Fuji X-T1 'wet review' at Songkran in Hong Kong

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.

Heres the link again for reference to my original posting on the review of the Fuji X-T1 camera.  Please share both of these links and spread the word.

Fuji X-T1 review in Hong Kong, Korea & Cambodia

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:

www.f8photography.com.hk

Thanks for taking the time to read my opinion.

Gary Tyson

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.

VIDEO: How we process black and white with the Fuji X-T1

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

Behind the Scenes - F8 Photography Jodhpur India Workshop

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

OMD goes to Cosplay

(Olympus 75mm 1.8, 1/200 @ f3.2, ISO 200) (This image above is the only one from the set that I have linked a full size version too, so any pixel counters who want to look at it full size click this link...this for me shows how good a 4/3 sensor can resolve detail).

So, after a few weeks of extensive travel photography around Cambodia and Manila in the Phillipines, we are back to Hong Kong and found out about the Cosplay exhibition held in Wanchai Exhibition Centre, so thought we'd put the Olympus OMD to more tests using slightly longer lenses than normal, focussing more on portraits, rather than street or environmental shots.

The lenses of choice for this shoot were the Panasonic 25mm 1.4, Olympus 45mm 1.8 and Olympus 75mm 1.8.  Remember all focal lengths are doubled for their 35mm equivalent value.

All I can say about using this camera for portraiture is 'wow', it keeps on surprising me, no matter what I use it for....I wasn't sure what to expect with tight portraits, how much detail would the 4/3 sensor resolve...all I can say is that the sensor is simply amazing, especially when combined with these high quality (but reasonably priced) prime lenses.

(Olympus 75mm 1.8, 1/500 @f1.8, ISO 320)

Another thing that the Olympus OMD seems to do well is 'colour', and I thought the Cosplay event would be a great place to showcase this with all the variety of coloured outfits and wigs, and for sure, I hope these sample images I have posted here show that.  They have all had minor contrast and levels adjustments only in Lightroom 4, no other editing was required and in 99.9% of the images, white balance was not changed at all, so this shows the RAW files coming out of the OMD have already great white balance.  Of course with RAW files this wouldn't be an issue as all white balances are embedded so its a 1-click change to fix any issues, but not having the issue in the first place is always reassuring.

(Olympus 75mm 1.8, 1/200 @f2, ISO 320)

(Olympus 45mm 1.8, 1/320 @f2.8, ISO 320)

Details captured in the eyes and hair when shots are tight portraits like these is truly great for a camera of such small size.  I know I keep blowing its trumpet talking about how good the camera is, but at this stage (1st August 2012) I can honestly say from all the cameras I have used and whats available on the market currently, there is no better choice if you are looking for a small system to replace or enhance a DSLR rig.  Its affordable, robust, has some of the best glass I've ever used on any system (including Leica), and is just above and beyond anything else available.  This is of course just my opinion formed by lots of usage of various rigs, I am in no way related or sponsored by Olympus or any other camera manufacturer, this is just a working photographers honest opinion at this current time.  I hope another camera is released that kicks its ass, good gear means the competition level has to rise and other manufacturers need to produce the goods to stay in the running.....and for sure this time all the others in this category (and many categories above 4/3 better be opening their eyes and looking very hard at what Olympus has got so right).

(Panasonic summilux 25mm 1.4, 1/2000@f1.4, ISO 320)

(Panasonic summilux 25mm 1.4, 1/400@f2, ISO 640)

Here are some more images, all captioned with the relevant lens from the event....I still have no idea what Cosplay is...I'm guessing its some tribute to Japanese cartoons, excuse my ignorance.  Regardless of that, its a great subject full of interesting characters who were all more than willing to be photographed.  Apparently this Cosplay stuff can be found in abundance in Japan.....next stop Tokyo :-)

(Panasonic summilux 25mm 1.4, 1/320@f2.8, ISO 320)

(Olympus 75mm 1.8, 1/640 @f2, ISO 400)

Unusually for me, I hardly used the wide lenses when shooting around this event, there were a lot of messy backgrounds as the place was packed full of people, which made it difficult to isolate subjects with any wide lenses, I think these were the only 2 shots that I liked with the wide lenses, one indoor and one outdoor.

(Olympus 12mm 2.0, 1/200 @f2, ISO 800)

(Panasonic summilux 25mm 1.4, 1/40@f2, ISO 640)

(Olympus 75mm 1.8, 1/1000 @f2.8, ISO 320)

(Olympus 75mm 1.8, 1/800 @f2, ISO 320)

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 via the RSS link below.

F8 Photography provides commercial photography and training across Asia, with workshops on Street Photography and other photography and video training courses, more details can be found via the ‘courses and workshops’ link and upcoming events via the front page of our website.

Ulingan Charcoal Factory, Tondo, Manila

This is a short video slideshow of stills images and sound that I shot last week at probably one of the visually worst slums I have ever visited in my life. I suggest to view it, you click the box at bottom of the video and change to 720 HD and then click fullscreen to view it in best quality, crank up the volume, hear the sounds of the place with the music.

All of these images are shot on the Olympus OMD.

(If the video doesn't appear first time here, just refresh the page and it will appear).

I became aware of this place in Tondo, Manila after seeing some footage on a website which I have copied below, if you feel you want to get involved, please visit their site, as they for sure are trying to do great things for people in a very desparate situation.

The name of the charity is Project Pearls, and their website is below:

www.projectpearls.org

Guest Post: Shooting in Cambodia with F8 (Steve)

Note:  This post is written and all photos by Steve Porte who recenly travelled to Cambodia with F8.  Steve shoots with a combination of Mamiya 7ii film camera and Canon DSLR rigs, this trip he used the Canon rigs, this is his story. - Gary Tyson, Director F8 Photography. 

(Steve with the friendly locals which make Cambodia such a great place to be)

Several weeks ago, I traveled to Cambodia with F8 Photograhy owner Gary Tyson and two other photographers.  The aim of our trip was to spend 4 days shooting in and around Phnom Penh.  Here are my thoughts on that trip...

Cambodia is a wonderful place to visit.  There are good connections from most regional cities.  The Cambodian e-Visa is a user-friendy, online system, that really makes the immigration process simple and inexpensive.  Accomodations, ground transportation, and food are very  reasonably priced, but there are plenty of up-market offerings for those so inclined.  But what makes Cambodia really special is the people.

(Kids were fascinated by the digital cameras)

Everyone we met - from service staff, to shop owners, to people on the street - was warm, friendly, and kind.  There is an inner tranquility about the people that translates into a vibrant but peaceful atmoshphere.  It only took us about three hours in country to unwind from the hectic pace of Hong Kong.

(Typical greeting, 5D Mk III, 100mm)

(Dignified villager, 5D Mk III, 100mm)

For photographers, it gets even better.  Everyone has their own particular criteria, of course, but most would agree that the two basic requirements for producing good images are good light and interesting subjects.  Cambodia has  both in abundance.  The air is clean, and the light is soft and beautiful.  Even at mid day, we found the light to be less harsh than in other locations.  The quality of light is hard to describe, but easy to see when you're there.

(Steve shooting with his trusty Canon rig)

(Quality of light at 11:30 am, 5D Mk III, 100mm)

(Quality of light at 1:10 pm, 5D Mk III, 100mm)

There is also an endless variety of subjects to shoot - pastoral countryside, vibrant city life, quiet villages, interesting infrastructure, and, of course, the people.  What I enjoy most is documenting daily life and local culture.  For me, Cambodia is as good as it gets.  The developing infrastructure offers a wide variety of interesting subjects, and glimpses of a life quickly disappearing in many regions.

(Traditional fishing, 5D Mk III, 100mm)

(Ferry traffic jam, 1D Mk IV, 25mm)

The local people were the highlight of the trip.  They were warm, good natured, camera-friendly, and, to me, beautiful.  Their warm and dignified character shone through - from the youngest child to the oldest villager.  Virtually everyone we met was happy to be photographed and met us with direct eye contact; usually happy, sometimes somber, but always engaged.

(Village girl, 1D Mk IV, 35mm)

(Temple minder, 5D Mk III, 100mm)

Cambodia is relaxed, and rich with photo opportunities.  The F8 crew travels well, and has a good working knowledge of local venues.  Gary is a highy skilled and experienced field photographer.  He has a knack both for capturing high quality images, and for helping others to develop their own photographic skills.  Cambodia would make a great classroom, but, workshop or not, I'll be returning soon....

Final note from F8:

Gary, the Director of F8 has also written a blog post about his experience, that can be seen by clicking here.

Guest blog posts written by Dave who also came along can be seen here:

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F8 Photography provides commercial photography and training across Asia, with workshops on Street Photography and other photography and video training courses, more details can be found via the ‘courses and workshops’ link and upcoming events via the front page of our website.

F8 studio lighting workshop - review and feedback

A few weekends ago we held a studio lighting workshop for 2 of our previous clients; Craig and Bernhard, who last year completed the foundation course with F8. They have both been practicing hard and continuing to develop their passion for photography, adding a vast array of images to their portfolios of the last year or so, ranging from travel photography to family lifestyle portraits.

They had both arrived at a point in their photography where they felt it was the right time to broaden their horizons with artificial lighting, so we headed into the studio with 3 beautiful models early one Sunday morning and started playing with light meters, octaboxes and all the other great toys in the studio to see what we could achieve in a few hours of intensive training.

Bearing in mind that neither of the guys had ever set foot in a photography studio as the photographer before, we started with the basics; how to use light meters correctly, 1 light setup, using reflectors, flags and other light modifiers, then moving on to slightly more elaborate lighting setups, using gels, grids, snoots, barndoors, ringflashes and even wind machines amongst other tools.

After 5 hours of loud music, high energy photography and lots of laughter the whole crew was exhausted, even our models mentioned they didn't realise it can be quite tiring and hard work posing for a demanding photographer...haha.

Everyone involved said they had a positive experience and achieved a valuable piece of training to carry them forward with their photography, so I was happy, I had achieved my aim to teach them some new tricks and see everyone leaving the studio with big happy grins on their faces :-)

Using 3 cameras throughout the day, they had taken hundreds of images, I asked them afterwards to send me just a very small selection each, to show that they could also selectively choose and edit images as we would do so in a professional environment, being able to filter work down and produce only the top quality images, a task that is not as easy as it may sound.

I asked them both for a bit of feedback a week or so later and they said the following:

Craig Menzies:  "The studio shoot was a great experience and really focused on the full studio experience, from setting up the backdrops, all the various types of light modifiers, umbrellas and soft boxes, and where each light is placed to create dynamic lighting for the models we were photographing. It was fast paced and we learned a great deal from Gary’s instruction, while shooting amazing photos.  It was also a new experience to deal with models and directing them to create the shots we wanted.  Highly recommended and I will do more studio shoots in the future".

Bernhard Wamelink:  "The one day lighting workshop with Gary Tyson from F8 Photography was a great experience.  In a studio environment all the different aspects of studio lighting were discussed, set up and used in a shoot with models. Gary showed his professionalism in a relaxed way and he was very supportive and a good coach".

We provide a variety of training ranging from foundation training, street photography, DSLR video training and studio lighting.  Details can be found via the links on our home page here. or you can contact us directly from the contact page here.

Here are a selection of images from both Bernhard and Craig's first ever studio shoot:

Here are some additional links to their existing portfolios if you wish to see more of their photography:

Link to Bernhards 500px portfolio

Link to Craig's 500px portfolio