Here’s an experiment with an old manual focus 70-300mm zoom Nikon lens on the Fujifilm X-T30 mirrorless camera.
I was given this lens as a gift in 1995, (I think) and although it’s slow (max f/4) it’s quite a good lens. The light was failing when this image was made, around 5.30pm, so the ISO was 6400, making the image grainy. I extended the lens to 300mm and shot a photo of this bush at f/4 – 1/250th sec.
I needed to keep the ISO high and shutter speed short to eliminate lens shake. Overall though, I see possibilities for this combination.
It’s getting boring now. I’m now at Day 4 with my dead leaf. This time I put a macro extension tube on the X-T30 and stuck the lens right up against the leaf. Focal length was 55mm (Macro tubes only work at the vey end of these lenses) –
f/8 @ 1/60th sec on ISO3200, lit by a Rotolight Neo in a light tent.
In Lightroom, I used split toning to bring out the reds in the leaf’s shadow areas, – just a tiny amount of saturation used.
I’ve got to find a new leaf soon. I’m running out of options. Either that or I need to get out and find something to photograph really soon.
When you chain your bicycle to a sign which reads ‘Take me home!’
I found this scene when wandering around the Botanic area of Belfast on Saturday morning. Someone has chained a bike to a pole, and an advertising sign above the bike reads, “Take me home!” What a challenge for a would-be bike thief!
Fujifilm X-T30. F=181mm, f/9 @ 1/60th sec on ISO400. Shot in Acros Film Simulation mode.
Political graffiti in the university quarter of Belfast – and why you don’t always need humans to document human interest.
An interesting aspect of documentary photography is that human influence and interaction can be implied, rather than overt.
Even if people are not actually in the photo, the human element is still present and the human story is still told.
This gable wall in Belfast points us to events on the other side of the world, and indicates the desire of locals here to show solidarity with their fellow students there. There is a significant Chinese community in South Belfast, many of whom are students at the university, and many of them would have Hong Kong origins.
Yes. I agree. It’s a totally uninteresting photograph. A picture captured by a camera, sitting on a newspaper in a cafe, looking at an empty chair. ‘So what?’ I hear you exclaim, as you conclude that I’ve finally lost the plot entirely.
So, why have I posted it? Because of how it was captured. The camera is switched on, untouched. On my iphone the Fujifilm app has connected by WiFi to the camera and is showing me the image being recorded on the sensor. I can adjust the camera settings, shutter, aperture, ISO etc etc.
Also, because the camera is mirrorless it can capture images silently. No noisy mirror to move out of the way. With the focus beep switched off, and the camera set to ‘Electronic shutter’ instead of the mechanical shutter, there is no sound as it does its work. (Ideal for church interiors incidentally).
So, to a casual onlooker, the photographer is simply sitting playing with his phone.
