Here you will find all our blog posts from 2010 up to April 2015, imported from our previous website.
Just a quick intro to say that on Sunday 12th April 2015 I went to see the Thai Water festival known as 'Songkran' in Kowloon City, Hong Kong. I am testing some Sony cameras shooting in SLOG2 modes for grading purposes, so here is the short clip i produced from spending an hour at that event.
https://vimeo.com/125030474
The Hong Kong Rugby 7s 2015 is now well underway on day 2, it's Saturday afternoon and the fans are buzzing too and from the stadium in various states of dress and undress... This year for something different we decided to shoot only the fans on their way to the matches, using our profoto B1 TTL lights with a Profoto 3ft RFi Octabox to turn a little corner of the street into a little studio environment.
All the colour portraits in this post are shot by Gary Tyson of F8 Photography.
All black and white 'Behind the Scenes' (BTS) shots are provided with special thanks to Grahame Collins.
On the Saturday afternoon of the Hong Kong Rugby 7s 2015 I decided that I would take a small crew (4 people in total) to setup a small portrait stand in the street on the way to the stadium. I wanted to have one person dedicated to 'catching' potential subjects as they came past our location and convincing them it was a great idea to get a free portrait. I think if you are trying to organise a small shoot like this, even when its a non-paying gig, it's important to have a few friends help out, it takes away all the stress of organising and makes everything run smoothly and more fun.
I wanted another person dedicated to getting the models to sign model releases in case we publish anything (to do this we use an ipad app called 'easy release' which allows us too quickly get the subjects details and email address (as we also want to send them a copy of their photos of course), and allows us freedom for publication usage. We have never really had an issue with using images of people we shoot, but I think its good practice to get a model release signed when you may have intention to use in a magazine feature, etc, and we explained our intentions very clearly to everyone that approached us, and had no problem with volunteers. Transparency is imporant, trying to undo problems is much more difficult.
We had a good range of people coming by our portrait stand, couples, ladies and gents, it was great to see that everyone was up for having some fun along the way, of course the Hong Kong Rugby 7s always pulls in a massive crowd and everyone lets their hair down (or up as can be seen in some of the images) for the weekend!
We loved these 3 French ladies above and we were stunned at how cool their hair looked and quizzed them as to how they had managed to get their hair to stand up on end, we eventually figured out that they had used only water....(water bottles under their hair...pure genius).
The two guys in red shirts below had flown in from Canada for the weekend. It never fails to amaze me how many people come to town for Hong Kong's premiere sporting event of the year.
Below are more selections from the portraits we shot. We spent about 3 hours hanging out in the street, meeting some great people, taking some cool portraits that they all loved and will receive copies of and most of all HAVING FUN!
Our fantastic little team at the end of the shoot only had to walk 50 yards for a well earned 'Ice Kirin' beer at the end of the shoot. As I mentioned earlier, the main objectives of this shoot for me were to get some fun portraits of the fans and most importantly, HAVE FUN. If you can't do that, then your in the wrong job ;-)
F8 Photography is a commercial photography and video company based in Hong Kong, we shoot photo and video for many clients such as Ducati Motorbikes, Coca Cola, Swire, UBS amongst many others. We also run photography workshops around the world for budding photographers in countries such as Japan, India, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, with upcoming workshops in Istanbul in late Summer.
To check out our website, please see us at www.f8photography.com.hk
If you use Facebook, Gary has a public page where he shares his personal and travel photography, please check it out here.
We are pleased to announce that due to recent demand for more workshops in Cambodia, we are going to run 4 workshops almost back to back, two in Phnom Penh area, followed by two in the South around Kampot, Kep coastal region. We will alternate them so participants can have the opportunity to choose 2 workshops if they wish and combine their learning experience, doing 1 off camera lighting workshop and a visual storytelling workshop.
Further discounts will apply for participants who choose to do 2 workshops and there is an opportunity to take 2 days off in between the workshops to recover.
The dates for each workshop and links to their respective event pages are as follows:
Workshop 1 - Visual Storytelling (Phnom Penh) - 16 - 19 May 2015
Workshop 2 - '1 Light' Portrait Workshop (Phnom Penh) - 21 - 24 May 2015
Workshop 3 - Visual Storytelling (Southern Cambodia) - 28 - 31 May 2015
Workshop 4 - '1 Light' Portrait Workshop (Southern Cambodia) - 4 - 7 June 2015
Whether you want to learn how to use off camera lighting or develop your skills in visual storytelling, we are confident one or two of these workshops will be very useful for you.
Please check out the links and contact us if any of these dates work for you and you fancy exploring a wonderful corner of South East Asia with us and learning something new along the way.
These workshops are very limited in numbers and we expect them to sell out fast.
Look forward to seeing you there!
To contact us directly please email us at info@f8photography.com.hk
Recently Eric Kim and I ran a street projects workshop in Hong Kong (my blog review of that workshop can be found here). After the workshop finished we had a few days before Eric departed for his next workshops in Australia so I took the time to get him in the studio and my aim was to produce a short but slightly more serious interview with him to help him out and let people see a bit more depth.
In this piece, Eric talks about his fears when shooting street, some highly recommended books and reminds all photographers to ask yourself why do you shoot? Something I ask everyone I teach the moment I meet them...
Gary Tyson is a former British Army Photographer/videographer now based in Asia, shooting a variety of projects ranging from commercial to sports photography, corporate, travel an event videos, as well as being an avid street shooter wherever he goes.
His company F8 Photography also runs travel and street photography workshops all over Asia, specialising in Cambodia, India and now expanding in Japan and hopefully soon in Mongolia, Burma and Vietnam also.
For more information about Gary or F8 Photography please see our links below to public facebook page and website.
Last weekend myself and Eric Kim ran a workshop here in Hong Kong. We had a nice group of mixed abilities from all over Asia and Europe, clients from Macau, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam and even as far away as Budapest in Hungary came to Hong Kong to spend the weekend shooting with our group and sharing ideas and learning some new tips and tricks.
The focus of this workshop was 'working on projects', so it was slightly more advanced that some of the basic street shooting style workshops, requiring a different approach to shooting on the streets. Some may find it easier being given a project to focus on, some find it harder to focus on 'telling a story' with a short sequence and tighter edit of images. Whichever way you approach it, for sure it will help develop visualisation skills for all photographers looking for a slightly different approach to their work.
The first evening of the workshop was spent reviewing clients existing portfolios that they were asked to bring along for critique. This is always a very valuable part of the workshop as it enables everyone to get to know each other, let down their barriers and showcase their current work. It also helps us to figure out which direction we think they may like to try next and after the workshop finishes to see how they have moved their benchmark up a level or two.
The 2nd day is spent with various presentations in the morning (after lots of coffee and snacks), sharing some examples of our own projects and talking thoroughly as a group about everything that has been showcased that morning. After lunch we discuss potential ideas for projects with the group, share them all and let the clients pick 2 projects to work on over the rest of the weekend before their final presentations. This method proved to work very well, and the discussions brought out some great ideas for people to try.
Then, the group departed off, either alone, in pairs or under guidance from us where requested, to explore deep into Kowloon and Hong Kong Island for the rest of Saturday and Sunday morning, exploring their ideas, sharing feedback over dinner and fine tuning their visions before meeting back at the workshop base for Sunday lunch and to start the process of selection, editing and presentation.
People always underestimate the importance of being a strong self-editor, something that some people struggle with, so we used some techniques that are really useful in Lightroom to help the visual process, helping the group break down their portfolios to a very tight edit by the end of the day.
Final presentations were made individually, allowing each client to showcase their work and get up in front of a group and practice their presentation skills.
We had group discussions over the presentations, and gave our final thoughts to the clients.
To finalise the workshop we have an excellent presentation from our good friend Jonathan Van Smit (flickr link), an acclaimed street shooter based in Hong Kong, well known amongst our community for his black and white close up street shooting in Kowloon. Jonathan has been a guest speaker at many of our workshops and always inspires others with his dedication, drive and passion for what he is doing. He has recently departed on a personal project in Israel, and we wish him the best of luck with that project and stay safe!!! More of Jonathan's work can be seen here.
All said and done, the workshop was a great success, all client feedback has been positive, and I for one have seen some large improvements in portfolios of many of the clients as I have spent a lot of time with most of them before and am quite familiar with their work.
Below I would like to share some more images from the workshop, bearing in mind the clients only had less than 24 hours to produce their sets of images, these are some of the individual images, tagged with the name of their project to give context.
Great work everyone, looking forward to the next workshops already.
F8 Photography runs workshops all over Asia, including travel photography in Cambodia, Japan and India all coming up in late 2014, please check out our website for more details on how to sign up for those, or check our blog for loads of reviews, slideshows and feedback from clients who have attended previous F8 Photography workshops around Asia.
F8 Photography also provides commercial photography and videography services, please see our main website for that or check out Gary's public page on Facebook to stay up to date with our latest images and what we are up to.
Thanks for all the support and keep shooting.
We have been working secretly over the last few weeks on our new brand 'hongkongslomo' with which we promise to deliver premium service slow motion booths for all types of events in Hong Kong and around Asia Pacific.
If you or any of your friends have an event that you feel this would work at, please get in touch, its perfect for weddings, private events, corporate functions or any kind of event where people are having FUN!
Here is the link to our website for this service: www.hongkongslomo.com
Here is the link to the public facebook page: www.facebook.com/hongkongslomo (please check it out and like us and share it with the hashtag #hongkongslomo
And here is the latest video that we shoot with 9dragonsfitness last weekend at their event in Tung Chung.
https://vimeo.com/98335386
We are now about 3 weeks into our shooting experience with the Fuji X-T1 and a new challenge arose....water!
Now we all know the Fuji X-T1 is 'weather resistant'...but what does that really mean? Quite honestly, I have no idea, is it waterproof, shower proof, dust proof....in my experience weather sealing is temperamental at best, some cameras are almost waterproof, others fail after one drop of rain goes into the top of the shutter (yes, exactly that happened to my first M9 much to my non-amusement).
Just before I explain more, I would like any readers specifically looking for X-T1 information to be aware we have recently written a fairly comprehensive review on the Fuji X-T1 camera that we have been shooting around Asia for the past few weeks, a link to that blog post can be found at this link, that will also be repeated at the end of this post for reference
Please note: All images in this blog post are unprocessed JPEGS direct from camera, which was set on 'Velvia' mode as I remember, as many people are asking to see direct from camera images.
So, I was invited after a few beers by some friends to accompany them to the Thai New Year festival in Kowloon City Hong Kong, to see the 'Songkran' festival, or water festival as some may know it. A detailed wikidpedia description of this event can be seen at this link.
I hadn't been before to this event, neither in Thailand nor Hong Kong and had no idea what to expect....I thought it would be a low key event with a bit of water being thrown and I didn't actually consider that it may be a camera destroying trip.....was it?...You'lll have to read on to find out....haha.
Preparing myself for the event
I had a hangover, so my preparations were quite simple....drink a fresh coconut on arrival. Check, thats my prep done. I was quickly adorned with some flower necklace and some talc splattered on my face and a few bottles of waters shoved down my back....right...i was quickly sober, and ready for action!
Weather proofing the camera....
Also, my technical preparation for this event was somewhat lacking, i opted for the Mark 1 plastic bag approach, zip lock food bag, with a small hole torn in the front to poke the lens through, the bag was just resting over the lens. I figured the camera was going to get trashed so there wasn't much I could do with what I had to hand...it was a bit of a gamble with the lenses as they are definately not weather sealed and I was planning on using at least 3 of them (14mm, 23mm and 56mm), all of which are expensive lenses....I'm quite sure my hangover was forcing me to make a careless decision not to waterproof cover the lenses better, but I was more interested in getting in amongst the action and getting some shots to be honest, that's usually the way with me.
I could already see some water fights going on close-by to where I was, with no idea of the mass of people that was around the corner all ready to soak me....I could see little troops of people with water guns marching towards a gathering point...it kinda reminded me of deploying with a camera in the Army (there were far less coconuts or wet-tshirt wearing women in Basra though), this was definitely going to be much more fun.
It wasn't long before I was drenched in water from passers by and locals preparing for the event, somebody threw some flowers round my neck, covered my face in talc and already the camera was covered in water. I was starting to wonder if this was a good idea...lol.
"If your photographs aren't good enough, you're not close enough" - Quote by Robert Capa (acclaimed war photographer)
So I saw a rather large problem with photographing this event in my usual style....basically I knew to get the type of images I wanted, I would have to work at very wide angles (typically 21mm, 28mm range for full frame camera), I know for a fact to get the most dynamic images I need to be in close. The problem with that is for this event there was no shortage of people (literally thousands of them) with water guns, hosepipes, buckets full of ice water or any other water distributing device that had no mission other than to soak you as you came close....so I was a little concerned about the new Fuji X-T1 and more specifically the lenses (that are NOT weather sealed).
Anyway, here's a selection of images taken right in the middle of the action at the main parade event at the start of the festival in Kowloon City, these are all taken on either 14mm, 23mm or 56mm lenses from Fuji, are direct from camera JPEGs and i was just using my tshirt (what was left of it) to try and wipe off water blobs on the front of the lens, so any out of focus blobs are caused by the front elements being covered in water.
After the main event in the square the crowd started to move en-masse around the streets of Kowloon City, getting continuoulsy soaked by all manner of methods from every possible direction. I took a time out for 2 minutes to check the camera, I realised at this point that when I had been wiping down the camera rigorously with my t-shirt I had inadvertently somehow switched off RAW, and was only shooting JPEGS....I figured this wouldn't matter too much and actually made this blog post easier, as I just took the files directly from lightroom to here without processing them at all. I found as the afternoon went on, and with backlit situations around some of the streets, the RAW files would have been more useful as there would have been more opportunity to pull back highlights in some situations, but these JPEGS are more than acceptable in my view. Here's some more shots as the parade moved around the streets.
So, as the parade was drawing to a close, I checked out the camera again, it was looking worse than it was, as the X-T1 was covered in lumps of talc, lots of water and the bag I had put over the lens was ripped to shreds.....however, it appeared to be still working normally. I was worried about the lenses, I had been changing lenses throughout the 2 hours I had been there, so there was a fear that water had got inside (although I was very careful when changing lenses, ensuring I was well protected from any flying water), but nevertheless...fingers crossed, everything seemed fine so far. The last street I just took a few more images of a little girl that was fast becoming a star attraction as she was standing on her Dad's shoulders dressed in a mini-firemans outfit, throwing buckets of water at the police that were trying to disperse the crowds....highly entertaining :-)
Here are a few closeup shots I took of the camera just so you can see it was quite covered in talc, water and condensation had built up inside the viewfinder....I have lost one or two cameras to water damage before, so was slightly concerned, but nevertheless The Fuji X-T1 stood well up to the challenge of this event, and event without any weather sealed lens, it did a great job, close up, soaking wet, in some harsh light, really I couldn't have asked a camera to do any more than it did.
Conclusion
My conclusion is simple, the Fuji X-T1 yet again has impressed me with its ability to shoot in a fast paced, harsh condition event. I definately couldn't shoot my Leica cameras here due to weather sealing not being up to par, and basically they are much slower, more methodical cameras for me.
I took the camera home afterwards, gave everything a good wipe down with a damp cloth then dried it off. Everything is working perfectly (Now 4 days later...and still fine), not gritiness when turning dials, no problems with lenses or condensation, its as good as new, so for sure its passed it weather sealing test for me!
I could have easily used my 5D Mark III I'm sure, but I like to keep that big boy wrapped up at the office for commercial projects only, I don't use any of my Canon gear for my personal shooting or photography workshops abroad, thats just for commercial use, big cameras impress clients for some reason, so we keep the big stuff for that ;-)
Again, as per my original blog post which is linked here as full review of the Fuji X-T1, I can only really say good things about it, if you are looking to buy in to the Fuji system, now is the time, this is easily their best yet, well done Fuji, finally its hit the nail on the head for this format.
Keep in Touch with us
I have a public facebook page if you would like to stay in touch and see regular updates of my images, that can be seen here. Please 'Like' the page to get regular updates.
If you wish to find out more about my photography business 'F8 Photography' please check out our website, we regularly run photography workshop in Hong Kong, Cambodia and India currently and have been doing this for several years and those events can be seen under the 'workshops' tab at our website.
There is also a link at the top left of this blog post to subscribe to our blog updates if you wish.
We also do commercial photography and videography all over Asia, please keep in touch and we hope to see you around Hong Kong or somewhere else on our adventures.
After spending 18 years in the British Army, Gary left the Army in 2007 after serving with the Combat Camera Teams all over the world and moved to Asia to set up F8 Photography from which he now conducts all his photography endeavours. You will NEVER see Gary anywhere without a camera....
Thanks for reading.
Update (17th April 2014): we have now written a second review on the Fuji X-T1, specifically related to weather sealing when shooting the Thai New Year water festival...you can see that here at this link. I don’t write many camera reviews, so I apologise in advance if I miss out key features or concerns people have with this camera. My aim here is to given my honest opinions about the things I have discovered about this system in the last 3 weeks using it, this is definitely not a technical review.
I travel a great deal with my photography business around Asia and I feel this qualifies me to have an opinion that may be useful to others who are considering this system as a travel rig. I feel camera is worthy of mention for many reasons, hence I’m writing this first thoughts style ‘review’.
For those that can't be bothered to read my blurb and just want to cut to a quick conclusion, I'll say this straight out: The camera is fantastic in almost every sense, great image quality, very user friendly experience, best EVF by far, autofocus can still be a little laggy in low light, but apart from that, there ain't much wrong with it. Now first here's my first few images shot with this camera, followed by my review:
THE CAMERA BODY
I love the look of the camera, its the perfect size for a travel camera for me, un-obtrusive, light, weather sealed (unfortunately none of the current lenses are as at April 2014 as far as I know), but at least I can shoot it in the rain and not worry too much...
The finish of the camera is great, feels like knurled leather, so its 'grippy' when holding it, something I didnt like about the Sony A7, which felt almost 'slippy' in my hand due to its glossy finish. This feels better to me, similar to the Ricoh GR in the sense that it won't slip out of your hand. It also has a good built in grip (this can be improved with the addition of either the battery grip or standard grip, both optional accessories from Fuji.
The only thing I don't like so far about the body is the SD card door, it seems to open itself quite often, loose fitting design, and is very flimsy in quality, feels like that will be soon snapped off the way i use my cameras....so thats a bit of a failing in my view...they've worked so hard to get most things very very right, then put on a flimsy SD card door that you open and close every time you shoot to get to the card, not a dealbreaker, just a little annoying, so much effort into other areas, why not make this stronger and more durable...
LENSES
Its already well documented that the lenses from the Fuji X-Series are all pretty damn good, I would go as far as to say most of them that I have used are SPECTACULAR. The lenses I am using on this system are 14mm, 18mm, 23mm, 35mm and 56mm equivalent to roughly 21mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm. That covers everything I would ever need. My favourites so far are the 14mm for close up street photography, the 18mm for 'normal' street, the 23mm for environmental portraits, the 35mm for general photography and the 56mm for portraiture and isolating subjects in the street....As you can tell from that statment which started as 'my favourites so far'....ALL of them are my favourites, I have enjoyed using each and every one of them for my own reasons and I will post some images here below sampling each lens which should help clarify how they fit into my compositional eye differently each time.
SO, WHICH LENSES DO I REALLY NEED?
If you just want to keep it very simple, I would say the 35mm 1.4 (equivalent to 50mm) is a great start off lens for general purpose usage if you don't usually get very close to your subjects (by close i mean touching close..lol)....the 18mm is also great and very small (these 2 are also the cheapest of the lot, so not a bad starting point for a portrait lens and a wider street use lens), that said, the 56mm is sublime, probably the best lens I have ever used for portraiture, especially on a 'non full frame rig', amazing quality in every sense, the 14mm is unmissable if you are wide angle street shooter (with its clutch allowing you to quickly manual focus also)...and the 23mm (35mm equivalent, is great, although larger and heavier, probably that would be my choice if someone said you could only have 1 lens.
IMAGE QUALITY
I am not a massive fan of shooting JPEGS, I like RAW. I was able to get hold of a pre-release version of Adobe Lightroom 5.4 which supports the Fuji RAW files including allowing you to use the camera profiles (Astia, Provia, Velvia, Pro Neg, etc, etc) directly onto your RAW files. This was a very very cool addition to the RAW workflow. Rumour has it that LR 5.4 also has a different way of dealing with the Fuji RAW files in the sense that they are better quality than previously available in Lightroom. I think this is true, before I found Fuji files to look 'smudgy', I don't see that with these files, they are very very very good, and I haven't once looked at anything below ISO3200 and thought 'its nowhere near as good as my Leica', its all good, so anyone looking at this camera worried about whether the IQ is good enough, my advice is: Yes, it most certainly is good enough...For example, I made 15 A3+ prints the other day, 8 from the Fuji XT1, the other 5 from my Leica M240, i showed 4 different professional photographers the images, they all guessed wrong as to which cameras produced which files, testament to the Fuji, once a file is shot on a good lens and processed, its not so easy to tell them apart from higher end cameras, in fact, I would say extremely difficult...apart from the fact that the Fuji colour is better than any other camera on the market....which brings us onto the next point...
COLOUR
Spectacular, I have shot this camera in Hong Kong in artificial light, same in Korea, then in Cambodia in harsh light and amazing sunsets, and I can honestly say, I can't remember having even once touched the custom white balance tool in Lightroom to fix white balance, its delivered literally perfect white balance in every situation...something I have become quite unfamiliar with using Leica cameras in recent years, the Fuji is simply astounding at getting white balance and colour bang on, straight out of the box. That paired with the ability to use the Fuji colour profiles for Velvia, Astia, Pro Neg, etc is really a very, very cool thing in my view, post processing has never been so easy for the colour files.
56mm. Direct from camera RAW with Velvia mode for strong vibrant colours throughout.
23mm. Direct from RAW with Astia for a softer more natural colour look.
BLACK AND WHITE
I've been very happy with my black and white results from this camera, I'm not a big fan of the custom profiles in this regard (B&W red filter, Green filter and Yellow filter), simply because I prefer to process my files much more harshly in this regard, more grit and grain, the RAW files are basically too clean (as is normal for all cameras), so i still prefer to pull them over to Silver Efex Pro 2 to get the look I want.
I have made a video tutorial on how I do my black and white with the X-T1 and any other camera for that matter, which includes flattening the image even more before going across the SEP2, the video link for that workflow is here:
https://vimeo.com/91315679
GIMMICK MODES AND PANORAMIC MODE
The camera has quite a few 'toy' modes, I won't go on about them, i don't use them, things like 'remove all colour except red', fake tilt shift, fake HDR, etc. I just tried it a few times, for fun with your friends, maybe...for serious photographers, doesn't need to be there...
The panoramic feature is something quite cool thats been there since the XPro1 though, if you need a quick stitched JPEG that is very easy to do, this one i shot on a moving boat with the 56mm in almost darkness and it came out just like this, can't complain with that feature.
SHOOTING EXPERIENCE
As far as shooting the camera goes, I love it. I find the autofocus to be absolutely fine in good light, more than fast enough (not as fast as some full frame cameras or the OMD EM-1, but definately more than fast enough for most things (except sport - in fact if you want this camera for sports photography, stop reading now, and go and buy an OMD EM-1 or a D4s, its useless at tracking very fast moving subjects - I tried and failed badly shooting a basketball match and a soccer match, useless continuous AF for that....for someone walking or cycling down the street that you want to shoot however, its more than adequate.
Metering is also very good with the Fuji, i shot in many situation where the light was difficult or backlit, and the meter generally coped well, and the exposure compensation dial is right there at your fingertips should you need it (and its stiffer than on previous Fujis so not easy to accidentally knock), as is the AEL button easily to hand to lock exposure. I have had absolutely no issues with getting the right exposures with this camera.
HOW FAR CAN I GO WITH ISO?
I would say I have no issues shooting anything up to ISO6400 with this camera. Above that its not great, certainly useable, but I have also had no need to go above 6400 and i do shoot quite a lot in low light so for me its no problem for this camera at all. The only thing that suffers in low light is the autofocus becomes a little laggy (a continuing Fuji curse), nevertheless I do believe its still quite a lot better than all the other existing Fuji cameras out there as at April 2014.
MANUAL LENSES AND MANUAL FOCUS
A fair few people I know from the Leica crowd have been asking me how the camera performs with Leica or M mount lenses. I have only tried a few lenses on there, the Leica 50mm 1.4 Summilux ASPH, the Voigtlander 50mm 1.5 ASPH, the old Canon 85mm 1.9 LTM and a Leica 35mm Summicron 7 elements. All of the lenses I have tried have worked perfectly well. The various modes for manual focus are EXCELLENT, you have focus peaking in a variety of different colours and strengths (red low/high for example), you have split prism focussing ability (my personal favourite with manual glass), you can zoom in for focus assist at the tap of a bottom should you require a zoomed image to focus if you have vision like a mole (do not underestimate the EVF in this camera, its like watching your first 42" plasma screen TV if you have come from EVFs that were developed a year or so ago...it really is a positive experience using this EVF (and as I've mentioned before, i used to HATE EVFs...this has changed everything. There is even another mode where you can have 2 images showing at once, your main view and a magnified smaller view of your focus point, all very cool, and you can't help but think whoever developed these features is really thinking about the photographer and what they want. Here's just a few samples from M Mount lenses with the Fuji...basically it just works with these lenses, it works well!
WIFI EXPERIENCE (CAMERA REMOTE SHOOTING AND PLAYBACK)
This is nothing short of spectacular experience on my iphone and ipad, i can connect instantly to the camera with one push of the wifi button, the app is very fast and responsive, for either downloading JPEGS to the phone/ipad (you must be shooting in RAW+JPEG to do this, it won't work with just RAW), so i can quickly send files to people I've just photographed or upload/email, etc.
The remote shooting part of the app functions perfectly, you can just connect by one press of the wifi button and then you have live view on the phone/ipad and can just use that to touch the screen and focus, change settings, looks, aperture etc, shoot stills/video, whatever you want, all without touching your camera, just works, and its the first wifi app that I've personally used that does work as it should.
BATTERY LIFE
The weakest link of the camera. I carry 4 batteries around with me, if you use the camera a lot, you will need a minimum of 2 batteries for a days shooting (that would be a bare minimum in my view, but I do shoot a lot), if you want to use the wifi app, be prepared for mega consumption of battery....I would recommend to any travel photographers to carry at least 3 fully charged batteries with you to ensure you don't miss any shots, it seems to show the full battery bar, then 1 bar less then all red, once red, you have about 10-15 shots and its gone....so for me the battery life is crap, don't quote me on this, but I think (not 100% sure) its the same battery as the X-Pro1 and XE-1, etc, with far more processing power and much better EVF, its normal that its going to suck up way more power, so i hope they either release some higher capacity battery or do something in the firmware that at least gives you a better warning...I also tried a third party battery, that was twice as bad as the Fuji ones, so at least try to stick with Fuji batteries if you can.
PRO’S
-Best EVF I've ever used (in fact the only one I like). - Fast shooting rate (8fps or so, more than fast enough) - Love all the options for manual focus (assist zoom, peaking, split prism) - Weight - the camera is light, as are the lenses (less 23mm and 56mm) so its great for travel, small, light and unobtrusive. - Styling, the dials on top look good, they feel good, Fuji are much better at styling their cameras than Nikon or Sony.
CONS
- SD card door flimsy quality and easily knocked open, very prone to breaking I think. - Battery life is pretty crap (need at least 2 batteries for a long days shooting). - rear dial buttons are a little small and inset, so people with sausage fingers might find that annoying, no problem, just a minor glitch.
CONCLUSION AND FINAL THOUGHTS
So, I think that just about sums it up for me, I'm a very happy teddy bear when I use this camera, I can honestly say its 'fun' to use, fast, responsive, feels good in the hand and apart from the minor gripes that I have outlined above, its easily my favourite mirrorless autofocus camera to date. Some people will be confused as to why I preferred this over the Sony A7, thats a no-brainer to me, its not just about image quality - I agree the Sony is better IQ for sure, however, the ergonomics of the Sony are junk, the sound of the shutter on the A7 is useless for close up street shooters who want to be quiet, discreet and unobtrusive, the menu systems in the Sony are confusing (I'm easily confused by the way...), and the complete lack of available lenses (the 2 that are available are good of course), makes the decision between these two cameras an easy one for me, the Fuji is simply a complete system option, much like the 4/3 systems that are on offer, although I believe the APS-C sensor is the way forward for these size cameras, everything is in proportion, lenses, body, etc, etc, and not enough lack of quality from full frame for it to be an issue.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED SYSTEM, EASILY THE BEST MIRRORLESS CAMERA OF 2014 (SO FAR FOR ME)
If you want to stay in touch, join one of our photography workshops in Hong Kong, Cambodia, India or elsewhere, keep track of our images, or even just to say 'hi' please check us out at the following link on our public facebook page:
www.facebook.com/garytysonphotographer
or at my commercial website:
Thanks for taking the time to read my opinion.
Gary Tyson
A few people have been asking me how i process my black and white RAW files from the new Fuji X-T1 camera. I use Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro 2 to do this, and I have made a short video that goes into detail of how I process my files to get my own look.
Please see the video below, I hope its useful for people seeking out some ways to get a constant look with their black and white process, just tweak to your liking and save your presets and you can have your images edited in seconds in 1 or 2 clicks.
http://vimeo.com/f8photography/fujixt1bw
We recently returned from Jodhpur, deep in the heart of Rajasthan in India where we ran a 5 day photography workshop. We would like to share some of our 'behind the scenes' images that show how much fun everyone was having in India, as well as producing some fantastic images throughout the week the group was having lots of FUN which is what makes it all worthwhile, as we have said many times to all photographers, if you are not having fun and loving what you are doing, then why do it?!
Crank up the volume, sit back and share in the joy that was had on F8 Photography's latest workshop in India.
For more information on upcoming workshops, visit our site at www.f8photography.com.hk
http://vimeo.com/f8photography/behindthescenesindia
One month ago we led a small workshop (8 people) to Rajasthan in India and had an epic experience as a group of photographers. This blog post is just a short look at some behind the scenes images showing our little gang shooting around Pushkar, Jaipur and Delhi over the week, and most of all a reflection of how much FUN we all had together in such an amazing place.
We will be heading back to India in just a few months time in February 2014, this time deeper into Rajasthan to Jodhpur, details of that workshop can be seen here:
http://www.f8photography.com.hk/event/jodhpur2014/
That aside, here is a look behind the scenes at our last Rajasthan workshop, which was held in November 2013.
Justine having a great time with the locals
Jon was thankful he had his rabies jabs after a dog attempted to lick him to death...lol
Patrick (left) and myself doing some 'selfies' in Delhi
Myriam shares her image with a lovely lady in the streets of Delhi 
On route to Pushkar by train...the best way to travel in India 
Katherine getting to grips with the awesome light inside the train
Our group waiting to board a train to Pushkar 
Katherine and Justine taking an elephant up the hill to the Amber Fort 
Chai Masala Tea Break....this picture was taken at tea break number 135 of 567 during the week...;-) 
Monica showing her subjects how great they look on camera 
Gary teaches a local guy how to shoot the Ricoh GR 
Gary getting some composition tips off the local dog (all dogs we met were super friendly!) 
Tasha taking a poignant moment during the train journey to Pushkar 
Tasha and Jon doing some strange 'pigeon-dash'! 
Tasha can even charm elephants into smiling 
Ruth and Katherine with their lovely smiles out enjoying the shooting 
Justine out doing some 'training' (excuse the pun). 
Gary failing to impress the locals with his cricket skills... 
Asking a local to shoot our group photo, he did very well for his first time on a rangefinder 
Jon posing in an alleyway of Old Delhi 
Tasha and Sakshi checking eachothers work 
A couple of our local guides in Delhi 
Gary checking the Rajasthan scenery on route to Pushkar 
Myriam scouting for subjects on the train 
Ruth and Patrick loving Pushkar
Jon and Patrick trying scarves as reflectors and diffusers...worked perfectly! 
Ruth on the last day in Jaipur 
Justine at the mosque in Delhi early morning 
Becky at the riverside in Delhi on our last day in India 
Jon shooting portraits on his trusty Rolleiflex 
Patrick gets up close and personal with his subjects 
Jon and Monica taking a taxi
Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below. You can also subscribe to our blog here.
F8 Photography provides commercial photography and photography and video training workshops, more details can be found via the ‘courses and workshops’ link and upcoming events via the front page of our website.
After our successful photography workshop in India last month we have decided to go back at the earliest opportunity. We were oversubscribed last time, so here's another chance for people to explore this amazing place with us.
This time we will have TWO professional photographers on location to assist and guide where necessary.
Gary from F8 and Ian Taylor, who's work resides at the following links:
and here:
www.facebook.com/iantaylorphotography
Follow the link for details, sign up fast, places are very limited.
http://www.f8photography.com.hk/event/jodhpur2014/
In recent years we have been running many successful workshops in Cambodia and as much as we love the place, many of our clients and new enquiries are asking for us to lead a workshop in different parts of Asia so here is the first one, into the heart of Rajasthan in India from 5th - 10th November 2013. This workshop is limited to a maximum of 8 participants.
We will explore Delhi and 'the pink city' of Jaipur in Rajasthan, travelling between the two by train.
This promises to be an exciting workshop and good learning experience for all of us, so sign up quick, a few of the places have already been sold before it was advertised today.
For more information please follow the link to the workshop signup page below:
http://www.f8photography.com.hk/event/rajasthannov13/
Click here to check out Gary's new facebook page, please 'like' it... Under advice from several of my photographer buddies (in particular Ian Taylor who I have been shooting with in Cambodia the last few days, who's work can be seen here), I have been encouraged to launch a facebook fan page to show some of my work to a wider audience.
Although I am not entirely comfortable with the term 'fan page', I do understand that it can bring business as well as a much bigger audience to my work, in particular the recent theme in Cambodia with the medium format digital camera has attracted a lot of interest and requests for prints....so I guess I must be doing something right.
This recent series is kind of a return to form for me in some ways, ironically when I switched to Leica a few years ago for travel photography I stopped shooting this style of work (I used to shoot it extensively with Canon digital, using variable ND filters and lights in the field), then stopped altogether to minimise my kit and go 'rangefinder', and now having recently acquired a Pentax 645D medium format digital camera, it really suits that style of photography, rather than the quick, street style shooting I have become accustomed to.
So for me its 2 things, a chance to slow myself down and take my time over each image, as well as explore a new format that I haven't tried digitally, and for sure the camera is big, but the results and detail are worth the effort for me, I've been shooting it less than 2 weeks, and I'm already deeply attached to this system.
Please take a look at the facebook page and share with your friends if you think they may be interested in my style of photography.
Click here to check out Gary's new facebook page, please 'like' it...
Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below. You can also subscribe to our blog here.
F8 Photography provides commercial photography and photography and video training workshops, more details can be found via the ‘courses and workshops’ link and upcoming events via the front page of our website.
We recently conducted 2 photography workshops in Cambodia, most of the clients attended both Phnom Penh and Southern Cambodia. The feedback from the workshops was excellent, both receiving very positive feedback and leading us to organise 2 more this coming July. We have a little twist on the southern workshop this time, it will be black and white photography only....the colour photography can be unleashed again once we reach the temples of Angkor Wat in the north of Cambodia the following week.
Details and signup information for both workshops can be found at the following links:
Cambodia south black and white workshop - 2-7 July 2013 - click here for more information
Cambodia North photography workshop - 9-14 July 2013 - click here for more information
If you intend to do both and wish to receive the discount, please signup for the first one (black and white) and then make a note in the comments on the application form to inform us and we will arrange the discount for you.
Here are some links to blog posts that can show you much more information about the recent workshops:
Previous workshop slideshow blog post (South Cambodia)
Previous workshop slideshow blog post (Phnom Penh workshop)
Behind the scenes in Phnom Penh blog post
Testimonials from our previous workshop can be seen below:
- Thanks for a GREAT workshop – the best workshop I’ve attended so far. Will watch out for your upcoming workshops and look forward to joining another one!
- I had a great time. Thank you very much. Right now I am just looking forward to you organizing another workshop, I want to go again!
- Great choice of locations.Thank you for showing me the side of Cambodia which I didn’t see while I was there as a tourist.
- I never thought I would have a chance to meet so many lovely people.
- The workshop was way too short as I had so much fun I could have easily spent another few days there!!
- The Phnom Penh workshop was enjoyable and the group dynamics were good.
- One of the best workshops I ever attended. Truly enjoyed it. Will love to join other workshops in the future.
The aim of our photography workshops in Cambodia is to take beginner or intermediate photographers to another level with an immersive course that exposes them to nothing but photography for several days….It’s intense, it’s hard work, it’s loooong days, the learning curve is steep, but the two key things we wish for all our clients to leave with are the feeling that they improved dramatically in the way they see what they photograph and to have had great fun with a bunch of like minded photographers. Below you will see a slideshow of their final images. They shot in the south of Cambodia (Sihanoukville, Kampot, Kep) for less than 5 days, some of them arrived with their first camera and little knowledge, but after some careful direction and coaching they have produced nothing short of an outstanding set of images, each and every one of them.
Please enjoy the slideshow and we look forward to seeing some of you on a future workshop here in Cambodia, back in Hong Kong or somewhere else in the region. You can find more details about our workshops at our homepage under ‘workshops‘ or drop us an email via our contact form.
vimeosouthslides from F8 Photography Ltd on Vimeo.
If you wish to see other images and blog posts from this trip and other Cambodia trips you can see a selection by clicking here.
Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below. You can also subscribe to our blog here.
F8 Photography provides commercial photography and photography and video training workshops, more details can be found via the ‘courses and workshops’ link and upcoming events via the front page of our website.
The aim of our photography workshops in Cambodia is to take beginner or intermediate photographers to another level with an immersive course that exposes them to nothing but photography for several days....It's intense, it's hard work, it's loooong days, the learning curve is steep, but the two key things we wish for all our clients to leave with are the feeling that they improved dramatically in the way they see what they photograph and to have had great fun with a bunch of like minded photographers. Below you will see a slideshow of their final images. They shot in and around Phnom Penh for less than 3 days, some of them arrived with their first camera and little knowledge, but after some careful direction and coaching they have produced nothing short of an outstanding set of images, each and every one of them.
Please enjoy the slideshow and we look forward to seeing some of you on a future workshop here in Cambodia, back in Hong Kong or somewhere else in the region. You can find more details about our workshops at our homepage under 'workshops' or drop us an email via our contact form.
Phnom Penh Photography workshop - Clients Images slideshow from F8 Photography Ltd on Vimeo.
If you wish to see other images and blog posts from this trip and other Cambodia trips you can see a selection by clicking here.
Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below. You can also subscribe to our blog here.
F8 Photography provides commercial photography and photography and video training workshops, more details can be found via the ‘courses and workshops’ link and upcoming events via the front page of our website.
We have just finished the Phnom Penh workshop yesterday afternoon which was a great success. One team member left, and two more arrived this morning to head south with us for the next workshop so we are now a merry band of 8 photographers heading down to the seaside.
Today was supposed to be a day off or 'admin' day....but of course none of us could resist the chance to do more shooting, so we had some prints made from the previous days shoots and took them to the temple and the Muslim village to hand them out and make use of our time shooting again.
As it was supposed to be a day off, i didn't do much teaching and guidance and opted to just go for a walk and take only my X100s and leave the Leicas behind for a few hours.
I have had the X100s a while now, but never use it, I always bring it with the Leicas and it ends up staying in the bag...In hindsight this is a silly mistake, its one or the other, no point carrying double the gear...I teach the others to bring smaller cameras and not to be overloaded with kit...then bring 3 cameras myself...kind of defeating the object....lol.
So, refreshingly, i headed out for a walk with just the X100s slung over my shoulder and nothing else.
These images are the first time i have used this camera properly in 2 months....I can honestly say I'm so far very very happy....I was considering selling it a few weeks ago due to non-usage and now I realise that would be a mistake, it has excellent image quality and when i need a low light colour camera (the Leica M9 is useless for that), then this will be the one I turn too.
I'm not into talking about all the technical features and details of cameras, I don't believe in that, any camera you give me is just a tool....im only interested in the 'feeling' that comes across in the image once developed...I have zero interest in the size of the camera/lens/etc, as too many times i've seen the most expensive cameras in the hands of fools and the cheapest cameras in the hands of geniuses...Usually the quote rings true 'all the gear...means no idea'..... So next time you think to carry 3 cameras or the biggest most expensive cameras you can afford...think twice....remember....the most important thing in photography is your minds eye....the camera is just a box that captures that vision, without that vision, any camera is useless to you.
Here's a few images I shot this afternoon. Tomorrow we head South, I will try and use it more each day and see how I get along.
A baby sleeps calmly in the afternoon light
Lady in doorway allows me to shoot her as she relaxes away from the outdoor heat
Hiding from the cows that charged down the street towards the kids
Fine tuning his fishing nets for the next time he's out on the Mekong river
Children at a local school inside a monastery
If you wish to see other images and blog posts from this trip and other Cambodia trips you can see a selection by clicking here.
Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below. You can also subscribe to our blog here.
F8 Photography provides commercial photography and photography and video training workshops, more details can be found via the ‘courses and workshops’ link and upcoming events via the front page of our website.
We have just finished our Phnom Penh workshop (4 days) with our team and as Romina heads back to Hong Kong this evening, the remainder of the team will be joined tomorrow by 2 new members and we will all head south for the next workshop together. I will post a video slideshow of the entire teams final images in the coming few days, but in the meantime we would like to share some behind the scenes images of everyone at work and having a great time here in Cambodia.
Steve, Andrew, Monica, Winnie, Lydia, Romina and Gary
Steve hanging out with some Monks getting to know them before asking for photographs
3 of the team in the shade at the Muslim village
Gary does a bit of lighting training with some willing models
The team learning how to use off camera lighting
Romina exploring the alleyways looking for the best light
Early morning shoots every day before 6am
Lydia gets some new fanclub members at the monastery
Andrew modelling the Cambodia scarf on the Mekong river
Romina makes new friends at the beach
Romina with the Mother Superior at the rural monastery
Winnie and Mother Superior having a memento shot by Andrew
The team receiving a blessing on arrival at the monastery after we gifted some rice
Lydia and a lovely elderly lady at Silk Island
Winnie practicing her off camera lighting techniques
Monica all excited on route to the next location in the tuk tuk
The kids love to play around when we are shooting
Monica with her models at the monastery
Lydia, Winnie, Mother Superior and Romina at the rural monastery
Monica shows the kids how cool they look on camera
Gary couldn't resist getting the helicopter and gopro3 out for a flight when time allowed
Lydia gets a washdown after the first shoot in the mud
Winnie relaxes with the kids at the first village across the river
Winnie and her fans at the beach
Steve helps Lydia with some Lightroom processing
Andrew impresses the kids with his Leica M9
Giving back prints is a great experience for the team
The locals love to receive their prints after we shoot
The team with some local kids at the Muslim village
If you wish to see other images and blog posts from this trip and other Cambodia trips you can see a selection by clicking here.
Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below. You can also subscribe to our blog here.
F8 Photography provides commercial photography and photography and video training workshops, more details can be found via the ‘courses and workshops’ link and upcoming events via the front page of our website.
We are now into our second day of the Phnom Penh photography workshop and we started the day bright and early before 6am shooting the views over the Mekong river for sunrise and the workers and monks coming over off the boats from silk island.
Sunrise over the Mekong, Leica M9P, VL 21mm F4
Monks arrive by boat from Silk Island, Leica M9P, 90mm Summarit
After that it was a quick breakfast and heading out to the local monastery...it still wasn't yet even 7am...a few yawns of tiredness could be seen, but everyone was highly motivated to get some shots before the harsh sunlight started...which wouldn't to far away...this is one of the main problems this time of year in Cambodia, the heat is unforgiving and the light can be extremely harsh...so its early rises and late finishes to capture the best light.
Lydia at one of the temples in the monastery, trying to catch a bit of shade from the heat.
We spent a good hour at the monastery chatting to monks and helping those that wanted to practice their english language skills, as well as playing with the kids and fascinating them with showing them their images on the back of the cameras.
Leica M9P, 90mm summarit
Today is the 25th of May, the day on which the Cambodians celebrate Buddha's birthday, ascencion and enlightenment. We were lucky enough to be invited back in the afternoon by some of the monks to witness the parade and take part as we wished. Of course this would offer us a great photo opporunity so we all graciously accepted the invitation and headed back in the early afternoon to see what unfolded.
Leica M9P, 90mm summarit
Similar shot to above, but this time trying the Leica M Monochrom and 28mm.
Several of the monks we had met earlier were conducting preparations in the main temple so we hung out there anxiously waiting as more and more monks and children gathered below. Andrew was kind enough to offer me the lend of his Noctilux lens as he wanted to try my 75mm lens. This worked well as as I knew with so many people around, if i wanted to single out someone i would need to be using either a Noctilux or a 75/90mm focal length.
Excited kids await the start of the celebrations, Leica M9P, 50mm Noctilux
The kids were all carrying flowers as offerings for inside the temple after the precession which was about to get underway for the next 30 minutes or so.
Monks prepare for their celebration march around the monastery, Leica M9P, Noctilux
Leica M9P, Noctilux
As the parade came to its end back at the temple I crossed the street to try and get some shot of the Monks coming past with a bit of symmetry, as i focussed on this monk he didn't notice me, but just looked up to the heavens....i thought...."jackpot" as that was for me the shot of the day....so we had spent a good few hours around this area and I think it was well worthwhile and a great experience to be able to be part of their day. We will be sure to return on Monday with prints for them all to return our gratitude to them for allowing us to photograph them. Tomorrow its off to silk island bright and early at 6am. Looking forward to more great photo opportunities in a rural setting.
My shot of the day for me personally, Leica M9P, Noctilux
If you wish to see other images and blog posts from this trip and other Cambodia trips you can see a selection by clicking here.
Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog, if you like our blog and website, please ‘like’ us on our public Facebook page and share this story with your friends with the Facebook and twitter links below. You can also subscribe to our blog here.
F8 Photography provides commercial photography and photography and video training workshops, more details can be found via the ‘courses and workshops’ link and upcoming events via the front page of our website.
F8 Photography, commercial website of Gary Tyson: Photographer. F8 Photography provides photography and film services to clients all over Asia ranging from small business to international brands. Contact us for more information.
BEHIND THE SCENES WITH F8
