectation that a modestly priced, ultra wide lens would be sharp edge to edge.

What was surprising was the light fall-off.  There is considerable corner shading even at tighter apertures, though obviously this can be easily corrected in post. I think this is particularly noticeable, because unlike my Fujifilm lenses, the camera has no lens information to use to correct optical aberrations “in camera”. 

I tended to shoot this lens on my XT 10, as the articulating screen of that camera was useful to frame images in some of the unusual angles required for wide angle photography.  I found the best way to deal with focus, was  use the focus peaking feature of the camera, but most of the time to bunch the sparkly bits towards the foreground, to prioritize sharpness there.

I did not shoot people with this lens. An optic this wide tends to do unflattering things to faces, particularly if you are close enough to fill the frame.  And most casual subjects will be uncomfortable with the proximity that the lens requires. Stay tuned, though.

This brings up what for me at least,  is  a major disadvantage of shooting at this focal length.  In situations where I am not shooting professionally, I am particularly wary of invading of peoples privacy and their property,procedure this for the sake of what is essentially my hobby. 

Particularly in rural areas, when armed with an ultra wide lens, you simply cannot take advantage of every scene.  In a cityscape though, where more interesting subjects are more freely accessible, things get somewhat easier.  Sometimes however, no matter where you are, it may just be impossible physically to get close to a subject or location to the degree the focal length requires.

I have been shooting the lens for several weeks.  I’m starting to develop a better sense of what will work with an ultra wide and what will not; my percent of “keepers” is going up.   Now, when I’m opening up a card in Photoshop, I am seeing images that often intrigue me, but don’t look like my previous work.

Which I’m pretty sure was the goal of this exercise.

 

I consider myself an interested, if not a keen observer of natural phenomena. For instance,  I have over the last 25 years, kept a diary of snowfall events as measured on my back patio. I maintain 2  weather stations. 

So when I ventured outside on the morning of January 13th, I noticed that something interesting must have happened overnight.

For 2 days before, we had rain, some heavy, with temps in the fifties and even sixties(F) which wiped out the little snow we had. Overnight Friday into Saturday, the cold front passed, which was predicted to provide a period of freezing rain, then sleet, then perhaps a coating of snow.

So I was not surprised that Saturday morning, to find the yard white again.

It was in the single digits when I went out to clear the walks, and defrost my truck. I was not surprised to see an icy veil over the tree branches and pine boughs.  As I took in the lovely morning, I noticed that something looked different.

The bright morning sun filtered through the icy foliage looked extremely specular, an unfamiliar appearance to me

 

On closer inspection of the branches, I noticed not the uniform coating of ice that is the usual result of freezing rain. Rather instead, there were individual droplets of water, like crystal beads, on bare branches and evergreens alike.

This is why it looked unusual, for I was observing each tiny droplet as a tiny point of refracted light. The effect was quite stunning.

My community exists at between about 1650-2000 feet on the western edge of the Pocono plateau. the icing event occurred from about 1700 ft and above, with no icing below 1600 ft.

So what happened? I went to my online weather station which is located at around 1900 ft.

First, let me say that the sensor on this station is sheltered from the wind (as is most of my property) A 35 mph gust is impressive indeed and really emphasizes the strength of this front. Note that the temperature late Friday drops rapidly from almost 60 degrees (f) to just above freezing for a period of time and then plunges to the mid “teens” in just over an hour.

  To form this ice pattern, I suspect it continued to rain with the temperature just above freezing, and then stopped during the final plunge. Sleet, and finally snow would have come in as, or just after the front had passed. And the droplets from the rain were in fact “flash frozen” by the unusually abrupt drop in temperature.

It’s admittedly a small thing, a slight deviation in our usual weather patterns. But as a photographer, it created a tangible difference in the appearance of a small portion of our natural world. One perhaps that can be anticipated in the future.

 So why do I feel like such a geek?

 

 

It has been cold in Northeastern Pennsylvania. For us at least, it is very cold.  With high temperatures in the single digits and lows well below zero, this is a stretch of weather quite the opposite of the warm January’s we had over the last 2 years. 

Up on the Pocono Plateau, we have a few inches of light powdery snow, sadly inadequate for cross-country skiing.  Still, in all it’s pretty, and with the cold temperatures, the ice formations in our creeks and streams get rather interesting and complex.  With a snow cover, the scenery is interesting again, and at this depth, it is no impediment to hiking and exploring.

With this frigid weather has come wind, which makes outdoor activities more challenging.  Anticipating a trip coming up to the even colder Adirondacks, I’m spending time out in the elements to acclimate myself to cold weather sports.  As I get older, this gets more and more difficult.

The forests change in the bitter cold.  A walk in the woods during single-digit temperatures is a quiet one; with little evidence of the chickadees, nuthatches, blue jays, and squirrels one encounters in more normal temperatures.  The squirrels I understand, are probably holed up in their leafy nests, but the location and condition of the birds is more mysterious.  Due to they find shelter?  Are they in torpor?

This cold has real consequences for people.   My neighbors live in an even larger Victorian summer home that I do, albeit one that is not as obsessively sealed and insulated as my own.  On such cold days, even with the use of auxiliary coal and wood stoves, they struggle to keep the house in the low 60s.

Even though we live in a natural gas producing region, I’m told that with such high demand, the gas suppliers are forced to ration supplies, diverting them from businesses, to homeowners.  This can obviously be quite disruptive. It’s slightly embarrassing to me, that in these times the schools actually stay closed on the coldest days for fear of exposing the little darlings to the winter’s chill.  Whatever happened to “bundling up”?

A friend of mine who runs a heating oil distributor once told me that surprisingly, he actually hates bitter cold times because people who live on the edge financially, run out of money to buy heating oil. This leaves him with a difficult choice: to either extend credit or refuse a delivery.  More often he chooses the former than the latter putting him at financial risk.  These conditions also challenge his service people, who work long hours, doing emergency repairs on poorly maintained heating systems.

 

Still, in all, this will pass.  Our normal winters have highs in the 30s and lows in the teens, a temperature.  regimen to which we are all more accustomed.  People will still grumble, complain, and pine for spring, while we skiers wait for the Northeaster’s of the later winter to kick start our outdoor winter sports.

Soon the snows will come.

 

I am a creature of habit. Whether it is merchants, restaurants, vacation spots… etc., I derive comfort in familiarity. It is an impulse I endeavor to resist… not always successfully.

It’s also true in terms of camera gear. For I just bought my fourth version of the Fujifilm X100… the X100F.

It arrived in late March, of the latest iteration of an old photographic friend, the newest camera in the X100 series. I have been shooting it since then, in the somewhat sparse scenery of early Spring.

Over the last several years, this camera line has been the one that I reach for the most. I have been looking over archived raw files in preparation for my upcoming photography exhibit. I couldn’t help but notice that particularly in the last 3 years; my X100 series uploads far exceed those of my other equipment. I have grown very comfortable with the camera’s functioning, the image quality, and the range of focal links offered between the native lenses and the lens adapters.

Given this, I may skip other upgrades, but the newest X100 will always be interesting to me.

 

I have no desire to be repetitious and waste the reader’s time. Therefore if you wish, you can read my reviews of the original X100, the X100s, and the X100t which will serve as a basis for this review. My desire is to discuss what I think are the relevant improvements, and what they mean to my workflow in the Fuji system. There are also websites such as DPReview, and The Imaging Resource that can be a source of feature-by-feature descriptions of this product. My mission here will be to describe the effect those changes have had on this user.

The best way to summarize my reaction to this camera is this: that in terms of image quality, controls and features, it now is almost completely in sync with the X Pro 2. This is very important to me as these cameras are my go-to pairing for weddings and events. I now can shoot the same resolution files and film simulation on the X100 style body that I can on the interchangeable lens X Pro 2. And the relevant controls and menu structure are now roughly the same. This means that I can quickly make intuitive adjustments on either camera without thinking.

First and foremost, the camera in hand feels roughly the same as the previous generations. All of the buttons on the back of the camera have been relocated to the right side which does facilitate their operation while looking through the viewfinder. The camera feels extremely well-built, though weather sealing is still not a feature.

 

I have written here and here about my reactions to the new sensor offered in the later Fujifilm cameras. The resolution increase from 16 megapixels to 24 is not trivial, but also not overwhelming. It certainly means you can crop more aggressively, which is certainly helpful on the fixed lens X 100, and the images do seem to have improved “per-pixel” sharpness. In particular, because of my exhibit, I’ve been doing a lot of printing. I remain extremely impressed with the amount of detail on even 17-22 inch prints that even the earlier 16mp Trans-X megapixels can produce without straining. Obviously, the new sensor will be better yet.

What is nice about the Fuji’s in general, and the X100F, in particular, is that all this resolution is very usable. Again in reference to my upcoming exhibit, I had identified an image shot with my D800E for inclusion. This is a 36mp DSLR, and given this, I have always been aware that camera technique must be perfect in order to avoid shake artifact, (which is much more evident the higher the resolution). For this reason, I shot this image from a stout Gitzo tripod, and with a remote release.

When I printed the image, however, I discovered that there was camera shake, which essentially ruined the image for me. Undoubtedly this came from the impact of the mirror as it swung out of the way of the sensor. I shoot all the time with the mirrorless Fuji bodies, and particularly X100, on a much smaller tripod, and essentially never have this problem. Because of its leaf shutter, the X100 is particularly forgiving in this regard. So bring on the resolution!

 

I remain underwhelmed with the purported improvements in high-ISO performance for the new sensor noted on some other websites, but on the other hand, I don’t really do formal tests on this. I was already pretty darn happy with the earlier cameras. It’s certainly no worse than the earlier chip and may be a smidge better. I’m certainly content continuing to use ISO 6400 as the upper limit on my auto ISO setting.

Then there is the matter of the mechanical ISO dial which it also has in common with the X Pro 2. Many people were unhappy with this feature when it first appeared. From my style of shooting, however, it is very convenient. So good are the trans X sensors that I generally shoot in auto ISO without much worry. But if, for instance, I’m shooting moving water, or daytime fill flash, the ISO dial makes it easy to quickly switch to ISO 200, and then switch back when I’m done.

 

Several improvements do really alter the relationship between the cameras. The X 100F now uses the same battery as all of the other Fuji bodies. This really simplifies keeping a good collection of batteries charged and ready to go, it also means when I change camera bags, I don’t have to worry about which type of extra battery I have stowed there. Also, since the X100 series has an onboard USB charging, in a pinch it can charge batteries to be used on my other Fuji bodies. The battery indicator apparently now displays a more accurate representation of the percentage of power remaining. Oh, and hopefully battery life will be longer, though this was never really a problem for me.

I’m a big fan of the Acros black and white film simulation, which given the new sensor and processor, is now finally available on the X100 series. I like the fact that I can set the film simulation, but shoot the camera in RAW alone, but still see the film simulation in the viewfinder. I later apply the film simulation in post processing, as it now is available in Adobe Camera Raw.

 

Then there is the focus point joystick, which again appeared in the X Pro 2. Now that it’s available on the X100, I feel as though I can begin relying on it. For those of you who unfamiliar with the feature, it allows direct access to focus point adjustment without first pressing any other buttons. It thus frees up a programmable button on the camera for other functions. It is a feature that is long overdue.

Another really likable improvement in the camera is its ability to recognize when one of a new series of lens adapters is mounted. With the older cameras, I was forever forgetting to change this adjustment manually, which theoretically results in some distortion in the image. I did acquire the 50mm field of view TCL X100 II (the adapter I most often use). The old version sold on eBay for surprisingly good money, which is heartening.

 

 

Every time there is a new version of a particular model in the Fujifilm lineup, auto focus has been improved. Before I sold it, I compared the “T” model to its replacement. There did seem to be a slight improvement in focusing speed, particularly in low contrast areas, but again these cameras of gotten good enough that for my style of shooting such improvements are not that impactful.

There is an increase in the number of focus points from 49 in the X100 T, to 325 and the newer camera. This is the same as on the X Pro 2.There is a little wider screen coverage, but in general, to me, the larger number of points seems to increase the amount of time it takes me to move to the right part of the sensor. I tend to keep these cameras set to show a lower number of points in the viewfinder.

 

I’m sure as time goes on, I will have additional comments as I gain more experience with this instrument. Overall I am quite content. In most ways, this is a superior camera than its predecessor (which happily also sold for decent money on eBay). Who knows what is yet to come in future firmware upgrades.

Yes, I am definitely a creature of habit.

But if you find something that works, why not stick with it?

 

It starts the way it always does. In December, I check the Penn State schedule for spring break. Given that our daughter, and now our son have been students there over the last 6 years; that week will be our family ski trip, generally the first full week of March. We will spend it in Lake Placid.

I have had almost no regrets over the years. The Adirondacks in early March typically feature abundant snow cover, and moderate temperatures, and we generally we have a wonderful winter vacation.

2016, however, broke the mold, Last year in March, Lake Placid for the first time in 25 years was snowless. Though Whiteface, the downhill resort was open, given my deteriorating knee, it was of little use to me. My wife and son skied when it wasn’t raining. I did a little hiking, but a lot of eating and drinking. At the end, it didn’t seem like a good entertainment value for the long drive required to get there and return. Not to worry I thought; this year is clearly a fluke.

 

Winter 2017 seemed different. Though in Pennsylvania, the winter had been mild with minimal snow, the Adirondacks were far enough north for most of the precipitation to be white. I sat at my desk at work, scanning Facebook posts by my Lake Placid friends describing their latest winter adventures. In mid-February with my vacation weeks away, the backcountry ski conditions report was positively giddy with the wonderful snowpack that had accumulated. And, I had a brand new knee.

Then came the warmth, and several strong rain events. By late February, the giddy was gone, along with the snow. Our vacation loomed.

We tried to remain optimistic. But when the Friday Lake Placid forecast was in (we were set to leave Saturday) it called for a bitterly cold weekend, followed by three days of fifty-degree weather with rain. Our weather in Pa, though similar would be 5-10 degrees warmer, and with less precipitation.

After consulting with my wife, we threw in the towel, and unpacked.

My kid (and several friends) however, had purchased advance ski tickets that were nonrefundable. Twenty-two-year-olds have no issue with driving 6 hours for 2 days of frigid skiing. So we gave them the keys.

Now I don’t really have a problem with staying home. It gives me time to work around the house when the weather was bad, and at least hike when the weather is good. It did feel like we needed to do go somewhere. Given the 50-60 degree temps in the middle of the week (3/5-7), it occurred to me that we ought to go south, to where we might find even more spring-like conditions.

We decided to travel during the balmy mid-week weather, first to the inner harbor at Baltimore for a night and then drive up US 95 to stay at a 1780s hotel in our old neighborhood in Center City Philadelphia.

Baltimore was lovely, but quiet, given the time of year. I had brought along both my X Pro 2 (with the 18-55mm zoom in the bag, but with the 56mm f1.2 mounted). I also brought along my X100t with the 2 lens converters.  For some reason, I ended up shooting only the X100, mainly with the native lens or the teleconverter. This is not an uncommon circumstance, and the reason my X100f is on order. I shot in raw/ monochrome jpeg, and I really liked the images I was seeing in the LCD.

We had drinks at Fells Point, and seafood at the Rusty Scupper, a restaurant I had in the past generally avoided as a tourist trap but found was quite good. The evening and night images I acquired looked really promising. The following day we took in the highly recommended National Aquarium, before loading up for the 2-hour drive northeast to “Philly”.

My wife Cathy and I went to medical school there and later did our respective fellowships in the city.  For a time we lived at Tenth and Spruce, 4-5 blocks from the lovely Morris Hotel where we stayed. This location is central to much of Philly’s interesting neighborhoods, including Jeweler’s Row, the Independence Mall area, the Italian Market, and the “Old City” area near to the river. I wandered past my medical school. Formerly, it was named for the author of the Declaration of Independence. It now bears the name of a clothier (a very rich clothier). I ate a cheesesteak (onions, cheese whiz, mushrooms). And I shot a fair number of images. In the morning we had a lovely spring breakfast at an outdoor café on Washington Square.

Sometime on Thursday morning I filled the SD card I had been shooting, and changed it out. As is my practice over many years, I place it upside down in its case to indicate that it is full, and then placed it (along with spent batteries) at the bottom of my camera bag where I will notice them later. I shot a few more images on the new card before starting the trip for home.

Some of you may be noticing at this point the relative paucity of images from Baltimore and Philly in this article. Where are they? Well, I wish I knew. For when I returned home, I could not find the spent card with all of my files. Perhaps it fell out of my bag at some point later in the morning when I walked around town. Maybe it fell out in our room.

This is the first time this has happened to me and it is quite disturbing. I am hoping that perhaps the hotel cleaning staff will come upon it, but I am not hopeful.

Back in the mountains, as I write this it is 12 degrees. Roughly 8 inches of snow fell here yesterday, with the promise of a significant Nor’easter later this week. My road is again snow-covered and undoubtedly re-freezing. Damn. Maybe by next weekend, we will be skiing again. Oh well, such is March on the Pocono plateau.

 

Addendum: We did indeed have a nor’easter.  On March 14 and 15th, my little community in the mountains saw accumulations of 32 inches of new snow, breaking a previous 24-hour snow total, that was originally set in 1993.  The Valley cities had nearly as much.  It remained cold after the storm.

Needless to say, there is once again cross-country skiing on the Pocono plateau.

 

I gotta admit, I’m ready for spring.

 

Here it is mid-February, in the middle of another unusual winter in Pennsylvania. Ten days ago there was a crusty cover of snow on the ground here in the Pocono region. Unfortunately, an altitude related ice storm seven days ago wrecked the brief period of cross-country skiing we had enjoyed after a 9-inch snowfall.   This week, a 5 day period of >50-degree weather finished things off, cruelly teasing us into thinking that spring is around the corner (it is most certainly not).

I am somewhat heartened that this heat wave will not be fully expressed up in the Adirondacks, where I hope to be recreating in several weeks. Nonetheless, these lackluster winters can be very discouraging to those of us still enjoy snow sports and the photographic opportunities that “normal” winter provides.

Unfortunately, at this latitude, it appears that for at least this year, winter will be a cold damp brown and gray season with occasional teases of snow. I am starting to hate winter, but for different reasons that most of my friends.

The worse thing about this has to do with living on a dirt road. For most of the winters over the last 25 or so years, the road will freeze in mid-to-late November and then remain frozen, and often snow-covered, until sometime in March when we get our first extended bout of above freezing weather. There will then be a roughly 2 week period, where the road becomes soft and unstable. Driving on it can feel as though he will sink down to your axles; it leaves our cars coated with splats of red shale mud. Then one day the road dries and compacts, and is all is well for the remainder of the year.

This year, the road has been through maybe 3 cycles of freeze/thaw which is getting rather irritating. Freeze/thaw also leads to large potholes in the paved roads. I really hate this.

I sometimes think I should either move permanently to the Adirondacks for January-March, or give up on the whole winter thing, go south, wear shorts with black socks, and gradually prepare for death.

On a happier note, I pretty much have determined that I will purchase a new X100f along with at least the TCL X1 100 mark II teleconverter (I use this much more than the wide converter). It will be extremely pleasant not to forget to adjust the camera when the lens converter is on (the phase II versions of the converters talk to the camera so it adjusts automatically). I’m hoping to use it in the Adirondacks, so I am waiting to see whether it goes on back order after the introduction date. At some point, my used (but not too used) X00t will go up on E Bay.

 Boy o’ boy, May feels a long way off.