CAVEIRA PHOTOGRAPHY
  • Portfolio
  • Blog

1 Year with the FujiFilm XT-1 - A RETROspective

1/13/2016

3 Comments

 
Picture
That's not an XT-1! Nope. But I don't have any snaps with my XT-1, so the XT-10 will have to suffice.
1 year on with the Fuji XT-1 and a myriad of other FujiFilm gear.
Honestly, I pondered this post today, started collating some of my favourite photos, and then realised that today is my 1 year anniversary with the FujiFilm XT-1. Spooky?!
Nah. Just math.

Well, I must say, it has been a fantastic 12 months using Fuji's X-series 100%. I have traveled a fair bit of the world with my kit and put it through a heck of a lot of varied circumstances. On the streets, through weddings, in the sweat of live music, the pace of MMA, and through various nations, it's been a fantastic journey developing as a photographer, and as a person, refining my creative path through the medium. Not only that, but my hipster factor has grown exponentially with the XT-1's retro dials, coupled with my hair.

What started with just the XT-1 and XF56 (added to my X100s, which I later parted with for an XT-10) soon grew. At year's end my Fuji kit contains an XT-1 & XT-10, Xf16, XF27, XF35F2, XF56, XF90, and the underrated XC 50-230, along with my Instax printer for sharing the love. With various combinations of this gear I explored regions of my home country Australia like never before, shot weddings in Ireland and Vietnam, and most importantly, met so many incredible new people and took part in many great stories.

This post is my first retrospective and quite significant to me personally. I'm not going to say how long I've been shooting for but it's not that long. Happy for you to have a guess!
More importantly, I just want to send a massive thanks to all you curious folk out there. It's been awesome hearing from so many of you over the 12 months and I hope I can help you more and more and perhaps even connect with you too! Enjoy!
Picture
A snap from day 1 with the XT-1 and XF56 - Seu Jorge
Weddings across the world.
Picture
Last wedding for 2015 - Saigon, Vietnam
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Sweating and thrashing through the pits of live music.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
My final live shot for 2015 - Alison Wonderland
Exploring my home country like I never knew.
Picture
Sunrise - Yea, Victoria, Australia
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
And exploring a few new ones too.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Got to meet and shoot a lot of lovely people.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Trained and shot alongside some of the best.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
And sometimes just watched life go by.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
3 Comments

Winnie & Elvin - Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 

12/29/2015

4 Comments

 
Picture
What a way to finish up 2015.
Winnie and Elvin sure know how to celebrate their marriage, with not 1, but 3 weddings across 3 different countries. We had the honour of shooting their wedding in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where the always lovely Winnie grew up.
The blending of east and west, and tradition with modern opulence were perfect, with an emphasis on family and respect for Vietnamese culture permeating throughout the day.
Winnie & Elvin, we feel privileged for the experience, and especially enjoyed the numerous local cuisines you lavished upon us while we were in HCMC.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
4 Comments

Day One with the FUJINON XF35mmF2 in Saigon, Vietnam - A Brief Joyful Review

12/23/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
It's a lovely Wednesday morning here in Ho Chi Minh/Saigon, Vietnam, as I write this post buzzing on iced Vietnamese style coffee - the juice of the Gods! My wife and I have arrived to shoot a very special wedding in a few days time and it's an honour to be involved.
About 10 hours before leaving Melbourne, Australia I picked up a little something that I'd been eyeing off for some weeks, the newish Fujifilm XF35 F2. As always, I saw the good folks at DigiDirect in the city and they hooked me up with the best price around, just as they've done with my entire Fuji kit. They were also super patient about me trying the original XF35 F1.4 back to back against the new F2 version, and although the F1.4 certainly has its merits, the F2 won out in a few key areas, which I'll discuss soon.
Picture
Picture
Picture
I'll be straight up. The photos in this post aren't intended to be about photographic prowess nor highly technical breakdowns of the XF35's features, construction, and all that camera nerd stuff. I get enough of that in the world of high end guitars, so cameras are a safe haven for me where I can focus more on creativity rather than technicality. Enough coffee induced rambling.
For a little challenge on my first day shooting the XF35, I decided to go with a bit of street style approach by firing from the hip and seeing how well the lens could keep up in the Auto Focus (AF) on Saigon's busy and beautiful streets. I must say, I am damned impressed by this tiny high performance lens.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Onto some stuff about the lens (I suppose). Something that is immediately clear about this lens is just how responsive the AF is. If you've ever been to Vietnam I'm sure you can understand that you need to keep moving in the busy streets, particularly in high traffic areas, which when trying to capture sharp and in focus pictures is not a great combination since your field of focus changes so quickly through movement.

The XF35 is quick, and I mean quick. It's the kind of speedy and accurate responsiveness that makes this such a different beast to many other Fuji lenses, particularly its predecessor, the XF35 1.4. Not only is it dead quiet and has no feel of movement from its internals, the XF35 F2 does not hunt!

In the past with some Fuji gear the AF has left me frustrated due to a missed shot or slightly lagging response time. This little piece of gear absolutely slays its siblings. My time at DigiDirect comparing the two 35's back to back quickly showed that although the 35 1.4 is still awesome and has that extra stop of light, it simply feels outdated in performance and feel when compare the the new 35 F2. When I compared them in continuous focusing with heavy back-light, the 1.4 didn't know what to do, and in single shot mode it had that slightly nagging back and forth hunt for a moment before acquiring focus. The 35 F2 displayed none of these features and made it very easy for me to make a decision on which one to take home, even though the original 35 had a $200 cashback on offer, making it around $100 cheaper than the new 35 F2.

A quick perusal of my snaps in Lightroom shows that most of my first day's snaps were taken between F2 and F4, so it's not as if the lens and camera have taken the easy path of narrow apertures, and thus, depths of field where focus is easier to acquire. So, keeping in mind that I was not holding the camera up to my eye and stopping for creative and stable framing, I think the XF35 F2 has really shown how much it's the new generation of what Fuji has to offer in terms of high performance gear.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
So what about sharpness? Bokeh? Weather sealing? Well, it's the first day. I've got a wedding here to shoot that I'm sure will feature heavy use of the XF35 F2 and its brothers, but so far, for its size and performance, this is possibly Fuji's best XF lens to date. I cannot wait to see how this thing performs the new bodies rumoured for 2016, like the X-E2s or X-PRO2.
0 Comments

Hanging Rock & The Fujinon XF16 & Fujifilm XT-10

12/6/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
Hanging Rock, Victoria, Australia. It's a truly remarkable part of the state, and what's great is it's readily accessible for inner-city folk like myself at only 1 hour's drive away. At the spark of inspiration, my wife and I took off on a drive out there one Sunday for a good bit of fresh air and stunning, natural Australiana.
As you'd expect for this time of year the weather was a somewhat warm 30 degrees celsius, however many areas of the reserve were very refreshing due to different wind tunnels and the natural chill of many of the large shadowy rocks. 
For this outing I wanted to keep it simple, light-weight and tack sharp.
Can you guess what I took?
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
We're really not very good at dreamy hipster landscape self-portraits sorry.
As you may have guessed by the title of the post, I packed the XF16 1.4 and my XT-10. Two extremely powerful pieces of gear that are light-weight, responsive, and can wrestle (and win!) with the big boys. They're also incredibly robust, based on my awful experience of dropping the XF16 from waist height onto concrete some months ago. Watching it bounce several times made my heart skip a beat. Literally.

The temptation to shoot at wide apertures with this lens is always there, but with so much detail going on at Hanging Rock, I chose to shoot just about all these images between F8 and F11. I'm sure you can pick the few that are shot nice and shallow at F1.4 though.

There's really not much I can say about this combo that I've not said or shown before. Every time I pull an image off from this combo I'm just amazed at how much detail there is in the RAF files. Being able to pull shadow details from the way I expose images leaves my Canon rig for dead. I must also add for fellow Fuji X users regarding sharpening with Lightroom. Don't go beyond ~80 the amount of Sharpening and start with Masking at 100 and pull back from there. I like to sit mine around 70-90 depending on the style of photo. Trust me, it'll do your images justice.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Thanks for viewing!
​-Mathieu
2 Comments

Portraits, Gear, Inspiration and the Summer Months Ahead.

11/22/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
As the weather starts to warm up down here in Australia (Yes, we do experience temperatures other than stinking bloody hot) and the season to be wed kicks off, I have been out getting my eye trained up for some moodier portraits, and further venturing down that road of posing models to achieve the results I'd truly like to see. I also recently had the pleasure of attending an incredible 2-day workshop here in Melbourne with David Talley Photography, Rob Woodcox, and Kiara Rose Photography, all of whom are incredibly inspiring people and artists whose level of achievements and business savvy for their ages is somewhat confronting and mind-blowing. Truly awesome young creatives!

The love for Fujifilm gear continues on for me and I am so inspired by the XF90 135mm equivalent lens that I purchased a few months ago. It's a focal length that just works for me and the quality of the product itself demonstrates how much Fuji is still evolving, leaving me to wonder what 2016 will mean with the X-Pro2 and potentially, the XT-2. Of course, photography isn't all about gear, but having an inspirational piece of equipment or gear certainly helps!

As I look to the summer months ahead I am eagerly looking forward to a very special wedding that my wife and I will be shooting in Vietnam over Christmas, as well as some other lovely couples here in Melbourne, Australia. With the long days of shooting and travels comes preparation in the gym and good eating, which will hopefully serve me well in the more rural areas of Vietnam and some of long wedding days ahead.

To those of you who read and view my posts, and keep my website traffic at some pretty inspiring levels, I thank you for your support and hope that I can continue to keep you returning in the months and years to come.
-Mathieu
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Archives

    February 2019
    August 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014

    Categories

    All
    1.4
    56mm-12
    6D
    7 Artisans 35mm 1.2 FujiFilm
    7Artisans 35mm F1.2
    7Artisans Bokeh
    7Artisans Lens Review
    7Artisans Street Photography
    7D
    85mm 1.2
    Action
    Adelaide
    AF
    Ann Truong
    Art
    Astia
    Aussie Wedding
    Australia
    Auto Focus
    Autumn
    Bahia
    Ballingtagart House
    Battery
    Battery Life
    Beach Wedding
    Berlin Wedding
    BJJ
    Bokeh
    Brasil Fuji
    Brazil
    Buddha
    Bush
    Canon
    Canon 135 F2 L
    Chapada Diamantina
    Collingwood Childrens Farm Wedding
    Compare
    Concert
    Countryside
    Depth Of Field
    Destination Wedding
    Dingle
    #discoverireland
    #discovertasmania
    #discovervictoria
    Documentary Photography
    Engagement
    Engagement Shoot
    EOS Adapter
    Explore
    F2
    Fight
    Fight Photography
    Firmware 4.0
    Focus Speed
    Footscray
    Forum
    Fringe Festival
    Fuji
    FujiFilm
    FujiFIlm Astia
    FujiFilm Australia
    FujiFilm Brasil
    FujiFIlm Europe
    Fujifilm Landscape
    Fujifilm Macro
    FujiFIlm Photography
    Fujifilm Review
    Fujifilm Uk
    Fujifilm Wedding Photography
    FujiFilm X-Series
    Fujifilm Xt2
    Fujifilm X T2
    Fujifilm X-T2
    FujiFilm X-T2
    FujiFilm X-T3
    Fujinon
    Fuji Travel Photography
    Fuji Wedding Photography
    FUJI XT1
    Fuji XT2
    Goatwhore
    Great Ocean Road
    Hanging-rock
    Helios
    High ISO
    Hip Wedding
    Ho Chi Minh City
    Industrial Wedding
    Ireland
    Jacqui And Benson
    Kick Boxing
    Lake District
    Landscape
    Landscape Photography
    Lens Adapter
    Lenses
    Life
    Little Rundle Street
    Live
    Live Music
    Love
    Macro
    Malfunction
    Marriage
    Martial Arts
    MCEX-11
    Melbourne
    Melbourne Photographer
    Melbourne Wedding
    Melbourne Wedding Photography
    Mirrorless
    MMA
    Modern Engagement
    Muay Thai
    New South Wales
    Nissin I40
    Nobbies
    Norla Dome
    Old
    Olhao Portugal
    Ormond Hall
    Otways
    Outback
    Overheat
    Paris FujiFilm
    Performance
    Phillip Island
    Photography
    Portarlington Wedding
    Portrait
    Psyctoptic
    Radelaide Wedding
    Rainforest
    Review
    Rio2016
    Rio De Janeiro
    Saigon
    Seu Jorge
    Sigma 35mm
    Smart Artz
    South Melbourne
    Sports
    Street Photography
    Tasmania
    The Farm Cafe Melbourne
    Tild Shift
    Tild-shift
    Tilt Adapter
    Tilt-adapter
    Tips
    Tour
    Travel
    Travel Photography
    Twelve Apostles
    Uk Wedding Photographer
    Unique Wedding
    Victoria
    Vietnam
    Visit Melbourne
    #visitvictoria
    Wander Victoria
    Wedding
    Wedding Day
    Wedding Inspriation
    Weddingphotographer
    Wentworth Falls
    Werribee Mansion
    Wildlife
    X100
    X100s
    X100T
    XC50 230
    XC50-230
    XF16
    Xf16 55
    Xf16-55
    XF16-55 F2.8 R LM WR
    XF18
    Xf35
    XF35F2
    XF35mm F2 Review
    XF50 140
    XF50-140
    XF50mm F2 WR Review
    XF56
    XF56mmF1.2 R
    XF90
    XT 1
    Xt-1
    XT 10
    XT-10
    XT10 VS XT1
    XT2
    X T2
    X-T2
    X-T3
    Zone Focusing

    RSS Feed

  • Portfolio
  • Blog