Fuji x100s Follow Up Review :: Life Without DSLRs - Zack Arias

[Chris Dodkin]

Steve B found an excellent write up by Zack, on his wholesale adoption of the X series from Fuji. He's now been DSLR free for two whole months!

Fuji x100s Follow Up Review :: Life Without DSLRs • Photography By Zack Arias

Zack was an early adopter of the X100, and did some write-ups for Fuji as that camera gained momentum.

He's since taken on-board the X-Pro1, and X-E1 as backup, and a couple of the new X100s cameras.

He's a traveling pro-photographer, and it's greta to see what he does with the equipment and 3rd party add-ons - especially for lighting.

This shot was taken with 3pm backlit sun - using the built-in 3 Stop ND on the X100s, a cheap(ish) 3rd party flash, and a small hand-held umbrella set-up.

Zack also compares the output from the X cameras to the usual suspects in regards to final image quality in print - a key concern for him, as that pays the bills!

He's not a paid spokesperson, but he does use and like Fuji's gear - so a good read all around.

 

[Pete Askew]

What a great write up! Thanks for posting it Chris. I can see why it would be such an appealing solution. And he's quite right about Leica in many ways. It is certainly not the first system one would aim for as a professional photographer and is less well suited to most commercial work than the Fuji / MF setups. Price is something that people do get hooked up on but things are all relative. We have a lot of Hasselblad gear (both V and H) plus technical cameras. None of that comes cheap! We also have a P20, an H20 and 2 x P45s (1 V fit and 1 H fit) and will probably buy an IQ back at some point (most of the shots are tethered so the screen is not that important). That is very expensive. But they get used for imaging results for studies which have cost a client £5 - £60K. Most of that cost is not for the photography but the images (when involved) need to be un-compromised. In relative terms, the cost of the equipment is insignificant and low compared to say a research grade fluorescence microscope or another piece of laboratory equipment. This can be seen if you look at eh number of frames we shoot. The cameras used on our Tessovar (a D700 replaced by a D3x and now a D800) clock up less than 200 frames per year. Most of the time is spent looking through the Tessovar setting up the shot (singular). Much of the frame count comes from stacking 10 images. This is very different from most commercial photography and way different from most personal photography. In the review he has made a perfect assessment of his needs as a commercial photographer and explained those decisions very well I thought.

Anyway, a good read. Maybe I should check out one of these new fangled jobs some time!

 

[Stephen McCullough]

It is a good read. I find his comments about print quality echo my own experience with these cameras.

I'll admit though that the blue photo - the woman and the phone booths - is so good that it makes me question whether i like him anymore...

The Zack story I most enjoy is the one where he has to use a crappy camera on Digital Rev. It reveals the depth of his skills, and his charming approach to people:

Zack Arias, Cheap Camera Challenge (Pro Tog, Cheap Cam) - YouTube

 

[Brian Moore]

I'd seen that Zach Arias video before. Thanks for posting it Chris. Also, thanks for posting that crappy camera challenge video, Stephen. Very interesting.

 

[Pete Askew]

Excellent thanks.

 

[Larry Bolch]

His words about emotional attachment resonated. I have always loved photography, but the cameras were always tools. Good tools are deeply appreciated, but never transcend being hardware. Last summer, I was doing "street" at a downtown festival, and was getting very nice images with what was in essence, and invisible camera. Aside from the satisfaction of capturing good content, I realized that I was really having fun, and the camera was responsible. There is something about the X-Pro1 that just makes you want to pick it up and make photography. The following may look posed, but I was able to shoot a whole series of the kid and the statue without being detected. I was very close!

I just posted to my web-site, the latest chapter in a chronicle I have been shooting of a family that is very dear to me. This one ran to 160 images shot over the past two months. Not a single image posed. Life as it is lived, not as presented to the camera. Some shots were drastically backlit, so I used the X100. With its leaf shutter, it will sync at full power to 1/2000th of a second. The flash is as close to the optical axis as is physically possible, so the secondary shadow is nearly undetectable. The look is of natural light, with the people in the dimmer light perfectly balanced with the bright background.


In truth, these little cameras themselves are having an impact upon my photography, and to an extent, they are a source of inspiration.